There’s many things I love about the landscape of writing, but one of the most wonderful discoveries is the breadth of knowledge out there waiting
Category: Character Development
Paranoid Personality Disorder: Psychological Disorders for Writers
Personality disorders are fascinating. They have their very own section in the Diagnostic Services Manual, Fifth Edition (the psychologist’s and psychiatrist’s bible when it comes
The Importance of Mental Health Research When writing Fiction
I’ve mentioned before that I believe we’re all psychologists at heart. The study of the human psyche fascinates us all because it gives us a
Narcissistic Abuse and Codependence for Writers
I firmly believe we’re all psychologists at heart, because psychology is founded on the desire to know ourselves (yes, that is a little narcissistic…), but
7 Key Ways to Reveal Your Character’s Wound
This week’s blog post was prompted by a discussion with a fellow writer. This writer reflected that they’d gained useful information in relation their character
Selective Mutism for Writers
This week’s blog post was requested by a reader, one of my favourite ways to prompt an article. By chance, I also happened to read
Shame: The Driving Force for Your Character’s Actions?
I was spending some time trying to figure out one of my main character’s motivation recently. I knew her backstory, and I knew it was
13 Steps to Evil: Why Writers Should Read this Book
I think I’ve always been a bit wary about including a true villain in my story. Why? Yes, I know they’re important—they’re the counterpoint to
Eating Disorders: Bulimia Nervosa for Writers
For our second week of eating disorders (prompted by my current short-story) I’m tackling bulimia nervosa. Of the two eating disorders we’re discussing, bulimia is
Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa for Writers
I’m writing a short story at the moment for an anthology and my heroine has the early stages of an eating disorder. But as I
Adding Complexity to your Scenes
Humans like complexity; puzzles, questions, layers. They all fascinate us. My guess it’s because there are so many complex systems in nature that our brain
10 FREE Motivational Posters for Writers
As the Holiday Season is upon us, I wanted to say thank you, thank you, thank you, for making 2017 a wonderfully rewarding year. To
Jumping to Conclusions: Great Character Driven Conflict
The brain loves short-cuts. I don’t blame it, so do I. If I’ve got a whole heap of research to do, I’ll skim the document
The Power of the Character Wound
We’ve talked about the character wound on PsychWriter before when I explored the negative core belief. We know it’s a painful past event that changes
Unhelpful thinking styles: which one does your character use?
We’ve talked about character wounds, those painful past events that change who your character is, and how central they are to a character arc. Essentially,
Schizophrenia for Writers
The manuscript that I’m currently working on has a character with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. This character is the father of my protagonist, and seeing
