Exploring Personality: Part Eleven -- "Can't we all just get along?"

"...can we all get along?" -- Rodney King

Types 8, 9, and 1 make up the intuition triad of the Enneagram, also known as the body triad because of the tendency of people in this group to say things like, "I knew it in my gut." Reactions can be very instinctual, requiring little thought and ignoring emotions. Intuition isn't well understood by science. It's the brain making a "leap of logic" and, while some studies have shown that forcing people to do something like math intuitively generates more correct responses than people who are required to "logic it out," that does not mean that people who rely on intuition are always right. It's very dependent upon the individual. The motivating emotion for this triad is anger, but it manifests differently for each of the three types (unlike for the intellectual triad where their fear is almost always about decision-making).

The Peacemaker

Ah, the Nine. The Nine is the most common of all of the types. Perhaps up to 40% of all people. Not only do you probably know one, you probably are one. Okay, maybe not quite "probably" but pretty close to it. You can always tell a Nine by his very distinctive characteristic of... oh, wait... the Nine has no distinguishing characteristic. That's what makes a Nine a Nine. Sort of.

The core motivation of the Nine is peace and harmony. Because they want to keep conflict to a minimum -- well, completely absent if possible -- they are adept to seeing all sides to a conflict and helping to bring about a peaceful resolution, hence the name Peacemaker or, as they are also sometimes called, the Mediator. They can see every side, that is, except their own. Their drive to keep things calm, causes them to submerge their own desires so that they often don't even know they have any.

They also tend to take on the characteristics of the people they spend the most time with, called "merging," which can cause them to appear to be the same enneatype as the person they're with. They do this unconsciously as a tactic for creating more harmonious relationships. You can't have a conflict if you always want to do exactly what they person you're with wants to do.

All of the Nine behaviors are driven by their intuition. They're experts at picking up on nonverbal cues from other people and adapting their behavior to go along with or counter, depending on the need, the other emotional state of the other person. So good are they at sensing the condition of other people, they rarely have any idea of how they feel about any given situation. Questions aimed at them about their own feelings often get responses of "I don't know" or "Well, Bob feels..."

I have avoided personal examples in these so far but, this time, I'm going to give you one, because it's such a good example of Nine behavior:

A couple of years ago, we were trying to find out what my oldest son wanted for his birthday dinner. This should be an easy task, right? Not so much when you're a Nine, which he is. The conversation was something like this:
"Hey, so what do you want for your birthday dinner?"
"Oh, I don't care. Whatever you guys want to have."
"It's your birthday; we want to have whatever you want to have."
"Whatever's easiest, then."
"Anything you choose will be the same amount of easy."
"Whatever's cheapest, then."
"Look, that doesn't matter. Just tell us what you want."
"My brother wants pizza."
"Your brother always wants pizza. What do you want?"

I'm not exaggerating when I say that that conversation lasted for half an hour. It chased its tail. It went in circles. It was like the Scooby gang being chased by a ghost in a haunted house: everyone, including the ghost, running right into everyone else, getting scared, and running away again. We had to sit him down and make him think about what he wanted. He kept deferring in his responses to what he felt like other people would want.

Something as simple as "what do you want to eat for your birthday" became a rather tortuous task for him to figure out because, really, he didn't know. And that was an easy question. That's how it goes with Nines.

Ironically, the Nine's obsession with keeping their environment harmonious very frequently results in inner conflict. The fact that they are always burying their own desires (to the point of losing touch with them) to fulfill the desires of others causes them to feel invisible and creates a deep longing to be noticed. Of course, their lack of initiative and internal drive, actually, to not be noticed (because that can create disharmony) comes into conflict with this, a source of their angst. Also, any desires they have are unspoken and, therefore, unmet. These two conditions, unmet desires and feeling invisible, can create a deep well of anger within the Nine. Mostly, this anger goes unrecognized and submerged, but it can leak out as passive/aggressive behavior that the Nine is oblivious to. Occasionally, when pressed, this anger can result in huge outbursts of temper that quickly dissipate.

In stressful situations, especially situations where they're with people they're unfamiliar with, Nines can become nervous and jittery, unable to make any kind of decision because they don't know the people well enough to facilitate activities or resolve conflict. In situations of overt conflict, Nines may well seek physical refuge and, if failing that, will withdraw into themselves.

Nines who have spent the time getting to know themselves and figuring what their desires are can become very purpose-driven while still being able to resolve conflict with or for other people. They can learn to stand by what they actually want and achieve an internal harmony even in the face of external conflict.

Nines may appear to be introverts because of the way in which they become overwhelmed by conflict, but that isn't necessarily the case.

#NaNoWriMo: The Final Tally

In this post I mentioned I started a story on November 1 though I wasn't writing any stories over 50,000 to actually participate in NaNoWriMo.  I actually ended up writing 5 novellas over the month, finishing the fifth one conveniently on November 30.  So how many words did that equal?

1.  Transformed Into a Goth Girl Too (24,350 words)

2.  Transformed Into a Pregnant Girl Too (25,950 words)

3.  Transformed for Christmas (17,600 words)

4.  Transformed Into a Schoolgirl Too (29,380 words)

5.  Transformed Into a Bimbo Too (19,075 words)

So the final word count for the month was:   116,355 words!  Which was more than double the goal.  Nailed it!

How many words did you get down in November?

Indie Books for Black Friday & Cyber Monday!

Unless you're on the west coast, most of the heavy Black Friday shopping is done.  Why not kick back now with a book?  And since Saturday is Small Business Saturday, why not buy an indie author's book?  We're each like a small business ourselves.  Here are some recently released or upcoming titles:

Some Thanksgiving Stories by Briane Pagel:  Sure Thanksgiving was yesterday (or last month if you're Canadian) but that doesn't mean you can't still enjoy this book of short stories!

Everybody talks about Thanksgiving, but nobody does anything about it. UNTIL NOW. I have written the definitive collection of Thanksgiving short stories, 'definitive' meaning that every story in this collection at least mentions Thanksgiving. But some do more so: I have written a series of stories each centered around one Thanksgiving menu item. In "Turkey," you'll learn why it might be better to deep-fry your turkey. Stuffing introduces sure-to-be-classic character "The regular mouse," and a discussion of things you can stuff. And so on, through every course of a Thanksgiving dinner, finishing with the magical story "Pumpkin Pie."

The collection also includes the shorts "Pompeii" and "A Happy Story About The Universe, And Stuff," which, as promised, is happy! (And about both the universe as well as stuff!)

And right now it's FREE!  And only 99 cents after the sale ends!

Seasons' Beginnings (The Season Avatars Book 1) by Sandra Ulbrich Almazan:  The latest novel from the author of the Lyon's Legacy series!

Kron Evenhanded is an artificer, able to enchant any man-made object, but he finds people more difficult to work with. When he visits the city of Vistichia, he encounters Sal-thaath, an extremely magical but dangerous child created by Salth, another magician Kron knew at the Magic Institute. Kron attempts to civilize Sal-thaath, but when his efforts lead to tragedy, Kron is forced to ally himself with a quartet of new deities and their human Avatars. Together they must defend Vistichia as Salth attempts to drain its life and magic. But Salth has Ascended halfway to godhood over Time. Will Kron’s artifacts be enough to protect the Avatars, especially the woman he loves, or will Time separate them?

It's only $2.99 right now, or you can get it free with Kindle Unlimited or Amazon Prime.

What Time is the Tea Kettle? by Andrew Leon:  A pair of short stories from the author of the Shadow Spinner series!

An offbeat, comic fantasy about a man with a cat that can walk on air (and walls and ceilings) and a tea kettle that has a grudge against clocks. The two, the cat and the tea kettle, don't like each other much, either.
Also includes the novelette "Soul Cakes" with the same man and his cat and what happens when they meet a little girl whose own cat has gone missing. And why the man doesn't like Halloween.

It's only $2.99 right now, or you can get it free with Kindle Unlimited or Amazon Prime.

Tripler by Neil Vogler:  Get this book starting on Tuesday December 2 from the co-author of We Are Now and Deadly Sins!

In the near future an impossible virus is giving people the ability to summon two identical physical copies of themselves into existence at any time and in any situation – sending them murderously insane as a side-effect. They call the infected 'Triplers'.

Harry Allwear is a specialist tracker working to eradicate the Tripler threat, a disciplined, highly-trained ex-soldier with an impressive kill record. He's also a Tripler himself, kept sane only by experimental medication, nicotine, and an obsession with the music of David Bowie. Distrusted by the boss of his organisation and considered a liability and a wild card by those in power, he's a Tripler hunting others of his kind in order to serve the greater good – and keep his sanity-preserving medication coming.

But when a Tripler bomber wreaks havoc in his home city of London, Harry discovers his tracker colleagues murdered, his organisation devastated, and the doctor who created his medication kidnapped. Out of meds, low on resources, and burning with a desire for payback, Harry learns the startling truth: the Triplers have unified into an army, and are engineering a radical new dawn for the planet Earth.

Harry may be the only one equipped to stop the coming war, but he has a serious problem: his sanity is already slipping away. And the most lethal enemy of all could be one of his own selves…

You can pre-order it for 99 cents!  And get the introductory stories Tripler: The Beginning for free!

And of course you can get my pen name's latest opus:

Transformed for Christmas by Eric Filler, a special holiday edition of the bestselling Transformed gender swap series!

The classic Christmas tale is reborn in this new story by the author of the bestselling Transformed gender swap series! Edward Scrouge is a greedy businessman who puts profits above people. Then on Christmas night he's visited by three ghosts, who transform him into a woman from his past, his present, and his future in order to teach him the true meaning of Christmas.

It's only $2.99 right now, or you can get it free with Kindle Unlimited or Amazon Prime.

Get these and many more indie books from Amazon or other online retailers!

Exploring Personality: Part Ten -- "Because I said so!"

"...let go your conscious self and act on instinct." -- Ben Kenobi

Types 8, 9, and 1 make up the intuition triad of the Enneagram, also known as the body triad because of the tendency of people in this group to say things like, "I knew it in my gut." Reactions can be very instinctual, requiring little thought and ignoring emotions. Intuition isn't well understood by science. It's the brain making a "leap of logic" and, while some studies have shown that forcing people to do something like math intuitively generates more correct responses than people who are required to "logic it out," that does not mean that people who rely on intuition are always right. It's very dependent upon the individual. The motivating emotion for this triad is anger, but it manifests differently for each of the three types (unlike for the intellectual triad where their fear is almost always about decision-making).

The Boss

When you think of the stereotypical, emotionally-detached father-figure who expects and demands unquestioning loyalty and obedience, you are thinking of the type Eight. Eights want to be "in charge," hence the title of "The Boss." They are also know as the Challenger, because they frequently put themselves in positions of challenging authority. It's hard to be in charge when someone else is telling you what to do so they have a tendency to defy authority just for the sake of doing it. This is your true rebel without a cause.

However, this is not the loner rebel out doing his own thing. Eights are almost always extroverts and often charismatic. As such, they are frequently able to gather followers for whatever it is they're doing, leading a rebellion or not.

More than anything else, the Eight wants to be in charge of his own destiny. As such, he hates to have his authority questioned. Above all else, the Eight believes in his own "rightness," whether or not there is anything with which to back up his views. This is what makes him, in his own mind, more suited than all others to be the one in charge. Questioning his authority is equivalent to questioning your own loyalty to him but, even worse, you may cause him to question himself and his own qualifications for leadership. Eights are adept at burying their own doubts, though, and proceeding with confidence, one of the qualities that make people look up to them. No matter if his path is correct or not, he will tread it boldly.

In an effort to be in control of all things and not allow anyone to have power over them, Eights are emotionally unavailable. Love, especially, can give someone else power over them or make them appear weak, so they keep their emotions as bottled up as possible. This can lead them to reject others preemptively. It's better to cut people out when they are in control of the situation rather than to risk being hurt and losing control to someone else or in front of other people.

The typical response to any sort of threat, real or imagined, to the Eight's authority, which can include anything from an actual challenge to just making him look bad in some way, is anger. Anger is the first defense mechanism of the Eight. And the first offense mechanism. It is through anger that the Eight dominates his "foes."

At their best, Eights can fight the "good fight" and do a lot of good. They are willing to protect "their people," because they willingly give back the loyalty they receive. They can come to understand that they can't please everyone (not that they're trying to) and learn to take some amount of criticism without feeling threatened. Often, this state is achieved through surrendering themselves to some higher authority or ideal.

At their worst, they become dictators, believing completely in "might makes right." They use force and violence to inflict their will upon the ones under their power.

It should be noted that Eights are almost always men (just as Twos are almost always women). It's unclear whether this is because Eight behavior in women is culturally unacceptable and, thus, they are "broken" of it early on in life.

Get Transformed for Christmas on Black Friday!

I haven't had much luck with Amazon's pre-order system so far, but I'm going to try it one last time to release the holiday-themed book in the bestselling Transformed series:  Transformed for Christmas.

The overall story should be pretty familiar, as there are probably a billion different versions of A Christmas Carol by now.  In this case, Edward Scrouge is a greedy businessman putting profits before people.  Then on Christmas Eve night, the ghost of his former business partner visits him to tell him he'll be visited by three ghosts.

The twist on the old story is that the ghosts put Edward inside the minds of three women:  one from his past, one from his present, and one in his future.  The title is a little misleading as he doesn't actually become these women.  He's just inside their brains so he can see what they see and feel what they feel.  And through this he starts to realize the error of his ways.

The story is pretty mainstream, but so I could file this under erotica there are some sex scenes thrown in.  Viewer discretion is advised.

Provided Amazon doesn't screw it up, you should be able to buy it on Black Friday for only $2.99!  Here's a sample, where Edward meets the ghost of his dead partner:

He must nod off in the chair, because the anchor on the screen is Jackson Morley, his old partner.  The problem is that Jackson has been dead for ten years now.  He died of a stroke about two months after Edward bought him out and took his name off the stationary.

At first Jackson reads a report about falling crude oil prices, but then he stops, his eyes seeming to focus on Edward.  “There’s still time, Edward.  There’s still time to save yourself.”

Edward shakes his head and then flips to Bloomberg.  Jackson is in the anchor chair there too.  “Change your ways now, Edward, before it’s too late.”

Edward stabs the power button on the remote.  He chugs down the last of the Scotch.  He must be seeing things.  Tomorrow he should have Bobbi make an appointment with the doctor; it’s past time for his annual physical anyway.

“I’m not a figment of your imagination,” Jackson hisses.  Edward can’t resist letting out a yelp to see the spectral image of Jackson floating in front of him.  “I’ve come to warn you before it’s too late.”

“Too late for what?”

“To avoid this.”  Jackson’s Armani suit blazes with fire; Edward can feel the heat, but the flames don’t seem to affect the floor or carpet.  Like in the first Indiana Jones movie, the skin on Jackson’s face melts away, leaving a disgusting mass of charred muscles and bone.  A terrible howl escapes where his lips would be.  “The fires of damnation await you unless you repent now!”

Edward reaches out, trying to touch Jackson’s scorched suit, but his hand goes right through.  The heat, while uncomfortable, isn’t as searing as it should be.  “What is this, some kind of computer trick?  A hologram or something?  Whoever is doing this, you’ve got Jackson all wrong.  He’s not some fire-and-brimstone preacher.  Hell, he was Jewish.”

“I am not a trick!  Or a hologram.  Would a computer simulation know you wet your pants before your first presentation to the Lindt brothers?  You had to buy a new suit off the rack at Macy’s.”

Edward’s face turns warm with shame; that’s not a memory he’s fond of.  “All that means is you’ve done your homework.”

“Very well.  If you’re not going to believe me, then there’s another way to convince you.”  The flames on Jackson’s suit go out; the skin reappears on his face.  He points an accusing finger down at Edward.  “Tonight you will be visited by three spirits.  They will show you the error of your ways and the bleak future that awaits you.”

“Sure, three ghosts.  Past, present, and future, right?”  Edward blows out a raspberry.  “I’ve seen this movie before, buddy.  You should get some new material.”

“I have tried to make you see reason, Edward.  It’s a pity I couldn’t do so.  You can expect the first ghost at one o’clock.  Farewell, my old friend.”

“There’s where you got it wrong again.  We were never friends.  You used me to bring the company into the 21^st Century.  Then you whined like a little bitch when I pushed you out of the way to take what was mine.”

“Goodbye, Edward.  Consider what I’ve said.  There is still time.”  Jackson’s voice gets fainter as his spirit fades away.  The moment he finds himself alone again, Edward reaches for the phone to call security.

So after you endure the Black Friday crowds, wind down with a good holiday read!  And at $2.99 it probably won't break your budget either.

BTW, today is the last day to get my novella Race Against Time for free.   When I was writing the story, I consulted this handy diagram I composed on PowerPoint using Sims made for other stories so I could keep straight what the characters were supposed to look like for each chapter:

So there you go, some insight into the writing process.

More FREE Books!

For no really good reason I put a couple of my books on sale for FREE on Amazon now through Sunday/Monday.  If you ever wanted to sample some of my pseudonym Eric Filler's bestselling prose, now is the time!

First there's Transformed Into a Cougar (Transformed #10).  Which of course we're not talking about the big cat cougars; we're talking about a still-hot middle-aged chick.  But that wouldn't have really fit on the cover, would it?

FREE!

Like all of these (except the holiday ones) it features two stories.  In "On the Prowl" a slick young bachelor runs afoul of an older woman, who turns him into her wingman--or wingwoman.  So now he has to seduce young guys like he used to be.  But things go awry when he falls in love with his prey.

"Hot for Teacher" features one of the odder devices I've used in these stories.  Basically there's a comet that comes by once every 100 years or so.  When a high school boy makes a wish on the comet, he becomes his hot teacher!  And then mayhem ensues as the boy and the teacher engage in a war of wishing on the comet.

It's FREE through Sunday, so get it now!

Also FREE!

Also FREE is the novella Race Against Time.  A police detective's daughter is kidnapped by a guy calling himself the Gamemaster.  To get her back, the detective enters a weird virtual reality game.  There are a series of 18 levels and each one that she fails, the detective gets 2 years younger and her daughter 1 year younger.  The object then is for the detective to save her daughter before they both turn into primordial ooze. 

Given the nature of the story, the chapter numbers run backwards, from Chapter 18 to Chapter 0, ie the Epilogue.  I decided to have a lot of fun by incorporating as many characters and locations from other stories as possible.  So at one point the detective becomes Velocity Gal of the Girl Power series and in another level she turns into Stacey Chance.  The detective herself hails from the Scarlet Knight series.  It's pretty much filled with  more in-jokes than an episode of Family Guy.

Some dork gave it one star because it "doesn't command the reader's attention."  Well dipshit maybe that's because the only other things you review are video games and video game equipment.  Anyway, I doubt I'll get any [good] reviews, but what the hell.

It's FREE through Monday, so get it!

I suppose even if you don't want to read them, you can download both, just to help my position on the Amazon charts.  The Cougar one got to #3 on the Top 100 Free of this list in the US & UK.  So that's something.

Anyway, I could call this my birthday gift to you.  Saturday is my birthday, which I'll be celebrating in Scottsdale by doing almost nothing because I have no money until next week.  Hooray!

Exploring Personality: Part Nine -- "I want it all!"

"I want the world. I want the whole world... Give it to me now." -- Veruca Salt

Enneagram types 5, 6, and 7 make up the intellectual triad of the Enneagram. These types are data based. They are information gatherers. They tend to react to situations from a more rational viewpoint, especially when compared to the emotional triad (types 2, 3, and 4). Where other types, when asked why they did something, may say, "I don't know," the intellectuals can almost always tell you exactly why they made the decision they made and hand you the numbers to back it up. Their emotional center is fear; gathering information and making informed decisions is a way of combating that fear. The intellectuals are also attracted to ideas and ideals; relationships are less important and can sometimes be a means of achieving other objectives.

The Epicure

Also known as the Enthusiast, the Seven is best known for her pursuit of pleasure. Her enthusiastic pursuit of pleasure, because Sevens rarely get involved in activities without throwing themselves in all the way. However, this can sometimes resemble throwing yourself into the deep end of the pool without knowing how to swim.

The Enthusiast is the more common name given to Sevens, but I prefer Epicure. So here's a brief history lesson:
Epicurus, the Greek philosopher, believed that the pursuit of pleasure was the greatest good. That's a bit misleading, though, because he defined "pleasure," basically, as the absence of pain and fear. He really wasn't promoting the kind of hedonism the idea is attached to these days. Epicurus believed in a sparse and tranquil life, not the kind of behavior we associate with Sevens, today. BUT! The motivation that drives Sevens in their pursuit of pleasurable experiences is, actually, to get away from negative experiences. That's an important distinction.

Of course, it's a distinction that Sevens are not always conscious of as the knowledge of their avoidant behavior is in-and-of itself a painful thing to confront.

Because even boredom (often especially boredom) is a painful experience for Sevens, they tend to be spontaneous. Or what looks like spontaneous from the outside. The truth is that a Seven's mind is always working and planning and looking ahead to the future and what kinds of things they can do to occupy themselves. This is why they are in the thinking triad. They tirelessly collect data, often becoming instant experts on subjects, so that they can better formulate their plans for the future. To everyone else, this looks like a person who, while in the middle of doing some often highly anticipated event, suddenly wants to take off and do the next thing: spontaneous. But for the Seven, who has planned all of it out in her head in exquisite detail, it's not spontaneous at all. In fact, a Seven can frequently have a very negative response to spontaneous ideas from other people if they don't fit into the plans she's already made. Sevens also respond poorly to being told "no" about pretty much anything they've developed in their minds, whatever the reason. At that point, the person saying "no" becomes one of those negative aspects of life to be avoided.

Sevens are "life of the party" kind of people and are most often extroverts, delighting in being the center of attention. They promote fun experiences for everyone around them and are frequently leading the charge to some new activity. As such, they have a problem with follow through. As soon as an activity becomes repetitive or routine, they are ready to move on to the next thing. Because they are such good planners, though, they can be highly efficient at getting routine work out of the way. Or of coming up with inventive ways of getting around it. However, they can find it soul-killing when stuck in situations where are they are forced to do uninteresting, repetitive labor.

Sevens are especially prone to addictive behaviors of all sorts, especially when "stuck" in situations from which they feel they have no escape. Rather then face their own negative emotions, they can become critical and abusive toward those around them, highlighting others' negative qualities. When allowed to freely express their wide range of passions, though, they can become experts in many different areas and become an unemptying fountain of ideas.

It should be noted that Sevens make up a fairly small portion of people, one of the smallest personality types. It should also be noted that Sevens are much more frequently men.