The Best “Extra” Thing to Study as a Writer
If you get to know me a little, you quickly learn that most of my free time (if I have five minutes) is spent within psychology. This is both informal (e.g., YouTube videos from licensed providers, online conferences) and formal (regular therapy), but it’s not optional — I’m actively recovering from and in the process of rebuilding many basic things necessary to move forward with my calling.
But the more I go through these processes, the more I see the value of psychology for my writing in multiple areas.
I give a quick summary in this video:
Character and plot development
Many writers struggle with characters that feel “plastic” or that behave illogically or inconsistently. Plots can seem unsatisfying and unbelievable based on the personalities or behaviors of the characters.
Psychology addresses both these points. It helps authors grasp how people think, are motivated, and are potentially influenced by what they experience. This sets a foundation for building characters that are complex but still realistic, enabling predictions around how characters would interact with each other or react to different situations. That then can help develop and contain the plot so it feels like it organically unfolds.
Marketing
You’ve written a great article or book, but what’s going to make people actually click “buy?” or scroll all the way to the end? Psychology reveals why people scan, respond to different aesthetic elements, or even are more likely to continue reading at certain times of the day. That translates to more effective social media posts, email campaigns, cover design, and more. It’s easier to match what you offer with what you know will resonate, even as you stay within your authentic voice.
Hook, flow, and formatting
Is starting with a question better to grab attention? Do you need to break up your paragraphs more? Understanding your audience through psychology helps you design your piece in a way that makes the information easier to understand, apply, and relate to. For example, if you know your topic is weighty, complex, or serious, increasing white space — e.g., under headers or between paragraphs, bulleting instead of a block paragraph — visually can help the reader feel less overwhelmed.
Expanding the options
Psychology potentially can apply to even more areas related to writing than those outlined above. For example, if you have an audiobook, you can consider how the pacing of your voice will influence how the listener feels. In the same way, if you do videos like reveals, elements like specific types of transitions help control emotional response.
How might integrating psychology into your work shift your approach? Leave me a note on LinkedIn!
[Transcript summary]
Writers, I know a lot of you out there go to the conferences. You do all the work, and you improve a lot through that. But if there is one recommendation that I can give you in terms of, “What do I study? What do I learn?”, study psychology. If there’s one thing that can help your writing career, it’s to study that.
This is multifaceted. Because in terms of, if you’re writing fiction, character development. If you study psychology, you are going to have a really good understanding of this character did this because, and it’s going to be believable because it tracks to what actually happens with people.
The other thing is marketing. How do you actually get people to respond? That’s part of psychology, too.
The other side is, when you are crafting whatever it is, whether it’s fiction, an article, whatever you have, to understand your audience enough to say, “How am I going to start this? How am I going to craft it, the flow to understand how they think in terms of how it’s going to be received?”
So, there is so much here that studying psychology will help your career with. So, if you’re going to study anything extra, study that. Take care, everybody. Bye.