The Temperamental Writer’s Temperament

Since I have self-branded myself as the “temperamental writer,” it makes sense to explore what other people say about the writer’s temperament.

Curiosity

Rob Bignell:

If there is an overarching temperament that is important to all fiction writers, curiosity about life and others arguably is paramount.

From https://inventingrealityeditingservice.typepad.com/inventing_reality_editing/2013/10/what-is-a-writers-natural-temperament.html

This also applies to non-fiction, Rob. Trust me.

Inquisitiveness (or not)

Zadie Smith:

Some writers won’t read a word of any novel while they’re writing their own. Not one word….Try to recommend a good novel to a writer of this type while he’s writing and he’ll give you a look like you just stabbed him in the heart with a kitchen knife. It’s a matter of temperament. Some writers are the kind of solo violinists who need complete silence to tune their instruments. Others want to hear every member of the orchestra — they’ll take a cue from a clarinet, from an oboe, even.

From https://advicetowriters.com/advice/a-matter-of-temperament-1

Perhaps I’m wrong, but in the world of non-fiction, writers MUST hear at least some members of the orchestra. To comment on the world around us, we need to know what is happening in the world around us. We can’t make up our own Narnia and write to it, because our audience lives in the real world.

Choleric, Melancholic, Sanguine, or Phlegmatic

 K.M. Weiland:

The first step in learning how to maximize your personality’s pros and minimize its cons is to figure out your basic personality type. One simple approach is that of the “four temperaments” approach (popularized by Tim LaHaye, among others), in which human personalities are narrowed down into four basic categories: choleric, melancholic, sanguine, and phlegmatic. 

From https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/whats-your-writing-personality/

Heck, I’ve already spent time figuring out my Jungian archetype. I didn’t exactly relish re-examining myself on the Tim LaHaye model.

But I reviewed Weiland’s summary of the four temperaments anyway, and decided that I exhibit some of the traits of the melancholic writer:

• Natural bent toward writing
• Detail-oriented
• Precise

The other temperaments vary greatly.

But what does this mean for firms needing content?

You can get any content marketer to write your words, but you’d be better off getting a curious, inquisitive, precise one who isn’t going to sit back and let a bot do all the work. (The whole “bot” thing is what riled up my temperamental nature in the first place.)

And by the most amazing coincidence, I know a content marketing firm that exhibits all of these “temperamental” capabilities.

My own firm, Bredemarket, that serves identity/biometric, technology, and local (California’s Inland Empire) firms that need blog posts, white papers, and other types of written content.

Authorize Bredemarket, Ontario California’s content marketing expert, to help your firm produce words that return results.

• Email me at john.bredehoft@bredemarket.com.
• Book a meeting with me at calendly.com/bredemarket.
• Contact me at bredemarket.com/contact/.
• Subscribe to my mailing list at http://eepurl.com/hdHIaT.