How Studying Psychology Has Influenced My Writing
This is a ‘what came first – the chicken or the egg’ kind of question for me, or as my daughter asked me last week – the seed or the tree? Did my study of psychology influence my writing, or did my love of stories and characters develop into a love of psychology?
Even as a child I was fascinated by both. When I was around seven or eight years old I designed a quiz that I gave to everyone who came to the house. It was only basic questions like favourite colour, best friend, dream job, but I loved reading the answers. I found it interesting that people in the same family, who lived in the same house, were so different. And when I wasn’t designing quizzes, I was either devouring every book I could get my hands on, or I was filling notebooks with my own stories about children who could fly, orphans starting new schools, and evil witches.
So it’s no surprise that I went on to study psychology at A level and then as a degree. And oh my word did I love studying. Psychology is an immense field of research and theories, and fifty years ago there were some really interesting (and now highly controversial) studies that took place on how people behave when in certain situations. If you’re interested, check out the famous Stanford Prison experiment.
Another element of psychology that I find fascinating as a writer is how those around us can influence our behaviour without us knowing it. Take Group Think as a concept – when the desire for harmony and conformity in a group of people becomes so ingrained that they are unable to make good decisions. It’s the idea that people within the group will agree at all costs.
Now imagine how that might appear in a story. A close group of friends are in a car. It’s night time. The roads are dark. The car hits something. The driver thinks it was a deer and decides to keep going. One of the passengers disagrees. They think it was a person, but because conformity in the group has become unconsciously so important, they say nothing, and even convince themselves that they were wrong. What happens next would make a great psychological thriller.
A few years (OK a decade) after I’d finished my degree, I had an idea for a novel about a distraught widow (Tess) and her young son, and what happens to them when a charismatic grief counsellor comes into their lives. I knew immediately that this was a novel that would need me to draw on my psychology degree. I dug out my old text books from the loft and poured through them for days on end, reminding myself why I loved the complexities of the human mind so much. This idea became my debut, The Perfect Betrayal.
I wanted to pull the reader into Tess’s daily struggles with her grief and depression and I wanted them to feel the full range of emotions that we can feel for those around us experiencing mental illness. Feelings like sympathy, pity, desperation, exasperation, and frustration. There were times when I was writing the book when all I wanted to do was tell Tess to snap out of it. Unfortunately it’s never that simple with mental illness.
With my second novel, One Step Behind, I once again pulled out my psychology books and delved into the murky waters of what drives obsession, and how even the most moral person can be driven to cross the line if pushed far enough. The main character, Jenna, is a doctor who has dedicated her life to saving others, but when she is asked to save the life of the man responsible for destroying hers, will she do it?
I write these stories because the themes fascinate me, but one thing that studying psychology has instilled in me is the need to do the behaviours of my character’s justice. Readers are a savvy bunch, and won’t buy into an anxious character suddenly not caring anymore. While we are complex individuals, we all have certain traits that guide our behaviour.
Equally, if I’m going to write about a character struggling with a mental illness then it’s important to me and the readers that I portray that illness as realistically as I can. With Tess and her depression in The Perfect Betrayal it was important to me that she didn’t get a little bit better every day. She had some good days but they were often followed by bad ones.
Psychology is a vast field of science that starts from the moment we begin to develop in the womb to our last breath, and despite the decades of research, our leaps and bounds in neurology and the study of the brain, so many elements of mental illness, behaviours, memories and motivations are still unknown, which makes this an amazing and vast playground for authors.
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Lauren North writes psychological suspense novels that delve into the darker side of relationships and families. She has a lifelong passion for writing, reading, and all things books. Lauren’s love of psychological suspense has grown since childhood and from her dark imagination of always wondering what’s the worst thing that could happen in every situation. Lauren studied psychology before moving to London where she lived and worked for many years. She now lives with her family in the Suffolk countryside. Readers can follow Lauren on Twitter @Lauren_C_North and Facebook @LaurenNorthAuthor
ONE STEP BEHIND
Jenna is a wife, a mother, a doctor. She’s also the victim of a stalker.
Every time she leaves her house, she sees him. Disturbing gifts are left at her door. Cruel emails are sent to her colleagues. She has no idea who this man is but she feels powerless against him.
Until the day he is brought into her hospital after a serious accident, and Jenna is given the chance to find out once and for all why this man is tormenting her. Now, the power is all hers.
But how many lines is she willing to cross to take back control of her life?
Out in ebook: 16.07.20
Out in paperback: 03.09.20
Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips
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