[NT] INTJ versus INTP writing styles

[antireconciler]

Wow, thanks for sharing that. I'm really impressed!

I guess I kind of relate to both styles, or at least significant aspects of them. I'll write lengthy run-ons which I think are well-composed, though people usually don't agree. There's on the other hand in me such a love of encapsulating a huge volume of conceptual information in something short and sweet. It doesn't mean I don't want to express its complexities though, and I struggle to get across all I mean to. Even if its nice to compress things, there is a huge need to expand it. To speak too shortly takes all the life from your words. The abstractions lose all the spectacular and beautiful power within them by speaking too shortly ... I'm not sure what to call that except criminal!

 

[WhoCares]

I think you're crediting me with a lot more intelligence and structure than I actually possess....

 

[skitskitpotter]

I very much agree with your analysis. I have seen INTJ writing before, and I find it, for the most part, to be logical, concise, and organized so as to bring the reader on a straight, untwisting path to the main point. As an INTP, I find that I will go on and on for ages in attempting to completely describe the truth of the matter. Considering that the INTJ has a straight path to the point, INTPs have a twisting, winding path with an endless number of detours. INTJs aim for clarity; INTPs aim for truth. As a result, everything that can happen given a situation is detailed, described, and concluded upon in an INTP's writing. Having an obsessive tendency to describe every variant of what I am saying is always present. When I read my writing, it is always perfectly clear to me, often because I tailor it to be truthful to me. However, when others read my writing, they say that I go off on tangents; that my ideas are organized discordantly; that much of what I said is unnecessary; that my statements are unclarified. I find that, if my own reasoning of the subject is perfectly understood, there are "empty spaces" in my reasoning. Normally, I reason in words and numbers. When I understand something well enough, though, the reasoning is done and there is no reason to further capitalize on it. Thus, my writing has empty spaces when I assume that my meaning will be understood when really it is impossible to be understood. My Si/Se dominant companions often put down my writing in frustration, especially when your very common "the apple is not just an apple" situation arises.

As for the manifestation of Fe in an INTP's writing, I find it in the subject the INTP chooses to write about. Possibly because my Ne is very strong, I am highly susceptible to inspiration. Sometimes, an image will flash through my mind. It can be any image, really; I've seen forests, people, cities, even something as simple as a glass of water. Upon seeing the image, though, I have this strong sense of being "swept off my feet" by a sudden attack of feeling. Possibly in an attempt to rationalize my emotion, I attempt to describe it in my writing. I don't know if this is true for every INTP, but capturing grand scale is something that is extremely important to me in writing.

 

[Coriolis]

As for the manifestation of Fe in an INTP's writing, I find it in the subject the INTP chooses to write about. Possibly because my Ne is very strong, I am highly susceptible to inspiration. Sometimes, an image will flash through my mind. It can be any image, really; I've seen forests, people, cities, even something as simple as a glass of water. Upon seeing the image, though, I have this strong sense of being "swept off my feet" by a sudden attack of feeling. Possibly in an attempt to rationalize my emotion, I attempt to describe it in my writing. I don't know if this is true for every INTP, but capturing grand scale is something that is extremely important to me in writing.

This sounds more like Ni-Fi to me.

 

[hhp]

Very interesting post. As an INTJ, you've decribed me perfectly. I had that tendency in school exams of compressing the whole History subject in one or two papers (while the others used around 10), and still manage to put everything there (well, my handwriting is naturally compressed and marginless, so that helps as well).
But this is also true when writing literature, at least for me, not just when writing essays that need a logical order. I always felt the urge to write everything I wanted without adding a single unecessary word, or detracting a single meaningful word.
As for the INTP style of writing, geez, it can be a nightmare for me when reading it. Everything is more clear when put into a list, with a sucint definition besides!

 

[Porsche]

This is one of the threads I liked in PerC. How the INTP and INTJ differs in writing. The Te and Ti writing style.

I relate very much to the INTJ's conciseness, crispness, and structured words. The Te that deconstructs and organizes the chaotic, broad, unfathomable nature of Ni. In my style I write as short a sentence as possible, direct and to the point. And yes the bluntness associated with it. In writing paragraphs I tend to always indent, separate paragraph, use different punctuation marks, sometimes sentences are bulleted, and the main theme of paragraph is outlined.

I'd like to note however though, that I always use the conjunctions, AND, BUT, MAYBE, PERHAPS, the brackets and parentheses, the expression "I think". Whenever I say "I think", I want to inform the reader that I leave room for doubt when in fact I'm 95% sure, and 5% unsure. Same explanations for using conjunctions. And I use parentheses to further expand my thoughts and explanation because many times, I always have a tendency to be misunderstood because of the direct, concise answers, comment, and whatever I give. As a Ni-dom, the complex thoughts and ideas are difficult enough to articulate and I try to be as laconic as possible. This is very different to the verbose style of TiNe, NeTi, and some tertiary Ti-user that explains a subject too long. I sometimes become redundant in my explanation to ensure that I am being understood. Roundabout circumlocutory explanation is not limited to INTPs too. Most Intuitives do that. Language is not enough for me to describe the entire thought. I think more of images than words.

 

[Coriolis]

This is one of the threads I liked in PerC. How the INTP and INTJ differs in writing. The Te and Ti writing style.

I relate very much to the INTJ's conciseness, crispness, and structured words. The Te that deconstructs and organizes the chaotic, broad, unfathomable nature of Ni. In my style I write as short a sentence as possible, direct and to the point. And yes the bluntness associated with it. In writing paragraphs I tend to always indent, separate paragraph, use different punctuation marks, sometimes sentences are bulleted, and the main theme of paragraph is outlined.

I'd like to note however though, that I always use the conjunctions, AND, BUT, MAYBE, PERHAPS, the brackets and parentheses, the expression "I think". Whenever I say "I think", I want to inform the reader that I leave room for doubt when in fact I'm 95% sure, and 5% unsure. Same explanations for using conjunctions. And I use parentheses to further expand my thoughts and explanation because many times, I always have a tendency to be misunderstood because of the direct, concise answers, comment, and whatever I give. As a Ni-dom, the complex thoughts and ideas are difficult enough to articulate and I try to be as laconic as possible. This is very different to the verbose style of TiNe, NeTi, and some tertiary Ti-user that explains a subject too long. I sometimes become redundant in my explanation to ensure that I am being understood. Roundabout circumlocutory explanation is not limited to INTPs too. Most Intuitives do that. Language is not enough for me to describe the entire thought. I think more of images than words.

Agreed. And images that are not simply images (visual), but have other qualities as well, sometimes beyond the usual senses. It is not so much that I "see" them as that I inhabit them.

 

[dvdhrns]

An interesting topic, well written and explained. The exactness of which you defined my general writing style further strengthens my fascination with the applications of typology.

 

[Faceless Beauty]

This is one of the threads I liked in PerC. How the INTP and INTJ differs in writing. The Te and Ti writing style.

I relate very much to the INTJ's conciseness, crispness, and structured words. The Te that deconstructs and organizes the chaotic, broad, unfathomable nature of Ni. In my style I write as short a sentence as possible, direct and to the point. And yes the bluntness associated with it. In writing paragraphs I tend to always indent, separate paragraph, use different punctuation marks, sometimes sentences are bulleted, and the main theme of paragraph is outlined.

I'd like to note however though, that I always use the conjunctions, AND, BUT, MAYBE, PERHAPS, the brackets and parentheses, the expression "I think". Whenever I say "I think", I want to inform the reader that I leave room for doubt when in fact I'm 95% sure, and 5% unsure. Same explanations for using conjunctions. And I use parentheses to further expand my thoughts and explanation because many times, I always have a tendency to be misunderstood because of the direct, concise answers, comment, and whatever I give. As a Ni-dom, the complex thoughts and ideas are difficult enough to articulate and I try to be as laconic as possible. This is very different to the verbose style of TiNe, NeTi, and some tertiary Ti-user that explains a subject too long. I sometimes become redundant in my explanation to ensure that I am being understood. Roundabout circumlocutory explanation is not limited to INTPs too. Most Intuitives do that. Language is not enough for me to describe the entire thought. I think more of images than words.

The part I bolded and italicized is something that I catch myself doing when I first write something on a page. But as I get deeper into the topic, and I catch myself being a bit redundant or overclarifying, I try to put things into fewer sentences where it makes more sense than before. And a lot of times it is very hard for me to say everything that I want to say about a topic, because I try so hard to explain it in a way that makes sense. This is why a lot of the meaning gets lost along the way, even if I try to make up for it.