Almost all fiction writers need at least a basic understanding of psychology in order to write realistic content, dialogues, characters, and relationships. Without this basic understanding, readers are often left confused about characters and why the characters made the choices that they did. A lack of psychology understanding also sometimes causes writers to use a psychology word incorrectly or to describe it incorrectly to readers. This confusion and can easily be avoided with a bit of psychology research.

Where to Research

The problem that many writers encounter in using psychology is not knowing where to turn to research the needed terms or content. This lack of knowledge has led many writers to use a quick Google search and the first definition or explanation that pops up. This is a mistake as anyone can write anything online and claim that it is the truth and Google searches will show this type of content.

When Googling, writers should look for websites that end in .edu or .org as these sites tend to be much more reliable than .com and .net. Additionally, Google Scholar is a very useful resource for finding peer-reviewed academic journals. The journals are the best sources as they are peer-reviewed for accuracy, which greatly reduces the chance of false information being provided.

What to Know

The second major problem many writers have is in not knowing what they need to know about psychology in order to make their writing realistic. The best way for a writer to overcome this hurdle is to get in contact with a psychology professional with a request for them to review the writing and provide psychological advice on it. During such a review, a psychology professional can provide the writer with words and topics that the writer should research in order to improve their writing.

Another way to overcome this hurdle is to subscribe to a professional psychology blog, magazine, and/or academic journals. The sources will provide the writer with exposure to different psychological terms and content over time. This method is not as effective as the first, though it would provide the writer with his or her own knowledge of psychology that could be useful both in the present and future writing endeavors.  

A third way for a writer to handle this problem would be to take a psychology class at a college or university. Many college and universities will allow people to audit classes for either free or for a small fee. This would not give the writer credit for the class, but then the writer would also not have to do the homework or tests. Additionally, auditing a class would also introduce the writer to both a psychology professor and psychology students, both of which could be helpful sources for any psychology questions the writer has. However, if the writer is a college student then a general psychology class could be taken as an elective, which would provide the writer with both college credits and useful psychological knowledge for his or her own writing.