The Enneagram for Writers

By Cara Putman

Readers gravitate to books with characters that leap off the page. The challenge is creating that connection and depth. In this book you'll explore how the Enneagram can help you create characters readers talk about long after the last page has been read and the book placed back on the shelf. Inside you'll find everything you need to know to understand what the Enneagram is, how it can be used as a tool to improve your characterization, provide internal motivation to move your plot and characters forward, and keep your readers engaged from page one. The author of more than thirty books and writing instructor Cara Putman shows you how to use the Enneagram to create characters and develop storylines that sing with conflict and tension.

Award-winning author Cara Putman shares these tools and techniques to help you craft characters and plots your readers won't be able to walk away from.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cara Putman
• Release date: Jun 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201351489

Cara Putman

Cara Putman is the award-winning, best-selling author of more than thirty-five novels, including the Cornhusker Dreams series and the Hidden Justice series.

Book preview

THE ENNEAGRAM FOR WRITERS

A TOOL TO DEVELOP LAYERED CHARACTERS

CARA C PUTMAN

Whisper Valley Press Whisper Valley Press

For all the writers who have mentored me.

You are too numerous to list. This is my small way to pay your deposit into me forward to other writers.

Thank you.

CONTENTS

1. Why Write This Book?

2. The Enneagram

The Basic Nine Types

3. Applying the Enneagram to Characters

4. The Nine Types

Type 1

Type 2

Type 3

Type 4

Type 5

Type 6

Type 7

Type 8

Type 9

A Note

5. The Moral Perfectionist

Wings

Misaligned Manager

Aligned Manager

In Relationship

6. The Supportive Advisor

Wings

Misaligned Manager

Aligned Manager

In Relationship

7. The Successful Advisor

Wings

Misaligned Manager

Aligned Manager

In Relationship

8. The Romantic Idealist

Wings

Misaligned Manager

Aligned Manager

In Relationship

9. The Investigative Thinker

Wings

Misaligned Manager

Aligned Manager

In Relationship

10. The Loyal Guardian

Wings

Misaligned Manager

Aligned Manager

In Relationship

11. The Entertaining Optimist

Wings

Misaligned Manager

Aligned Manager

In Relationship

12. The Protective Challenger

Wings

Misaligned Managers

Aligned Managers

In Relationship

13. The Peaceful Mediator

Wings

Misaligned Manager

Aligned Manager

In Relationship

14. A BONUS MODEL: INTERNAL FAMILY SYSTEMS

15. Character Interview

Basic Character Questions

Character Archetype

Back to the Enneagram

Internal Family Systems Model

16. Highly Recommended Enneagram Resources

17. Highly Recommended Writing Resources

Plotting

Characters

Writing

About the Author

Also by Cara C Putman

Notes

Deadly Secrets on Mackinac Island Sneak Peek

Beyond Justice Excerpt

ONE

WHY WRITE THIS BOOK?

The Enneagram.

It doesn’t take much to discover the Enneagram online. There are a diversity opinions about it and whether it’s helpful. This book isn’t focused on that. There are Instagram accounts designated to different numbers, but what does that mean?

How can this tool help you write characters that come alive?

As a multi-published, award-winning author of more than thirty-five books, a number that grows each year, I’m always looking for new tools that can help me craft characters that are deeper and more richly layered. I joke with students that one of the best things about being a writer is that I’ll never arrive. It’s also one of the worst because I know just how much I still have to learn.

Over my years of creating books and series, I’ve learned some tips for creating characters that are multi-dimensional, something that is very important when all of the heroines are attorneys of about the same age like in my Hidden Justice series. In those situations creating vibrant, real characters can be the key to engaging readers with page-turning fiction.

So why write this book to help you? There are a couple reasons.

The first is I am by nature a teacher. When I teach someone else how to use a tool, I learn it more deeply. I also love that ah-ha moment when someone I’m mentoring leans into the tool and adopts it as their own. This book is one way I can do that with more authors.

A second reason is that after teaching some of this content to other excellent authors at a writing retreat, I realized this was a tool that could help everyone from the novice to the best-selling author. It’s not often that you land on a technique that is basic enough to provide needed structure to someone starting out on the writing journey while also being robust enough to give value to someone with multiple, published books under their belt.

This book is broken into multiple sections. First we’ll explore the background to help you understand the framework of the enneagram. Second, we will explore each number on the Enneagram. There are nine in total, and those nine can add fears, longings, and growth paths to character tools like Susan May Warren’s The Story Equation. (As an aside, I highly recommend anything Susan teaches!) Then at the end I have a section with resources on how to learn more about the Enneagram along with other tools to help you dig deeper. You can think of it as my must grab books when I’m in the middle of plotting, dreaming, and writing. Finally, the book ends with a form that you can print off as many times as you need to help you apply the Enneagram to your characters.

Let’s dig in!

TWO

THE ENNEAGRAM

The enneagram with the numbers at teach point.

Are you familiar with the Enneagram?

If so, feel free to skip to the next chapter. But for those of us who aren’t, here’s a quick rundown of what the Enneagram is and what it helps writers do.

Maybe you’ve heard of it once or twice. Maybe you’re unaware of what it means.