Personality for my protagonist

[Fogged_Creation]

Alright! Gonna go straight to the business and explain my specific situation.

So, I've got a decent world with an unfinished magic system and regional politics and culture that only exist where my protagonist lived at the moment.
And right now, I'm trying to think about how my main character will react to certain things, which would be his flair in how he acts and how he thinks, which would make him unique and... Less of an NPC. And, at the same time, I'm trying to make my story interesting, while it's just a story about a guy who stumbles upon certain events and makes due with the situations with what he has learned along his travels. But he does not have any destiny or any will of the gods telling him that he must save the world and yadiyada
To give context about Chad's life so far, so that maybe you can give hints on how he might change in certain ways. Although I might be getting ahead of myself... Soooo, you can skip Chad's backstory if you want by scrolling down until you see the bold letters and start from there, it's just in case you don't need to know Chad's brief backstory in order to have hints on how his personality should be.

So, in his past life he was a young boy, lived in comfort for all his life until one day... Well, it's more like 2 to 3 days. The villagers suddenly felt strange and weak on the first day, including his own parents, then the second day they were vomiting, trouble breathing, sweating and had a very high temperature, then on the third day they all died. However, Chad is supposedly the only one who survived, and didn't get sick like the rest...
And the reason why is because he didn't eat any of the food or drink any of the water for 3 full days out of unusual suspicion on what he was eating and drinking, and for that reason is because he is sensitive and therefore, Weak to magic which allowed him to feel the consumables to be... Tampered with some sort of magical plague that Chad sensed and trusted his gut into not eating or drinking. And yes, I know most people die if they don't drink in 3 full days, but hey I'm still working on it alright? Like, maybe he kept his water bottle in his secret locker which the evil dudes didn't bother to tamper with, yeah? Alright, enough of me talking, so let me continue talking

So, with his whole village and his own family just straight up dead. He has his crying moments because of course you would be traumatized on such a happening... At the ripe age of 13... So after he's done crying which doesn't mean he's stopped spilling tears but gets a move on, he takes some things with him that he believes are important to him, which aren't necessarily always the most useful. Like, he takes with him his favorite blanket, his mother's locket, his father's old messenger bag (satchel) that he had repurposed as his school bag and a barrel lid that he likes to play with. As a child with not much experience in the harsh world, it's logical that he would take things he's most comfortable with more than taking things that are practical.

And with that, he leaves his village and there starts his adventure, he grows up getting accustomed to the harsh reality that is life and practices 3 useful professions.

The first he decides to practice the work of sculpting from a wide variety of techniques such as woodcarving and ceramic/clay making, this had helped him earn some money when he was little and had sold creative sculptures whenever he needed money. However, sometimes one of his made carvings act strangely, only to notice that a representation of the sculpture would form externally as a spirit, helping guide, form or even converse with, even having good dreams under their presence... However only Chad seems to be able to see them as if they are really there, yet others don't see them, as if Chad is a weirdo, and perhaps they are right about that. It's for the reader to decide to be honest.

The second he goes about as a fighter, for self-defence and hunting for food. His development comes from the many veteran warriors he meets and learns from their ways from veteran soldiers, ronins, outlaw street fighters, and many others who are willing to teach Chad of their ways. He gets into many different situations such as getting himself in trouble with a bar fight, given a challenge to run along a dangerous gauntlet as fast as Chad could and come back before the time limit And all that while being tipsy, Travels to an island into some sort of fight club, gets into fistfights with other challengers and earns the teachings of the powerful islander who organized these fights. The many teachers also teach Chad how to effectively manage his emotions, notably his rage in order to move his attacks in controlled motions with added strength whenever he's pumped with adrenaline or becomes enraged. Previously being an uncontrolled and spread out force, turns his raw power and skill into more focused and precise strikes that in turn become deadlier the angrier he gets. And he also learns 3 straightforward and important stances for himself, a balanced stance, a defensive stance and an aggressive stance. I'm sure it does not need explaining, but he is able to change into them as many times as he wants, effectively making use of how he wants to deal with the situations ahead.

Then the third he gets an education for first aid, then after many years of caring for wounded people, poisoned nobles and adventurers alike, after a while on the practice of medicine and health, one of his teachers tell him of great news, saying that he has been given a personal request by the chief physician himself to come to join him at "Fortress I haven't named yet". With that, he joins the physician and tests Chad for a few weeks to see if he really has medical skills, after that he gives Chad one final test to prove his worth in a stressful and worrisome triage, where he must tend to the many wounded soldiers all by himself, from injured to mortally wounded, and he had to take care the most wounded first before he tends to the least injured as priorities go.
Having saved about 19 wounded soldiers, he completes the test and earns his rank in the "faction" trauma and at that becomes a true doctor.
With his experiences as a fighter, he effectively has the potential to be a field/combat medic.

I should probably stop there before this post becomes over 9000 pages long, haha.

I've done my own personal research, I had the idea of using the 16 personalities personality test for my character, and so I took the test, answering how I believe Chad would respond with, even if they are things that I personally wouldn't do or agree with.
And with that, I've found that Chad is an ENFP type. Which means he's a curious, enthusiastic and energetic person, and likes to learn by doing, rather than by watching or reading. However, I don't know how I should incorporate his personality on paper or how I should know exactly how he's thinking. Perhaps you, the reader has an idea on how Chad can be? To give insight on how he could or should react to certain situations while knowing these factors?

I await with due appreciation for your opinions and help to my endeavor! I appreciate any and all help for my attempts at creating an interesting character. Thank you!

 

[Star-child]

Your story is about Chad, so the plot should resemble how his personality either changes or is revealed*. It sounds like you'd like to subject your pre-built character to the events at hand and figure out how he reacts, but it will be a much better story if his development mirrors or opposes events.



*I prefer revealed. Changed is for YA

 

[Fogged_Creation]

Your story is about Chad, so the plot should resemble how his personality either changes or is revealed*. It sounds like you'd like to subject your pre-built character to the events at hand and figure out how he reacts, but it will be a much better story if his development mirrors or opposes events.



*I prefer revealed. Changed is for YA

Why I suppose you are right about that, but at his base, he would have a fundamental personality that doesn't change, his main stride I suppose.
And I mean, to see how he reacts in response to an event can show a little more about himself, since I mean. Imagine if you saw 30 highly armed bandits and they're about to kill an innocent person, realistically you wouldn't be able to do much and out of fear you wouldn't want to do anything that might cause your own death as well.
And even if there was a chance or a solution that can solve this whole thing with 100% safety, if he does not notice it at the time of witness, he wouldn't do anything as a result. But that doesn't mean he wouldn't go against or oppose events that he's confident in succeeding on.
I am searching to see how he would react, oppose, develop and whether he pees while standing up, it's all so trivial yet so important to make a story interesting in itself! So, of course, Chad will oppose events, and of course his personality change... Or reveal as you prefer! Determined by the plot.

Also, thanks for spending your time to share an answer and taking the time to read my post! I appreciate every bit of your attention and even more to be willing to help a little writer out!

 

[sknox]

It sounds like you're flying too high up to see the details that will flesh out his personality. You have plenty to work with here, so consider slowing down.

First, how does he react to the loss of his entire village? What were those three days like for him? How old was he? Did he have siblings or was he an only child? How did he find food? Did he stay, overcome with grief? Did he equip himself and set out to hunt? Did he race to the next village to ask for help?

Then, how does this orphan, get to become a sculptor, a craft that requires at least some capital investment? How did he survive while he was learning the craft and discovering he could make a living at it? How was his internal life during these months/years? Does he suffer from survivor guilt? Tormented by nightmares? Or has he buried all memories, walling off a part of himself, having decided the world is a cruel place? Does he make any friends during this time? He can't be a tradesman at twelve, which means he's old enough to fall in love. What relationships have developed? If he stays near his old village, how do others view him?

And so on. IOW, I would try spending more time with this character, staying at his side as he moves through these seismic shifts in his life. As I did so, I would do a lot of what if. In this particular event or circumstance, what if he reacted with anger? What if he was afraid? What if he acted, or failed to act? Rather than trying to work out the "right" character portrait up front, I'd try things out, like trying out clothes to see what fits, keeping in mind that no human acts consistently.

 

[Brian G Turner]

What you need to think about is why he wants to learn those new skills and what would be driving him to do so - and how that will continue to do drive him through the story. You will probably need to think about internal conflict as a cause for that drive, and also how the story changes that internal conflict and therefore that drive - a process known as emotional development arcs.

In other words, your character isn't passing through a story - the story develops according to the character's internal conflict and drive to resolve that conflict. Everything else is just fluff.

 

[Star-child]

And I mean, to see how he reacts in response to an event can show a little more about himself, since I mean. Imagine if you saw 30 highly armed bandits and they're about to kill an innocent person, realistically you wouldn't be able to do much and out of fear you wouldn't want to do anything that might cause your own death as well.

What I'm getting at is that he may do whatever in this fight, but how the reader perceives his choice would change as the story goes on. So you might make it appear that he is cowering in fear, but later it is revealed that he made a wise tactical decision and was carefully memorizing details about the attackers for later use in punishing them (for instance - not trying to write your story. )

The best example that you've probably seen is Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana initially seems to be a ruthless criminal and possibly a coward in the South America scene. By mid film he is clearly tough and brave, and by 3/4 he is shown to be passionate about his vocation and torn between Marian and the Ark. Then you understand the first scene through a different lens - that's the "reveal".

Every plot point should either create a mystery about the character or solve it. The plot becomes intrinsic to his character. Think about Aragon - he would stop being an anonymous ranger only because of the needs of the Fellowship and the war.

 

[The Big Peat]

Maybe try writing some scenes where Chad is challenged by something and see how he reacts?

 

[tinkerdan]

I'm puzzled.
The first part of this seems to be backstory.
I say that because at age 13 he seems traumatized but not activated to action. It forces him into the real world where he doesn't know what he wants to be or what he is.

In short this can't be where the story starts or you might bore that pants off the reader.
He'll need to be in the inciting incident. The place where he meets his conflict and has to act and all of the above will be backstory to how he got there.

And with that said you need to craft that incident and drop him into it and show the reader how he got to that point in such a way to demonstrate how he reacts to the inciting incident that speaks to his development

The thing is that you are the one crafting your world and only you know the rules and the culture, the way of life that he might be living and how he might differ from others or stand out or perhaps even how he doesn't stand out or his weaknesses. It has to somehow fit into the world you craft.

Get writing and find that starting point and I think that as the story progresses you will find out what it is he had to do to get where he is now.

Once you figure it out you might have to go back and fix some things, but that's what it's all about; unless you go backwards from what he has to do to how he got there and how he accomplishes the finish--you'll be thrashing around. Floundering.