We Call This Writing

You're Hot And You're Cold

WARM AND COLD CHARACTERS

There are probably more complex ways to tackle this topic. There's the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator, there are thousands of personality quizzes out there. This is my simplified version, because it is far too easy to procrastinate while doing a MBTI questionnaire 100 questions long, for the third character today.

I think of warm and cool characters in terms of how they interact with others and how they make their decisions. Like introverts and extroverts, they're not always entirely consistent. An introvert can still enjoy a good party. And extrovert can still enjoy reading. It's a rough guideline, but I find it helpful in discovering the conflict that can occur between two characters in a one-on-one conversation and in showing how characters react to extreme emotions.

We'll start with the basics of this scale of mine.

Warm

Warm characters are ones who make emotion-based decisions. They're passionate, loving deeply and hating equally deeply. They're more spontaneous, reacting out of instinct, jumping to conclusions before they think about things.

Warm heroes want to protect everyone and everything they care about, jumping into the fray (think . Warm villains are full of burning hatred.

These are your Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, your Team Valour.

Cool

Cool characters are probably pretty obvious right now. They try to be rational, to make decisions from an analytical place. The appear more level-headed, even when they're freaking out on the inside. They're strategic, take time to initiate their plans, and instead of lashing out immediately, they hold lasting grudges.

Cool heroes are problem solvers, getting things done by approaching solutions before giving into emotions. Cool villains destroy you tactically, cornering their enemies until they have no way out.

These are your Slytherins and Ravenclaws, your Team Mystics of the world.

The Interest is in the Combinations

Types by themselves are straightforward. The fun part comes in putting types head to head. Any combination has its own little quirks, whether it be in a cool-warm romance or a warm hero facing off against a cool villain. Both types have weaknesses to exploit to create conflict.

Jane and Dean are cool characters. Rhys and Kate are warm characters. There's a particular scene in Natalie's Diary that clearly illustrates the difference between how Rhys and Dean handle specific conflict against a school principal. Both insinuate that the school is failing particular students. Rhys' response is very shout-y and accusational. Dean calmly waits his turn and very calmly plays his cards. They both try to accomplish roughly the same thing, but their methods are telling. (And before this, Dean could almost be mistaken for a warm character and vice versa).

Now, arguments are really the fun part. 

Now, cool vs. warm is a good time, rational trying to win over emotion. I think there's something really interesting in the contrast of it, in what people decide to say, in how to deflect questions and to extract the truth. Where a character is on the warm/cool spectrum doesn't necessarily dictate whether or not they 'win' most arguments. 

Cool/cool arguments are fun for different reasons. Having two characters who know how to get under each other's skin ends in a solid trading of barbs, saying all the things that'll sting. There's a lot of tension, like playing a really good chess match. Both characters try and push each other over the edge. 

I wish I had a half-decent example for a warm/warm argument that wasn't SUPER SPOILER-Y for my books. It ends in fists flying. That's what happens when emotionally overdrawn characters get into disagreements. Or it ends in someone crying.

For romance, I tend to prefer the balance of a warm/cool mixture, but that's not always the case. If you've read any of Team Spirit, Leo and Sam are both very warm characters. It just kind of makes your heart explode.

I can't tell if this really communicated all that I wanted to communicate, but I'm opening to answering questions? Maybe thinking of characters this way doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me.