The Psychology Workbook for Writers

by Darian Smith

Writers know that their characters and stories should be multi-layered and believable. Now here’s a simple workbook that uses the same knowledge that gives therapists insight into human behaviour to create fiction that hits the mark. Each chapter outlines an aspect of psychological theory as it can be used for writing and provides two worksheets to translate it into action – one to develop characters, one to develop the story. Darian Smith is a prize winning fiction writer with a degree in psychology, and is a member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors. He combines these two sides of his background to provide simple, easy to follow tools that make use of established psychological theory to help writers develop fully rounded, interesting, realistic characters and inject conflict into their stories. Give your writing the benefit of over a decade of training and experience, and discover how to have readers wanting more.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Psychology, Science, Research, Crafts, Reference

92 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 17, 2015

Reviews

[Timothy Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

My initial impression after completing a first read is that if I take the time to develop the characters according to the psychology theories present in the book, then I will definitely come to the point of writing with much stronger characters. I am on the brink of rewriting the first draft of my first novel. I didn’t do character sketches in this way, but I think if I did then the characters I currently have would be much better developed and would be much more interesting. Now for the real work or character development. I’ll update my review after I’ve done this.

[J.W. Ellis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent little workbook. Alot I knew. Spins on some stuff I hadn't thought about

[Karla Sentíes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buenísimo para quienes disfrutan (y quieren) crear personajes creíbles, completos y llenos de matices. El autor nos muestra con ejemplos la manera en que nosotros podemos aplicar los consejos para crear personajes más creíbles y reales.

Si te gusta la psicología de la personalidad y disfrutas creando personajes para tus historias, este libro es un must.

[Debbie]

This was good and it made me think- it just cant do what i secretly want it t do which is write my novel for me!

[Naiá Lusvarghi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claro, conciso e com ótimas dicas e perguntas para ajudar na criação de personagens. Super recomendo.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly very helpful. Some of this is just articulating what I already know from just reading a lot and living around people, but it's good to see the words for things we might intuitively know through age and experience. Definitely got me thinking more in-depth about my own characters and the ones in books I'm currently reading.

[Gray Aether · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay book. It is extremely short (in my opinion), and I wish there were 100 more pages going over more complicated aspects of characterization.

The psychology in this book can only be applied to certain story arcs/types, so the book is limited in how it can help you. The 80 pages we get can be helpful, but not all of the chapters/worksheets given are useful for every story you’re writing. Which, I don’t expect them to be, but I ended up having only about 3 (maybe 4) chapters out of the 11 be useful for my brainstorming process.

Also there were grammatical errors (plenty with commas, specifically) that I noticed. Sometimes phrases or questions were worded oddly or not specific enough, so they were confusing.

[Hunter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reference to dip into for character development

[Henry Gasko · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really excellent little book - the only reason I am not giving it 5 stars is because it is quite short and could use more detail and more examples. But that clearly was not the author's intention, and it does contain references so the reader will just have to accept that this is a primer only, and requires a lot more research if you want to delve further into any topic.

The book is mainly structured around the principles of Transactional Analysis. Each of the small sections introduces a method that a psychologist might use in diagnosing and helping a patient. Any author should find at least some of them as useful ways of viewing a character. The brief introduction to each mode is followed by a similar series of questions that a writer might use to construct and understand a character, and specifically the character's flaws as determined by each particular analysis mode.

There is at least one example for each section, although several of them refer not to well-known stories but the author's own books. There is also at least one reference book listed in each of the sections to allow further exploration of that mode of personality analysis and construction. So altogether a very interesting book.

Some authors will no doubt balk at using a scientific method to construct characters, but I personally see no problem at all in using all the tools available to tell the best possible story.

[Deb Montague · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reasonably okay brief discussions of typical psychological states aimed at writers. The author provides a brief description of the state, for instance, grief. He lists characteristics of this state and give at least one example of how that state manifests in either printed or movie media. Following the discussion are questions to consider for the creation of a character in this state and how the world might view a character in this state.

The book is characterized as a "workbook", but it is extremely light in explanations of various psychological states one could put a character into. The questions are average and not designed to get at meat and bones of character development. They are introduction questions at best.

I also found a dozen errors in word usage. I am embarrassed when this happens in my own writing. It simply says to me the book was rushed into production without the thorough review of a proofreader and/or an editor.

This has been added to the screenwriting books shelf. I might refer back to it to add depth to a character. I believe I won this in a contest so I won't feel bad if I give it away eventually.

[Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic resource for every writer, hands-down you need it (unless you already have psychology training yourself in which case, carry on). A 'writer's guide to psychology 101' course in book format, this workbook introduces a large variety of psychology theories in simple terms with explanations, examples from existing media (novels, tv and movies). The exercises in this book will help you:
- Create more believable characters
- Drive character arcs via the character's own psyche
- Create more realistic forms of conflict between characters
- Have characters realistically assist others through psychological wounds / negative or fake beliefs via arranging opposing psychological outlooks, behaviours and beliefs

One of the most useful writing books I've read, it's overhauled the way I craft my characters.

Rating: 4 stars. I've had this book barely over a week and it's full of sticky notes already.

[Lori Puma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains brief overviews of several different psychology frameworks and a list of questions about how to apply each framework to your characters and to your story.

I was surprised that there wasn’t anything specifically about trauma or adverse child experiences, since those are so damaging in real life, and so frequently portrayed in fiction.

I think this book could be overwhelming to a new writer. There are so many options for how to represent the internal workings of a character, without any recommendations about where to start.

I’d recommend this book for intermediate writers who feel like they’re creating the same characters over and over again or who want to be more flexible in their approach to creating the internal life of their characters.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful

This insight was helpful to build my character profile model for my wip. I've looked at templates, and various profile models, but they've all felt superficial or superfluous. This, in conjuction with save the cat writes a novel, I've developed my own model that I feel gets at a deeper level of my characters without spending hours building a model that restricts my character from revealing themselves to me as I write. To each their own, but finding my character's favorite color or football team seemed a waste of my time. If you're interested in constructing a deeper character, I'd suggest this book and save the cat writes a novel. Together, they saved me time and I feel more confident in who my characters are.

[Christine Stobbe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short but useful little toolkit for character development, fine-tuning, and believable motivation. It suggests further reading on certain topics if you want to dive deeper. I intend to reference it when developing my next story.

I'll be using the information with clients where necessary, as well.

It's a quick read, which makes it a handy reference guide for improving characters without making them spend years on the therapist's couch. Where it lost a star for me was the numerous mechanical errors that could have been cleaned up with a solid copyediting pass. I had to reread several sentences before making sense of them, and the errors are frequent enough to be distracting.

That aside, this is a great addition to my reference shelf.

[Félix · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not really a book. More like a Google search result.

The title promises a practical way of enriching plot and character with psychological complexity. The book does not deliver. There is not much in here save some general notions of several topics, such as the imprint of parents and early childhood authority figures on the person's mind and way of understanding the world, and a few hodgepodge questions that are "meant to help you create interesting characters and stories." The questionnaires, alas, are far too superficial as to be helpful in any way.

Steer clear from this one. Even if you're an absolute novice to the writing craft. You deserve better.

A sad waste of time.

[Jaime Renee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that this book has some excellent information regarding how to create compelling and realistic characters - giving them flaws and backstory that will create characters that your readers will love. I thought that it was a very quick read, but packed with information that a writer can use in their character development process. I do think that while not every aspect of the book will apply to every writer, this does a good job in giving plenty of information that writers can choose to take or leave in their writing process.

A must read for writers who are on their journey to create compelling, realistic, and relatable characters and conflict.

[Foxglove · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like a lot of the things covered in this book were sort of common sense. That doesn’t mean the tips were useless or bad, of course, but I don’t think a book was needed for these somewhat basic tips and tricks. Overall I think this was decent but there are much better guides to building characters, and you can even find some for free on social media such as YouTube or Tumblr. This book would probably be helpful if you only have the absolute basics for your character so far. If you’ve got a decent idea of who your character is but want to develop them, don’t use this.

[Emily Rooks · Rating 1 out of 5]

On the surface, the theory sounds good, but if you follow the way the workbook is set up, you'll actually end up with cookie-cutter characters and shallow character arcs. I suppose, though, that is this way some counselor/therapists look at their clients - "You must fit one of these broad, overgeneralized stereotypes of human character; to fix it, now do overgeneralized, stereotype solution (A, B, C, etc.)."

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this on audio, and the sound quality was hit or miss. The information inside was tantalizing --- a therapist sharing the parts of his experience that would help writers build characters and plots --- but could have used a lot more examples. That said, I appreciated the shortness. I'd vastly prefer to be left wishing for more information rather than having to slog through hours of repetition.

[Matt Erlacher · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was not as exhaustive as I thought ti might be, but this book is a great first step to a fiction-author's level of understanding real psychology to make your characters more real in their humanity, with all its brokenness and complexity.

A fast read, but not really to be read from cover-to-cover -- more of a reference. But a thorough first read is necessary for familiarity.

[Kirishiki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good resource

If you're practiced in character creation then this has nothing too new or ground breaking (which was one of the first things disclosed by the way.) But it does a really good job of helping out with mapping out and organizing the character development process.

Was a fun read too.

[G Raines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Character Building Details

Smith provides dozens of character motivations, vulnerabilities, inner conflicts, etc from the psychology field that are easily adaptable to fiction. The book responsibilities my brainstorming for short story and novel ideas. This was inspirational for me.

[Sequoyah Branham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book goes through several psychological ways to create conflict in your novel. Because I have dealt with many of these (such as the 5 love languages) before running across this book I didn’t find it especially helpful.
I did find some new things to consider about my characters though. And I found the questions were simple but helpful in fleshing a character and story out.

[Stephanie Spence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darien Smith's "The Psychology Workbook for Writers" offers concise yet invaluable insights for anyone venturing into character development. Despite its brevity, the book proves helpful in unraveling the intricacies of building compelling characters, making it a must-read for those just embarking on this creative journey.

[Lisa McCombs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darian Smith dives deep into the minds and motives of the characters writers create. The interactive worksheets provide authors with a guided opportunity to develop well-rounded, relatable characters. Each chapter outlines the complexities of human nature and can be incorporated into the necessary characters of a story plot.

[Matthew Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creating Characters using a basic understanding of Psychology

I really enjoyed reading this short story. I’ve known what a good character looks like in a book for many years but, this short story reveals the basic psychology of those characters. The author provides writing prompts at the end of each chapter and these were helpful.

[Bobi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounding up from 3.5 stars.

This book was a quick, understandable read. It helped to spark some ideas for characters in the novel I'm currently writing. This is a good basic overview of some psychological principles useful for creating characters, but doesn't go in depth on any particular subtopic.

[Amy Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great little resource to have on hand when you are reaching just the right words to express just the right emotion, and maybe even some character motivations. I appreciated the author's effort in explaining the nuances behind why characters (and people) do what they do and how they interact. It'll be eye-opening for new writers, and still helpful for the seasoned.

[Dayton O'Donnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource!

Great resource! All the concepts presented are great to internalize. It's all put in plain, easy to remember language. I will be giving this a second pass through soon!

[Chandrima Das · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, practical guide to character development for writers in all formats, whether it's books or screen. Comes with a bunch of quick worksheets for growing the seed of the character sitting inside your head.