# What type really writes the most?



## Sophi (Mar 19, 2013)

What is your personality type and do you write creative writing? (Willingly. Not because you were forced to.)


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## Nekomata (May 26, 2012)

Over the years I've joined writing based roleplay forums (mainly fantasy, Harry Potter, anime, animals etc) and done a lot of creative writing on them, and I've improved a lot from when I first started doing it.

I'm INFP though ^^


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## LadyO.W.BernieBro (Sep 4, 2010)

l could see many types but l find INFJ's have a unique balance of creativity and structure in their writing.

l was told my creative writing was impressive, but it's not something l enjoy. l can spin a short story to make it look interesting but have extremely little interest in plot development.


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## Sophi (Mar 19, 2013)

Thanks for replying guys! I think in the end I set the poll up wrong. -_-; it's my first poll, and I don't think I did it quite right, seeing as it's hard to differentiate between the types that wrote and didn't write. I will do better next time! 

I was simply curious because when you read the personality definitions they always say INFP/J write the best, but most people I know that write aren't N types. I have read some stories/poems by iNtuitives, and they do seem to have a way with poetry, whereas my writing is more straightforward and abrupt. I think both types of styles are good in different kind of settings. Anyway, we'll see if we get anymore votes before trying to untangle this mess.

Also a reminder to any writers out there NaNoWriMo starts the 1st of November! If your curious what that is just google it.


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## Who (Jan 2, 2010)

I don't think any particular type is the best at writing. Especially since it's hard to tell what kind of writing is the best to begin with, considering there are so many different types of writing, styles, voices, and so on. I think rather than being the best writers, INFPs and INFJs are simply more inclined to enjoy creative writing as a hobby than other types.

That said, I think writing style might have something to do with type. For example, I remember reading a story about Douglas Adams (fellow ENTP writer) editing scripts to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio show while the cast was recording it. I actually related to that a little because of a silly thing that happened during my first semester of college. I was taking a writing class and didn't like the rough draft of an essay I turned in, so I scrapped the entire thing besides the first paragraph and wound up rewriting the entire thing 2-3 hours before it was due and I still managed to get the highest grade in the class on it.

I'm also reminded of some writing website I saw months ago (can't remember the link, unfortunately) that talked about two major approaches to writing: one in which there is lots of prewriting and planning beforehand and another in which there is a general idea of the plot, setting, and characters beforehand, but is more improvisational. I couldn't help but think those approaches sounded rather similar to J vs P differences; at the very least, I know my INTP friend and INFP brother share my distaste for prewriting.


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## FlaviaGemina (May 3, 2012)

I'm an INTJ and I voted Yes, occassionally, although that's a lie, really. I wrote a few short stories and some poems ages ago.... 
I also had ideas for 2 or 3 novels and had them all planned out but couldn't be bothered to actually write them down. 
But to be honest, I suck at creative writing. I can write stories based on something that really happened or I can invent characters based on real people, but then I don't know what to do with them. Although I'm an avid reader, I can't think of a plot and I definitely can't think of situations, problems or feeligns that people would want to read about.


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## Sophi (Mar 19, 2013)

Sometimes a plot can just come to you...if you ever decide you want to try writing you can look up "writer's prompts." It gives a sentence to start with or maybe a phrase or a concept and you just go with it. Sometimes it turns out and sometimes it doesn't. Anyway, thanks for posting!


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## intrasearching (Jul 15, 2011)

I'm INFP and yes, I write poetry and fiction all the time.

My life goal is actually to be a published author. Nothing huge, really. I just want to be able to sell some books of poetry and things over the next several years here and there.

EDIT: I should say, my life goal is to spend my years deepening my writing practice. The goal is to write well, to experience the passion and satisfaction that comes with elegantly expressing oneself. A side-effect that I am looking forward to is one day having a large body of writing beneath me that I can feel proud of. If my writing garners some form of appreciation, that would be great, obviously. But I just want to dedicate my life to creative self-expression.

Lydia Davis is an author that I currently derive a nice amount of inspiration from.


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## Sophi (Mar 19, 2013)

Edit: @_Who_ (sorry, I thought I attached this to your post, but I guess not!)

Yeah, I agree, I think various stories call for different types of writing styles, so to consider one type's writing as superior would be silly. I was more curious though as to _who_ wrote the most, not who is the best.

I know at least three ISFJ's that write, and I consider myself an ISFJ as well (well, I'm pretty sure that's my type, but not 100%). I know an iNtuitive who writes as well, though I don't know him well enough to know his specific personality type. He writes with a lot of poetic symbolism. It comes off well but I think such styles have a hard time with action scenes, because action scenes are more in the moment, and abrupt. I wouldn't be surprised though if he could easily pull it off with a bit of practice.

I think writing takes a bit of discipline, so a J type might be more likely to pursue it (although I think P types can as well, but they are probably more prone to being "pantsers," or people who write with it, without a clue where their going).


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## Who (Jan 2, 2010)

Sophi said:


> I was more curious though as to _who_ wrote the most, not who is the best.


Yeah, I was responding more to this clause:



Sophi said:


> I was simply curious because when you read the personality definitions they always say INFP/J write the best


Anyway, I seem to be an exception to your speculation.

With my writing, I don't consciously use a lot of symbols or anything like that. Plus I tend to prefer writing stories with decent amounts of action because I'm bored when I read stories where I feel like nothing happens so writing them would seem just as boring to me. I think if I'm typed right, I mainly use Ne to screw with peoples' expectations, juggle a few ideas at once while I write to play with how the story could go, find silly ways to word things in more humor-driven works, connect loosely related influences, etc.

Personally, I think looking at writing as something that takes discipline is true, but a viewpoint judgers are more likely to have when they start writing. When I started, my mentality was "anyone can write, but most people either just talk themselves out of doing it or would rather spend their time doing something else." As long as something is fun for a perceiver, they'll do it and thus improve at it.

Oh, and for the record, I typically do have a clue where I'm going. It's how I get there that I tend to make up.

Just from a pure theoretical perspective, I'd imagine introverts are more likely to be writers since writing is typically a solitary activity and if someone prefers being alone, they'll typically have more potential writing time. Yet from the top of my head, I can think of writers I usually see typed as extraverts (Douglas Adams, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Hunter S. Thompson, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde etc.) so even I doubt I'd agree with my own theory. Honestly, I'd imagine writers are probably about as diverse as the rest of the population. Even if there are types that are more likely to be into writing, I'm not sure if the type makeup of writers vs. the type makeup of the general population would look drastically different.


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## Bluefireluv (Jun 17, 2013)

INFP, voted "Yes, occasionally" xD 
I write whenever I feel like it, and that usually just means transferring some scene in my mind onto whatever platform I'm using to write on. 
I'm not necessarily good at it though, I think I'm more suited for interpreting passages or poems than making them xD


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## BlackDog (Jan 6, 2012)

INTJ, voted all the time!

I love writing, ever since I was about five or six. It is the perfect activity for me - I can do it on my own, it requires a blend of technicality (proper structure, grammar), imagination (setting, characterization), and creative problem solving (plots, plot holes, etc.)

I've written hundreds of short stories and couple of novels. I used to poetry and lyrics (I play guitar), but I don't enjoy that much anymore for some reason. I much prefer storytelling. 

I especially love writing sci-fi. To take something that hasn't happened, and might never happen and weave a story around it to make it believable is the ultimate challenge, in my mind. I also love science so I like involving real life technology in my writing.


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## ElectricHead (Jun 3, 2011)

I used to write poetry before realizing that it was all about how depressed I was, so I stopped. I am currently writing a fiction story as a graphic novel, but it's all really in the process of being a bunch of scrambled notes that interconnect. It's about 10 pages, and it kind of jumps around so much right now, like a Quentin Tarantino film. I just haven't actually sat down and started connecting them on paper, filling in the details, or come up with some ending. In my head, the story just keeps going on forever so far.


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## Paxis (Jul 21, 2013)

INTJ, and no.
I love to read, but I don't share that same love for writing. I'm fine with writing for assignments such as in my comp class but it's never been a hobby of mine.


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## Bronzework (Oct 23, 2013)

ISFJ

On occasion I will write poetry if certain situations affect me enough to need some release.
Usually when I am suffering a lot emotionally.


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## LastThoughts (Oct 23, 2013)

I'm an INFP 

and write at least one page of _something_ a day.


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## Monsieur Melancholy (Nov 16, 2012)

I'm an INFP and I'm an avid poet. See my blog.


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## Choice (May 19, 2012)

ESTP

Yes, occasionally

dot points fictional story / fanfic ideas & all the craptastic emo poems


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## Thief Noctis (Jan 6, 2012)

'INFP' & 'Yes, all the time'.
Not recently, but that's just been because of college stress and being busy with it. My favourite thing to do is create characters. I get so attached to them because each character is like a little part of me, no matter how different they are to my own personality. Some share my dreams, some my fears, some my preferences and some my views. Not intentionally, and they're by no means mary-sues, but it's always nice to write about characters you created purely from your own mind. One of them, someone drew for me, and is currently my profile picture (Demarion Walker, he's a 19yo thief with amnesia). He's incredibly interesting to write about and I enjoy trying to portray his personality in my story (which I hope to eventually publish or do something successful with). Character interactions and relationships are also fun to delve into. It's a nice escape.


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## knightingling (Oct 15, 2013)

INFJ. I like to write poetry as a vent for the emotional stresses I feel every now and then. I've always wanted to write a novel, and I have started writing projects, but never really finish them, because I always think that I could do better than what I just wrote... Perfectionism. The same goes with drawing. I like to draw comics! I am still in the process of making a solid storyline as of the moment.


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