The Psychology Workbook for Writers: Tools for Creating Realistic Characters and Conflict in Fiction

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, a Diploma of Counselling, 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.

Darian Smith lives in Auckland, New Zealand with his wife (who also writes) and their Siamese cat (who doesn't). He has a degree in psychology and English, a Diploma of Counselling, and is a member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors. Darian set up a free counselling service near his home, ran a private counselling practice for several years, and currently works with people living with neuromuscular conditions such as muscular dystrophy. He has won prizes for short stories and a novel and been a finalist for the Sir Julius Vogel Award three times. For more information about Darian and his upcoming work, please check out his website at www.darian-smith.com.