From the First Draft Friday podcast archives
Proper character development is a key element in a book’s success. While authors often focus on backstory, motivation, and appearance, personality is sometimes overlooked or forgotten altogether. In a past First Draft Friday podcast conversation, Alessandra Torre spoke with author Greta Boris about the Enneagram personality typing system and how writers can use it to deepen their characters.
In the live chat, we took questions from the audience and discussed how to type your characters.
Greta shared:
- Where you can type yourself and your characters, for free
- What “typing” is, along with the explanation of wings
- How a single personality type can vary immensely depending on their emotional health level
- An example of how personality types can dramatically affect a plot and experience
- How many characters you should type in your book
- And so much more!
Click below to watch our discussion or continue on to read the full transcript.
About Greta:
Greta Boris is a USA Today bestselling author of The 7 Deadly Sins, a series of psychological suspense novels published by Fawkes Press. She is also the co-author of PUBLISH – Take Charge of Your Writing Career and a co-founder of The Author Wheel, a former online resource and podcast for writers.
If you enjoy the video, please explore our other First Draft Friday chats.
Greta Boris’ podcast for authors: Author Wheel Podcast
Explore Marlowe (Your ethical AI fiction-savvy critique partner): authors.ai/marlowe
FULL TRANSCRIPT (EDITED FOR READABILITY)
Alessandra:
All right, we are live. Welcome to First Draft Friday. Today I’m joined by Greta Boris, who will be chatting with us about creating next-level characters using the Enneagram system. I’m really excited for this conversation. Welcome, Greta. Would you like to introduce yourself?
Greta:
Sure. Hello, everyone. I’m the author of The Seven Deadly Sins, a psychological suspense series. I call them “OC murders” because they all take place in Orange County, California—the home of the Real Housewives and where I’m from.
I’m also the co-founder of Author Wheel, a resource site for authors that offers books, blogs, online conferences, and courses.
Alessandra:
It’s Friday—totally fine.
We talk a lot about character development on First Draft Friday, and it’s always interesting to see how different authors approach it. Your courses and content specifically use the Enneagram. For those who aren’t familiar with it, can you give us a high-level introduction?
Greta:
Sure. The Enneagram is an ancient personality-typing system. No one really knows its exact origin, but it’s been around for hundreds of years. It wasn’t created for writers—it originated with psychologists and religious leaders as a way to understand and help individuals.
Today, it’s had a resurgence in popularity, especially in psychology and pop psychology. There are nine basic Enneagram personality types. What we’ve discovered is that using these types for character creation is a great shortcut for making sure characters stay consistent and don’t derail your story.
Alessandra:
One of the best ways to understand the Enneagram is to type yourself.
Greta:
Oh yeah.
Alessandra:
Is there a website you recommend for that?
Greta:
We usually recommend the Enneagram Institute. We like how clearly they lay everything out. The personalities are numbered, but they also give each one a descriptive name, which makes it easier to understand quickly.
I believe they offer a free test, but don’t quote me on that.
Alessandra:
I’ve taken a lot of personality tests, but this one really stands out—especially in terms of how useful it is for writing. How did you start using the Enneagram for character development?
Greta:
My first series, The Seven Deadly Sins, is psychological suspense. In that genre, something terrible usually happens to an everyday person. In my case, the first book featured a real estate agent. You can’t realistically have the same character running into serial killers over and over, so each book needed a different protagonist.
Since the series was built around the seven deadly sins, I thought it would be interesting if each main character—or villain—struggled with a particular sin. The Enneagram is helpful because it shows both a person’s greatest strengths and their greatest weaknesses. So I could look at which personality types struggle with lust, pride, wrath, and so on, and use that as a starting point for character creation.
Of course, you don’t want cookie-cutter characters. This is just a foundation. Characters deepen as you write, develop wings, and grow more complex. But it helped me envision what kind of character would realistically make the choices my plot required.
I first heard about using personality systems this way at a conference taught by a psychology professor. It just clicked for me. I started using it, and eventually developed a workshop to help other writers do the same.
Alessandra:
One of my favorite Enneagram classes for writers was titled something like The Plot Lines Write Themselves. If you’re stuck with a character or a plot, just reading the personality descriptions can spark so many ideas. It can also show you when something isn’t working. Sometimes a character feels wrong simply because their personality doesn’t match the path you’re forcing them down.
Greta:
Absolutely. I’ve coached writers who start with a passive, people-pleasing character but want that same character to blow up the world at the end of the book. That just doesn’t work. Readers won’t buy it.
The Enneagram helps you choose characters who would realistically do the things your plot demands. It saves a lot of rewriting later.
Alessandra:
This works beautifully in romance, too. You can look at personality pairings, jobs that fit certain types, and relationship conflicts between types. It’s helpful if you feel like you’re always giving characters the same careers or roles.
Greta:
One thing I love—especially as someone who writes murder—is how the Enneagram shows what happens when personalities degrade. Some types turn inward and become self-destructive. Others become outwardly destructive and even violent.
If I’m writing a villain who will become murderous, I know they need to be a personality type that externalizes their breakdown. That’s incredibly useful.
Alessandra:
I’d forgotten how much I loved that aspect—the healthy versus unhealthy spectrum. You can use it for character arcs in both directions. A character can start unhealthy and grow, or start stable and break down.
Greta:
Exactly. Plot and character arc are deeply connected. Most characters start somewhere in the middle—not at their best, not at their worst. You can have them dip lower during the story’s darker moments, then rise by the end.
In my character worksheets, I have writers ask questions like:
- Who is this character at the start?
- What motivates them emotionally in Act One?
- What’s their midpoint “aha” moment?
- Do they grow healthier—or spiral further?
I also love pairing protagonists and villains who share the same personality type, but are at very different levels of health. That creates fascinating tension.
Alessandra:
It works for all relationships—romantic, familial, mentors, rivals.
Greta:
Absolutely. In our workshop, we use Cinderella as an example. By changing Cinderella’s personality type, you completely change the genre.
If Cinderella were a Reformer, driven by justice and anger, she might violently overthrow her stepmother—and suddenly you have a Stephen King thriller. If she were an Enthusiast, the story becomes a rom-com. Personality determines genre more than people realize.
Alessandra:
I love that exercise.
We’re getting great comments and questions. One viewer said they’d never heard of the Enneagram but are intrigued. Another mentioned how well it works for enemies-to-lovers romance.
Here’s a common question: where should writers begin? Is this something you need to do before writing, or can you use it mid-draft?
Greta:
It’s never too late. I usually start with the Enneagram now, but I’ve also realized mid-book that I chose the wrong personality type. That happened recently—I thought my villain was one type, then realized he was deeply OCD, which didn’t fit. I had to retool and revise.
The important thing is awareness. If a character feels wrong, the Enneagram can help you diagnose why.
Alessandra:
Someone asked about wings—like being a four with a five wing. Can you explain that briefly?
Greta:
I’ll preface this by saying I’m not a psychologist. Wings come from the adjacent personality types. So a four can have a three wing or a five wing. Two people can share the same main type but behave very differently depending on their wing.
Alessandra:
It’s like different spectrums within the same type.
Greta:
Exactly.
Alessandra:
Another question: what information do you get for each personality type?
Greta:
You get strengths, weaknesses, fears, desires, motivations, and how that type behaves when healthy versus unhealthy. Many sites also list famous people for each type, which can be fun and inspiring.
For writers, the health spectrum is especially useful. Each type deteriorates differently under stress.
Alessandra:
Someone asked if personality types can change during a book.
Greta:
No. According to Enneagram theory, your core type is fixed. What changes is how healthy or unhealthy you are within that type. Characters don’t become new types—they become better or worse versions of themselves.
Alessandra:
How many characters should writers type?
Greta:
I focus on protagonists, love interests, mentors, and villains. If you’re writing a series with a recurring cast, it’s worth typing more secondary characters to maintain consistency.
Alessandra:
Last question—what if a character is mentally ill?
Greta:
Great question. Mental illness fits naturally within the Enneagram framework. Different personalities break down in different ways. You don’t overlay mental illness—you reveal how that personality fractures under stress.
Alessandra:
Where can people take the test?
Greta:
The Enneagram Institute. I’ve included the link in the handout.
Alessandra:
Perfect. And if people want your workshops?
Greta:
Visit authorwheel.com. We also have a fun author personality test there. ( This website is no longer available)
Alessandra:
Love it. Thank you so much, Greta. And thanks to everyone who joined us live. We’ll see you at the next First Draft Friday.
Greta: Bye
