So far we’ve learned that curiosity is an important psychological process writers want to capture in their writing, and one way we can do that
Category: Psychology for Writers
Capturing Curiosity: What Every Writer Needs to Know
Long before I was a writer, I was a psychologist. The study of the whys of what we do drew me like the smell of
How Story Affects Us
Continuing in our four post series on the foundation for harnessing your readers’ psychology, today we’re exploring how story affects us. We’ve already explored where
Why Humans Love Story
So, following on from last week, in our 4 post series which will be part of Harness Your Reader’s Psychology, we’re delving deeper into why
5 Things a Writer Needs to Know About a Character with a Mental Illness
To make a character real, they need to mirror the reality that we experience. This is a challenge, because the world each person lives in
Narrative Therapy and Your Character: The Story Within The Story
Narrative therapy is not the dominant therapeutic framework I utilise in my clinical work, but like most eclectic practitioners, I have enough of an understanding
Developing a Character with a History of Sexual Assault
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
The 5 Keys to Writing with Depression
Anyone that has ready book Grit for Writers knows that I share my personal story of grit and the challenges that mental health means for a
Eye Witness Testimony for Writers
We’ve explored the fallibility of our memory when exploring The Girl on the Train, discovering that that memories are malleable – influenced by our internal
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
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 Psychology of High Concept
The term high-concept got on my radar at this year’s Romance Writers of Australia conference. I listened to a couple of panels where a mix
Growth Mindset for Writers
It’s not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest. – Alfred Binet, inventor of the IQ test As I’m
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
Is your character pretending to be something they’re not?
We all spend some time pretending to be something we’re not. We pretend we’re feeling happy when we’re not, we maintain a façade of polite
Childhood Trauma and its Impact on Your Character
The word ‘trauma’ is derived from the Greek term for ‘wound’. Very frightening or distressing events may result in a psychological wound or injury –
