Ithilwen wrote:This is how it happens to me as well. I've often said that I don't feel like the author of my books, because all the characters, plot twists, etc. came to me naturally, out of nowhere. An example I often use to show what it's like is that it feels like someone has slipped a DVD into my head, and I'm sitting there watching the movie play inside my brain, not knowing what's going to happen next, and just enjoying the show. After I've watched the whole thing, I write down what I saw in my notes, organize the notes, and turn it into a book.
Ah, I think I see where you're coming from, then. The sense of involuntarily receiving ideas is the common ground here. Beyond that, though, I don't think what you're describing is the same as what Lewis described, or is a description of how Ni works. That's not necessarily your fault, though, because I feel like I may be inadvertently throwing you off with some of my own descriptions. Like I said in a previous post, Ni is notoriously difficult to put into words.

For Lewis,
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe wasn't like a movie that downloaded into his brain; it began with a single picture (one that had been in his mind for over thirty years) and one day, he decided that he would try to write a story about it. He tells us that initially, he didn't know how the story was going to go, but then the unifying character of Aslan appeared and, like pieces in a puzzle, the rest of the story fell into place. Similar to how the mental picture of the faun carrying an umbrella in a snowy wood didn't become a story until decades later, Lewis tried and failed to write
The Magician's Nephew for a number of years after publishing LWW. He finally made a breakthrough in 1953 and then wrote MN in short order, completing it early in 1954.
This is very similar to how I, an INFJ, develop stories: it begins with a vague idea or series of ideas that I may sit on for quite some time before experiencing the sudden epiphany that crystallizes them into a unified story. When this happens, it's as if all of the pieces of the story, which once seemed disconnected, are clicking seamlessly together like magic. It can sometimes feel a little bit like I've already figured out the story while I was asleep and am only just remembering it now that I'm awake.
Your description of a fully-formed, richly-detailed story that you consciously observe playing out in your mind seems quite different from this to me. The sheer amount of detail you come away with is also extremely indicative of extroverted intuition, or Ne, which is your secondary function as an INTP. I have seen Ne described as an explosion of ideas not unlike a supernova, whereas Ni is a black hole drawing in information and zeroing in on just a few overarching concepts.
Basically, Ne multiplies and divides, while Ni distills and unifies. If that makes any sense.

Ithilwen wrote:I always heard that Tolkien was an INFP.

I've seen that on some celebrity types websites and have encountered individuals arguing that on the internet, but I've also seen a number of people type him as an INTP and give pretty good reasoning for doing so. Based on what I do know about him and his writing, it seems like a really good fit, but if I'm being honest, I don't know enough to speculate intelligently.

If he is an INFP, though, I think he would need to have a really well-developed inferior function.
IloveFauns wrote:Just finished my personality module at uni. Socio-cognitive approach seems to be a well regarded theory of personality. Here is a link to this gist of the theory
https://explorable.com/social-cognitive ... ersonality
what do you all think?
That's really interesting,
IlF! The part at the end that states "personality per se does not exist, and that our traits are merely cognitive strategies or things that we do for us to obtain the kind of reward we want" is especially intriguing. I'll have to look into it and give it some thought.

Thanks for sharing!