What’s Your Character’s Love Language?

AKA Vacuuming or Flowers?

There are a lot of personality schemas out there that can help you develop your characters. One that I find useful is the Five Love Languages.

Based on Gary Chapman’s book, The Five Love Languages, the idea is people express love in five different ways:

• Words of Affirmation
• Quality Time
• Receiving Gifts
• Acts of Service
• Physical Touch

wax tonbo

Using the five love languages’ patterns, I can add depth to my characters.

If the girl speaks Receiving Gifts and the guy speaks Words of Affirmation, no matter what he says or how often he says it, she won’t really feel loved unless he gives her something tangible, unless he speaks her language.

Same thing goes for her – no matter how many cards, or physical tokens of her affection she gives him, he won’t truly feel her love unless she talks with him.

This kind of dynamic can make for great scenes of misunderstanding and reconciliation.

So what’s your character’s love language?

Dean Winchester: Am I speaking a language you’re not getting here?
- Supernatural, “Route 666″, 1.13

Mar 25, 2010

Tags: characters  |  love language

Categories: writing