If you clicked on this post, you probably know what Myers-Briggs/MBTI is. But just in case: Myers-Briggs is a “personality inventory” that defines 16 personalities, described through 4 dichotomies. More at the Myers & Briggs Foundation. Free test at 16 personalities.

Now, I will be blunt. The usefulness/scientificality of MBTI is hotly disputed. I have no interest in arguing that. The MBTI has been immensely helpful to me personally in both understanding myself and others. So I will continue to champion it.

If you’re a little obsessed with MBTI, you find typing other people to be FASCINATING. So I started researching the MBTI types of authors.There are a couple of good resources already. Most notably, the types of 101 famous authors and youngbloodblog’s discussion of writers according to MBTI. The discussion mentioned a (non-scientific) survey that yielded astonishing percentages of INFJ’s and INTJ’s among writers and editors. In the general public, those types make up 1-2% each. In the survey, they accounted for NEARLY 50%.

I was skeptical.

So I started collecting a list of YA authors’ MBTI types, as they’ve publicly discussed them. Here’s my list, which I’m sure is not complete.

• Maggie Stiefvater — INFJ
• Victoria Schwab — INTJ
• JK Rowling — INFJ
• Susan Dennard — INFP
• Sarah J Maas — INFJ
• Shannon Hale — ENFJ
• Courtney Stevens — INFJ
• John Green — INFP

Additions post-publish:

As authors release their type, I will try to add them.

• Victoria Aveyard — INTP

Conclusion

See a trend? My skepticism is put to rest. There is definitely some lopsided typing in the bookish world!

What’s your type? Who did I miss? Let me know in the comments!

PS — if you’re really into this, a lot of fans type their favorite characters. Do some Google searching if you enjoy that kind of thing. 🙂