Creating well-rounded, compelling, and believable characters is no easy task. Many writers use “character interviews” and other traditional writing techniques to sketch out a character’s physical characteristics, personal backgrounds, and values. But the experts at Writer’s Relief know another unique, effective way to give your characters more dimension: Try a personality quiz! From serious, research-backed quizzes to the sillier, Buzzfeed-esque offerings, these tests are usually just a fun way for people to get to know themselves. But savvy writers can use these personality quizzes to discover what makes their characters tick. Here are 9 free online personality quizzes you can use to create characters. (Remember to take the quiz from your character’s perspective!)

Free Personality Quizzes To Help Create Believable Characters

16 Personalities: Based on the famous Myers-Briggs test and system, this quiz will tell you where your character fits based on five basic personality traits. Once you’re finished, be sure to read more about your character’s type!

Sorting Hat Quiz: Is your protagonist a brave Gryffindor or a brainy Ravenclaw? Use this fun Buzzfeed quiz to find out which Hogwarts house your character would be sorted into!

Color Test: In this test you choose colors you gravitate toward, so you’ll need to get into your character’s mindset before you start. Color Test is a bit more intuitive than other tests that have straightforward questions. Find out if your character is more introverted or extroverted!

Visual DNA: Similar to the color test, this one has you picking images you feel drawn toward—so a minute before starting, really put yourself in your character’s shoes.

DISC test: The DISC assessment shows you where  your characters land on a spectrum of four big personality traits: dominance, influence, steadiness, and conscientiousness.

Enneagram: Is your villain a Heart Type, Head Type, or Body Type? Find out which of the nine enneagram types best fits your character.

Animal Personality: This test is a bit less serious and will tell you which animal your character’s personality most resembles. Does your hero have the heart of a lion or an herbivore?

Big Five Test: Is your sidekick character insecure and neurotic? This test will show you where your character falls on a five-trait personality model that measures extraversion, agreeableness, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.

Love Languages: How would your characters function in close relationships? Take this test from each of their perspectives to discover if their love language is words, gifts, service, or something else!

By taking these personality quizzes from the viewpoint of your characters, you’ll gain insights into how they will more genuinely react in different situations. You might even decide to change the outcome of a story arc or plot twist based on your new insights into your character’s personality. And your readers will be much more engaged in the story’s outcome when they can identify with the characters’ reactions, emotions, and motivations.

Once you’ve written, edited, and polished your story or novel, you won’t have to test your patience and endurance while spending hours and hours researching the best opportunities for publication—the research experts at Writer’s Relief can do that for you! (We definitely score high in the diligent, conscientious, Ravenclaw categories.) We’ll pinpoint the right markets and boost your odds of getting an acceptance or an agent request for more pages. Learn more about our services and submit your writing to our Review Board today!

Question: Which personality quiz will you use to develop your characters?