Two days ago – during a double psychology lesson that revolved around said section in the nearest bookshop – I came across an incredibly interesting book. It’s called “The Enneagram” and was written by Helen Palmer (the original version is in English!), although I’ve seen many other books on the same topic. For a better understanding, I admit that I love personality tests and learning about different types of personalities. I was thrilled when we did the classical personality test in class – I turned out to be the only compulsive type of about ten people, by the way. Of course, there is no ultimate scheme where one type will fit nicely with you and the others won’t. There are always different degrees of identification for different people, even for the same person in different times of their life. There can be thousands of factors influencing who you are and what suits you … and it’s huge fun to think about your results.

On another note, I love the fact that personality types are some kind of self-fulfilling prophecies … You read everything about the type(s) that suit you, and then you continue with your daily tasks and keep thinking about and checking how much is right from what was written about you. And suddenly you start doing those things more. It’s crazy!

Anyway, I’m currently reading about a new set of personality types. Ennea = nine, so nine types. I’ve only read about a few that sounded interesting and found that two or three represent me most. Especially type number nine which is called the negotiator intrigues me.

Number nine lives more through the feelings of others than through hers. In her childhood she was mostly ignored by others which lead to a desire to please others in order to be recognized and valued. She thinks that everything she does has to be like others want it to be. Her mind is always filled with a lot of different things, memories and duties and little things that need to be done, and she can ponder on several thoughts at the same time. While she might look as if she’s listening to you, she is in fact thinking about two or three more things, although she still leads the conversation. With this technique of taking on too much projects and trying to get too much things done at the same time she tries to drown her feelings in work. As a result, she hardly ever finishes any projects because she doesn’t know her priorities. She starts projects on a whim, and frequently forgets about the ones that aren’t interesting any more. Because of that, projects that really intrigue her are usually drowned by a million other things. She rather spends time on details than having visible success at a single project.

I immediately identified with that type, but the book also stated that such people have to realize this special state of mind when they drift off into working on insignificant details and do something about it. I will need extraordinary discipline and diligence to follow that advice … But I already know that I’m starting to improve.

What I really wanted to say is that lately I’ve felt a bit uncomfortable about mod posting. There are several ways in which you can mod a thread. I’ve experienced that it’s incredibly difficult to write in a way that doesn’t force PCs to follow your plot, but still sounds interesting and original. I mean, if you try to give PCs more freedom in deciding on where they want to go, your posts become mere lists of possible choices and details that turn out to be ignored later. If you want to write an interesting story, you have to assume certain reactions to actually fill your post with some content. Perhaps it’s all about playing around with time and answering one question even if the next has already been asked and something like that. I don’t know.

However, there’s a new concept: Write what is beautiful! I’ve always liked the concept of creating something beautiful, be it by writing a story, painting or drawing a picture or composing silly little melodies. For the time being, I’m content with trying to achieve beauty in my posts. If a post is beautiful, people like me are satisfied. Beauty is the purpose of art, and the goal of the artist is it to create beauty.