INTP writers

[photomn508]

1) Does anybody know any INTP authors?
2) And if not, do you think it's possible for INTP's to get authors (novelist, short story writers, etc)?

[Cryss Winters]

I don't personally know of any, no.
Of course it's possible. Any type can do anything.

[Inappropriate Behavior]

I tried googling INTP authors and your post was the 3rd link. Nothing much helpful except a bunch of guessing at another forum.

So to make my own guesses:

Stephen R Donaldson (probable)
Alistair Reynolds (probable)
Hermann Hesse (likely)
Ayn Rand (maybe but just as likely INTJ)

I suck at typing so I should probably just stop.

[Artifice Orisit]

The creative aspects of being a professional author are perfect for INTPs, however an INFP would be better suited to creating emotionally rich prose and the dedication/perseverance required to see the project become a successfully published novel is the realm of the INTJ.

The talents of an ES are also highly important if one wishes to understand more than their own psychology and perspective, i.e. an ES can "discover" dozens of interesting characters by going to a local bar and seeking out interesting people, an IN however is so enrapt in hir own highly augmented perception of reality it can be difficult for others to relate to the fiction they write.

@-photomn508
If you want to be a writer, I have three tips for you.
1. Carry a notepad wherever you go, because inspiration comes and goes like the wind.
2. Writing is a craft, study successful authors & literary theory to understand the how'n'why.
3. Unoriginal work is worthless, so write the story only you can write.

And lastly, good luck to you, not too much though, you're my competition

[Anthile]

@IB: Hermann Hesse is the exemplary INFJ author!

@Cog: Going into bars is not a privilege of the ES! Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Satre were infamous for their joint pub crawls in Saint-Germain-des-Près! Studying people in the public is helpful for everyone who wants to become an author. Don't restrict yourself with something like a type.


But anyway, some authors who could pass through as INTPs:

Franz Kafka
Edgar Allan Poe
H. P. Lovecraft
Ambrose Bierce
Stephen King
Max Frisch
Jean-Christophe Grangé
Terry Pratchett
Alan Moore

[Cobra]

Whitman?

But we're talking novels and non-fiction books here, I take it.

[Lithorn]

Originally Posted by Anthile

@IB:


But anyway, some authors who could pass through as INTPs:

Franz Kafka
Edgar Allan Poe
H. P. Lovecraft
Ambrose Bierce
Stephen King
Max Frisch
Jean-Christophe Grangé
Terry Pratchett
Alan Moore

I highly doubt that Stephen King is INTP. He's much too repetitive

[Cobra]

Yeah, but he's go for reactionary.

[ashitaria]

I write fantasy in my free time (as opposed to reading theories or concepts XP)
so perhaps I am one?

[shoeless]

there's no way poe was an INTP. he's wayyyyyyy too much of an F to be INTP.

anyway, i can't think of any INTP authors, because it's kind of hard to tell just through writing style -- you have to know about their life. and a lot of people don't tend to study author's lives. at least, not in any depth.

[sniktawekim]

Originally Posted by shoeless

there's no way poe was an INTP. he's wayyyyyyy too much of an F to be INTP

i quite disagree.
can you somehow quantify this claim?

[shoeless]

honestly, the more i think about it, the more it's really hard to say. his life was like one big fuckshow all the way through, so it's impossible to discern when he was using his shadow functions and when he was functioning optimally.

eh, i dunno.

(although he did write a lot about revenge, which i think is a very Fi-driven concept.)

[cheese]

Dostoyevsky?
Huxley?

ENTPs:
Douglas Adams?
PG Wodehouse?

I'd guess Pratchett (someone mentioned him earlier) is an ENTP as well. These three authors exhibit Ne most imo.

[Jah]

Huxley
Robert Anton Wilson
James Joyce, (at times)

[violetblue]

have you tried Michael Ondaatje? (i thought Anil's Ghost was particularly beautiful---a painful subject, but the book is so lyrical; you could almost sing his prose.) what about Arundhati Roy? The God of Small Things? i especially enjoyed reading about Rahel's childhood--very INTJ, in my opinion.

(oops. excuse me---i meant INTP.)

[CaptainBC]

Coetzee

[Beat Mango]

If philosophers count as writers, you could name them by the bucketload. Keeping it to literature, well, I'm reading Zorba the Greek at the moment by Nikos Kazantzakis (which is brilliant by the way) and the narrating character to me seems very INTP - although I concede he could be a thinking INF (who can tell?). Seeing as though the book is somewhat autobiographical, and given his interest in Nietzsche, I think it's quite likely Kazantzakis is an INTP.

Btw, Anthile, Kafka is IXTJ in my opinion - his characters in the two books I've read are just so, what's the word, practical.

[Vatroslav]

have you read the metamorphosis? I think there is a strong N...

[EditorOne]

Ambrose Bierce for sure. At least, any INTP can read his stuff and just say "oh, yes." There is an entire book of Civil War short stories by Bierce that has the imprimatur of authenticity; he was there, and his writing about it is both wickedly sardonic and deeply idealistic. He captured people very well, just using battle as a context for extreme stress that brought out the best and worst. And, just for all us INTPs, he leaves a lot of it between the lines, like you've got to figure out one story is really parallel to King David and Uriah the Hittite, with a wife understated in prose but the key to the whole thing.

I like Stephen King in bits and pieces, but mainly because we have a lot in common from growing up in the same era and facing quite similar life situations, it underpins much of his writing. He's ahead on money, though. I just could not get into the Dark Tower stuff. Just because he's a nerd and weird does not qualify him for INTP status, though it is surely possible.

[Jennywocky]

Originally Posted by Inappropriate Behavior

I tried googling INTP authors and your post was the 3rd link. Nothing much helpful except a bunch of guessing at another forum.

So to make my own guesses:

Stephen R Donaldson (probable)

Donaldson is actually very INFJ.
(I've met him before.)
I was surprised by how "put together" he was.
Even in casual clothes he was very typical J type that way...
He's very particular as well, with strong convictions.

I think, though, that what you are seeing here is the similarity that can exist between INTP and INFJ. INFJs who develop their tertiaries (Ti) can sound *VERY* INTP-like.... amazingly so. I have a few INFJ friends with highly developed Ti and they can write and understand "INTP" speak as if they were born into it. They just focus on Ni instead of Ne per se, but the "N" is still close.

It was really educational for me, because I was wondering INTP as well before I actually saw him that time, and his presentation and demeanor did not fit INTP... more experience with Ti-intense INFJs and rereading his own author notes on things clarified it for me.

(For comparison, I think Harlan Ellison is INFJ as well... but with a different cognitive focus. Donaldson is very reclusive, so he naturally developed his Ni+Ti combo. Ellison is more outgoing and a scrapper; he seems far more Ni dominant + other functions, and his Ti ain't so hot.)

[Beat Mango]

Originally Posted by Vatroslav

have you read the metamorphosis? I think there is a strong N...

Yes and I thought man, that character is so damn pragmatic! Which made me think ok, could be an ISTJ, but I'd certainly lean strongly towards INTJ.

[citrusbreath95]

Originally Posted by Banana Mango

Yes and I thought man, that character is so damn pragmatic! Which made me think ok, could be an ISTJ, but I'd certainly lean strongly towards INTJ.

Not entirely sure about INTJ as my dad is INTJ and I didnt really make a connection to him while reading, though I dont know too much on the INTJ personality type only the basics.

[Himself]

What about David Foster Wallace? Between the extraordinary, intellectually-challenging sprawl that is Infinite Jest, and the very dry humor and overall detached nature of his nonfiction essays, he strikes me as an INTP. Part of this is undoubtedly because I feel as though I relate to him in a strange sort of way -- I suffer from depression (not as bad as his, though) and identify strongly with his intellectual/semantic tendencies. (And, of course, thoroughly enjoy his works.)

If I may tentatively bring Enneagram typing into this, I'd say he's very much like a 5w4 kind of INTP (as am I).

[axemblack]

Originally Posted by Himself

What about David Foster Wallace? Between the extraordinary, intellectually-challenging sprawl that is Infinite Jest, and the very dry humor and overall detached nature of his nonfiction essays, he strikes me as an INTP. Part of this is undoubtedly because I feel as though I relate to him in a strange sort of way -- I suffer from depression (not as bad as his, though) and identify strongly with his intellectual/semantic tendencies. (And, of course, thoroughly enjoy his works.)

If I may tentatively bring Enneagram typing into this, I'd say he's very much like a 5w4 kind of INTP (as am I).

Yeah I've wondered that myself with DFW. I think he probably is.

[Melkor]

Do I count?
Ya know, seeing as we should include unpublished budding writers.

[Eclipse]

I'm hoping to be a writer. I'm about 60,000 words into a (dare I call it a novel?). I always just wrote for fun...it wasn't until a few months ago I considered it a career option.

[Robbaz]

Originally Posted by Eclipse

I'm hoping to be a writer. I'm about 60,000 words into a (dare I call it a novel?). I always just wrote for fun...it wasn't until a few months ago I considered it a career option.

Congrats, you're further than me. I'm about 1,000 words into my (yes, I'll call it a novel). The ideas are all there, it's just getting it from my head to paper that's the challenging part. I seem to always change my course a lot and if over-analyze everything I write. I'm hoping to get past that soon.

[Jinbei]

I heard somewhere that J.K Rowling is INTP

btw, I've been working on my own fantasy novel too.

[Dimensional Transition]

I think Huxley was INTP-y.

I'm tempted to say H.P. Lovecraft but I'm not too sure about that.

[Vrecknidj]

http://www.celebritytypes.com/intp.htm

[Puffy]

Of the ones I have read a lot of: I'm sorry to be that guy again but I actually think Franz Kafka is closer to an INFJ rather than an INTP. I've read a few biographies of his life, there's just Ni everywhere, in my opinion.

I thought Crumb's depiction of Kafka was always quite fun:



(Notice the similarity between this and my avatar? :P)

[downsowf]

I could kinda see Kafka being an INTP. I've definitely been through my Kafka obsession.

Here are my dumb guesses:

Gogol
Nabakov
Cormac McCarthy
Don Delillo
Saul Bellow

[Powder-Monkey]

My first thought was Tolken. I think perhaps why many people say that they can't read his writing, is because they can't keep up with how involved he was with details.

MyPersonality.com says he's an INFP...but I think he fits INTP more, particularly when you consider that he was a linguist.

[C.J_Finn]

I write poetry and I'm an INTP. Don't know if that counts though. As someone else said, it's hard to figure out the types of authors just based off of their writings. I suck at typing anyway, so that might be the reason why.


I also looked at that famous INTPs thing, and I had a laugh when I saw Richard Dawkins on there. I just can't believe that he's an INTP.xD

[Sanctum]

I think its very possible for INTP's to be writers. All that time we spend in our head its impossible not to think of anything worth writing down. I'm in school and i ace essays and creative writing prompts. I plan to write a few books when i get older.

[DetachedRetina]

Originally Posted by Vatroslav

have you read the metamorphosis? I think there is a strong N...

Yeah I definitely think Kafka was either INTP or INTJ. I find it interesting that he wanted his works to be destroyed after he died.

I think most of the writers who captured the absurdity of life were NT types.

I think Camus seems very NT especially is his nonfiction works (essays and such)

What do you think about Samuel Beckett?

[DetachedRetina]

I think Gogol was supposed to be more of an INFJ

[Architect]

Originally Posted by Powder-Monkey

My first thought was Tolken. I think perhaps why many people say that they can't read his writing, is because they can't keep up with how involved he was with details.

MyPersonality.com says he's an INFP...but I think he fits INTP more, particularly when you consider that he was a linguist.

He was more likely an S type.

There was an INTP writer once on this board or another (INTPc). I forget his name, but he certainly seemed like and acted like an INTP. He wasn't a particularly famous writer but he did mysteries (I think) and made a living at it. The only clue to finding his identity is that I remember he wrote a story that started out with a guy who looked in the sky to see fish (salmon I think) raining down on him. Turned out somebody has a big water hose that happened to be sucking up the fish to.

If you can use that to track him down his books are on Amazon, mostly out of print if I recall, but he had 10 or 15 of them. He seemed to enjoy the bohemian lifestyle it afforded him better than the writing, and he found it easy to knock out pages and pages of text.

I suspect there aren't a lot of INTP writers. Not intellectually stimulating enough? We're not interested in the human condition enough? Or maybe that INTP's don't care enough about words generally?

[DetachedRetina]

Originally Posted by Himself

What about David Foster Wallace? Between the extraordinary, intellectually-challenging sprawl that is Infinite Jest, and the very dry humor and overall detached nature of his nonfiction essays, he strikes me as an INTP. Part of this is undoubtedly because I feel as though I relate to him in a strange sort of way -- I suffer from depression (not as bad as his, though) and identify strongly with his intellectual/semantic tendencies. (And, of course, thoroughly enjoy his works.)

If I may tentatively bring Enneagram typing into this, I'd say he's very much like a 5w4 kind of INTP (as am I).

I think he's probably a bit more INFP, or mixed sort of.

[titus oates]

h.g.wells perhaps?

[Duxwing]

Unpublished though they are, I've written several short stories and one forty minute film, and I'm an INTP. Assuming that nobody steals my work, I might post them here.

-Duxwing

[intpz]

*gets into a position to press "CTRL+C" and "CTRL+V" quickly*

[Bananaskovitch]

J.D. Salinger is the first that came to my mind. He created a really introspective and emotional fictive world.

[shrub77]

Douglas Adams?
Dirk Gently from Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency seems to be an INTP character

[RYZHKND]

Originally Posted by Bananaskovitch

J.D. Salinger is the first that came to my mind. He created a really introspective and emotional fictive world.

NO.

JEROME DAVID SALINGER WAS AN OBVIOUS "INFP".

[simonfunk]

Simon Funk. http://sifter.org/~simon/AfterLife/

[Nissa]

Originally Posted by Powder-Monkey

My first thought was Tolken. I think perhaps why many people say that they can't read his writing, is because they can't keep up with how involved he was with details.

MyPersonality.com says he's an INFP...but I think he fits INTP more, particularly when you consider that he was a linguist.

I don't think he's T. I mean, he's certainly not dumb, but everything he writes is so emotional. I very much doubt a T would have written the Children of Hurin (which I do NOT recommend. Very creepy...)

However, his friend CS Lewis I'm pretty sure is an INTP. Other places have mentioned this, and I really feel connected to his writing. It feels like he analyzes the world the same as an INTP.

And I try to write too.

[Antediluvian]

I don't know of any authors that are INTP.

For some reason, others have told me I could be a professional writer, but I'll never pull it together enough to make that happen