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A (possible) writer for each MBTI type

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Calvin

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Please note that I am not officially assigning MBTI types to these writers. Because famed wordsmiths are few in number, not every personality is represented, so to approach this problem I will use a system of "close enough" typing, meaning that the closest writer to a certain unrepresented MBTI type will be assigned that type.


SJs

ISTJ- Michael Crichton (well-developed Ne)

ESTJ- Tom Clancy

ISFJ- Arthur Conan Doyle

ESFJ- John Updike

SPs

ESTP- Ernest Hemingway

ISTP- Henry David Thoreau

ESFP- Edgar Rice Burroughs

ISFP- Ian Fleming

NJs

ENTJ- Jack London

INTJ- Jane Austen

ENFJ- Mark Twain

INFJ- Flannery O' Connor

NPs

ENFP- Charles Dickens

INFP- Virginia Woolf

ENTP- Oscar Wilde

INTP- Vladimir Nabokov


(Sorry about the lack of female authors. I'm not familiar enough with their biographies. If you can think of some female writers for some of these types, that would be great).
 
#2 ·
INTP -- Terry Pratchett. He COULD be ENTP because he has such an incredible Ne imagination, but I think he's kind of introverted. George RR Martin is also some kind of an NTP. (How frigging long does it take him to write a book?!)

I suspect Mark Twain was an ENTP, though. I just can't see an ENFJ writing the insulting, sarcastic, slightly mean spirited but hilarious things that he did. Now an ENTP troll writer on the other hand...

I've heard Rowling typed as either an INFP or an INFJ. I suspect she's more INFP myself, but I haven't watched enough interviews with her to know for sure.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
angelcat said:
INTP --

I suspect Mark Twain was an ENTP, though. I just can't see an ENFJ writing the insulting, sarcastic, slightly mean spirited but hilarious things that he did. Now an ENTP troll writer on the other hand...
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ENxP is most likely Twain's true type, but there is a small argument that can be made for ENFJ. One of their biggest weaknesses is being overly-critical of people whom they disagree with, using biting humor to discredit ideas that they see as "bad for society". I have two ENFJ cousins who are extremely political and I am constantly shocked at how insensitive they can be sometimes.

There are no clear-cut ENFJ writers that I know of, but Twain is the closest thing.
 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
astucieux said:
Hmm, can anybody think of a type for Edgar Allan Poe or Lord Byron?
Poe strikes me as an INFx, but I'm uncertain about Byron.​
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It's possible that Poe is an IxTx of some kind, being how he gets such a thrill out of disturbing people. But that's just a possibility.

I've never read Byron before, so I would be a poor judge of his type.
 
#10 ·
I agree with Hemingway as an ESTP. I've heard the same for F. Scott Fitzgerald, but his books don't strike me as ESTP-esque; at the very least, they're nothing like Hemingway's.
I Wouldn't rule out ENFP for Mark Twain, either.
INFJ, Dostoevsky, T.S. Eliot.
 
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#11 ·
I'm pretty certain Jane Austen was a Ti dominant. And I lean more towards INTP than ISTP for her.

Probable INTJ novelists include Isaac Asimov and Will Self.

Woody Allen is an ISTP and has written a few novels.

I think Vladimir Nabokov may have been INFP.
 
#14 ·
Man, I love Jane Austen. I can see her being an INTP. I could also see INFJ, her wealth of ideas, insight into others and capacity for communicating in the way that she did could be a result of Ni-Fe. She's very much in tune with the feelings of those around her and uses people she knows and the things she observes to create realistic characters and situations. I think she's got the sass of a thinker, especially in her letters and such, but her writing seems to be so very 'F' to me? I could be very wrong, though. Her books are my favorites. I could just be interpreting them in my own way.

I agree JK Rowling seems very INFP.

Veronica Roth seems INFP to me as well. The author of Divergent. Rainbow Rowell and John Green actually sort of seem INFP to me, too. Just the style and such.
 
#15 ·
sirensongs said:
Man, I love Jane Austen. I can see her being an INTP. I could also see INFJ, her wealth of ideas, insight into others and capacity for communicating in the way that she did could be a result of Ni-Fe. She's very much in tune with the feelings of those around her and uses people she knows and the things she observes to create realistic characters and situations. I think she's got the sass of a thinker, especially in her letters and such, but her writing seems to be so very 'F' to me? I could be very wrong, though. Her books are my favorites. I could just be interpreting them in my own way.

I agree JK Rowling seems very INFP.

Veronica Roth seems INFP to me as well. The author of Divergent. Rainbow Rowell and John Green actually sort of seem INFP to me, too. Just the style and such.
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I don't think Austen was particularly in touch with the emotional experience of her characters. Whenever things get very emotional in her stories she always takes a big step back and describes it in a very rational, impartial (and often funny way). This is the complete opposite of what an INFP like Charlotte Bronte would do.

Also, Austen as a person was very un-romantic, and struggled to connect emotionally with others.

Her entire fictional output could be read as a very rational and hilarious dissection of nonsensical Fe values and assumptions! :)
 
#16 ·
Orange Fusion said:
I don't think Austen was particularly in touch with the emotional experience of her characters. Whenever things get very emotional in her stories she always takes a big step back and describes it in a very rational, impartial (and often funny way). This is the complete opposite of what an INFP like Charlotte Bronte would do.

Also, Austen as a person was very un-romantic, and struggled to connect emotionally with others.

Her entire fictional output could be read as a very rational and hilarious dissection of nonsensical Fe values and assumptions! :)
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You're quite right, actually!

I do see her humor as bit more biting and satirical than a typical 'F' would employ. And I do see exactly what you mean with the whole 'bit unsure of how to handle emotion' bit.

And I suppose it is notable to add, I realized after thinking of it, there's always that character who is very logical and says things as they are and maybe isn't so shrewd emotionally but they are always right! Haha. Very well then.
 
#17 ·
If Marge Piercy is anything like the main character of her novel He, She and It, which I just read, she is a giant ISFJ. She's very accurately depicting a (slightly unhealthy) ISFJ mind in that book, and also her writing style reminds me quite a lot of my own at times. Anybody know anything about her?
 
#18 ·
sirensongs said:
You're quite right, actually!

I do see her humor as bit more biting and satirical than a typical 'F' would employ. And I do see exactly what you mean with the whole 'bit unsure of how to handle emotion' bit.

And I suppose it is notable to add, I realized after thinking of it, there's always that character who is very logical and says things as they are and maybe isn't so shrewd emotionally but they are always right! Haha. Very well then.
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F types can be very biting and satirical too -- my favourite example is British T.V. Satirist Charlie Brooker. He's brilliant, and I obsessively watch his videos on YouTube haha. Brooker is an ENFP.

But here you can also see the difference -- Brooker is more than happy to overstate his case and is very emotional in his expression, while INTP types tend not to appear this way (and try not to haha)
 
#20 ·
Calvin said:
Please note that I am not officially assigning MBTI types to these writers. Because famed wordsmiths are few in number, not every personality is represented, so to approach this problem I will use a system of "close enough" typing, meaning that the closest writer to a certain unrepresented MBTI type will be assigned that type.


SJs

ISTJ- Michael Crichton (well-developed Ne)

ESTJ- Tom Clancy

ISFJ- Arthur Conan Doyle

ESFJ- John Updike

SPs

ESTP- Ernest Hemingway

ISTP- Henry David Thoreau

ESFP- Edgar Rice Burroughs

ISFP- Ian Fleming

NJs

ENTJ- Jack London

INTJ- Jane Austen

ENFJ- Mark Twain

INFJ- Flannery O' Connor

NPs

ENFP- Charles Dickens

INFP- Virginia Woolf

ENTP- Oscar Wilde

INTP- Vladimir Nabokov


(Sorry about the lack of female authors. I'm not familiar enough with their biographies. If you can think of some female writers for some of these types, that would be great).
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This seems very comprehensive, Good Work!
 
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