Thread: Psychology research for my story

I`m working on a new story that I`m writing and would like to think that one day I could get it published. But I think I need more research on psycho-analysis of the characters to make them more real and to fully have them figured out so that I could figure out how to properly write them and have their back stories figured out. But before I go into details, I`d like to confirm that whether or not I`m in the right place for this? I would like to go into some deep/detailed discussions as I want to be sure that this story is done right.

You're in the right place. There are a number of very good writers in here, and you're sure to get some helpful advice.

People write in different ways, and it really depends on the piece you're writing; in how you can best write it. As an example, if you're writing a novel, then you may as well just start writing a first draft. Your characters will 'develop themselves' as you go along. Once you've finished the draft, you can go back and do a once over, cleaning up sections with a deeper knowledge of your characters. If you're writing a shorter section, you may want to spend a bit of time picturing/imagining the main characters. Some people here have some extensive 'character sheets' that they use to help them flesh out their characters. But it really comes down to how much you can remember, and how much effort you want to put into the development process.

The times I have written detailed notes on a character, I haven't often looked at them again; the writing of them is enough to solidify the character in my mind. If it's a character that makes another appearance after a long absence, I'll use notes to refresh my memory (or just go back over the words in the story itself).

If you like, you can post some examples of your work here, and people can give you feedback on their impressions. Most of us are creative (comes with the field), and can give you some different ideas on how we think your characters would work best.

I cannot remember who posted it, but in another thread somewhere hereabouts, is a character sheet that spans across several pages. It could take you a month to fill it out, but by god, you'd have a detailed character.

Welcome to the forum as well

Thanks for the welcome!

I don`t have anything about the story written out per say, as I`m still trying to figure out the plot, character development and trying to make sense of things. Most of the writings I do have (on notebook paper) is notes about the characters and the starting point of the religion that will be used in the story (I wish I could figure out a name for the book but hopefully soon it`ll come around and tell me it`s name).

Where would be the best place to start to go over things on my story to you guys?

As far as I know, this section is the right place. I still consider myself fairly new here, so someone else may say otherwise.

Once you've got some writing down, and want people to give you some feedback on it, post it in the Writers' Workshop. You may get a few (or more) good critiques. Keep in mind that most of the critiques may seem to point out all the things you might have done wrong, and not so much on what you've done right. Just remember that critics are here to help, and their advice comes from a desire for you to improve, not to trash your work.

I'll keep an eye out for your posts.

You're in the right section, don't worry.

Would it be safe to say you plan on writing a character-driven story? The advice I would give is to read novels in that style. The Catcher in the Rye is one of the best character-driven novels out there. Most people don't remember what the story was about, but they can tell you every nuance of the main characters. Other notable novels include Memoirs of a Geisha and Portrait of a Lady.

I think what might be the key difference between character- and plot-driven novels is conflict. In the latter, the conflict is external. Somebody is standing in the way of someone else's goal. In the former, there mightn't be an antagonist. It might all be internal conflict going on in the main character's head.

Also, character-driven novels allow you time to build your character. I know this is probably going to sound nuts, but TV shows are a great study on how to create memorable characters that people care about. It might even give you ideas about your own characters. Little mannerisms and traits that make him/her unique.

Hope this helps.

I actually despised Catcher in the Rye but Memoirs of a Geisha was pretty good.

I`m not sure which my story would fall under, maybe both? There is a plot where there is "evil" to face but at the same time is also explores two different lifestyles/people-types clashing together and trying to cope with each other`s differences (ie, the main female character is a "safe/delicate" type while the main male character lives a rough lifestyle and is a deity in a human body that is starting to develop human emotions and is trying to figure that out). In a nutshell, anyway. I can give more details when I`m not on my way out the door to work. ^^;

Originally Posted by BelovedDoll

I actually despised Catcher in the Rye but Memoirs of a Geisha was pretty good.

I`m not sure which my story would fall under, maybe both? There is a plot where there is "evil" to face but at the same time is also explores two different lifestyles/people-types clashing together and trying to cope with each other`s differences (ie, the main female character is a "safe/delicate" type while the main male character lives a rough lifestyle and is a deity in a human body that is starting to develop human emotions and is trying to figure that out). In a nutshell, anyway. I can give more details when I`m not on my way out the door to work. ^^;

You've set yourself a complicated task...

I've seen a fair amount of failed attempts at people putting emotionless beings into emotion-filled bodies. The trick (I think) is to decide what sort of life they had prior to occupying the body. Flesh that out fully, then you'll have some basis for behaviour that the audience will believe. Personally, I don't see how a god, who previously crafted planets, would be amused by a night at a pub... (as an example of previous attempts I've seen).

This history vs present situation is a large enough hurdle without factoring in emotions. And this problem becomes larger still if the deity did not previously have emotions in his last state; which is the common understanding of gods (outside of religion).

To help with this, you could do some research into how children develop emotionally. One example I can give off-hand is with new emotions. Children don't truly recognise that they're feeling anything until they can place a name to it, and that comes down to someone saying "you're just angry" (or similar). Before this, children just act on impulses without much concern for why they're doing what they're doing.

Another example is that they gain a sense of empathy at roughly the ages of 12-18 (of course, some find it much sooner, some never). You'll need to decide on how the deity's maturity affects the development of these stages of emotional growth. Does he have some inherent interest in preserving life, or is he so used to manipulating things that he sees everything as temporary..?

It's going to be a tough road to make this believable to readers. But I've always liked the idea of other beings trying to be human.

Ok, now that I`m not pressed for time, I can provide more details and can spend a bit more time here.

Looking into how children develop emotionally is a good idea. It does sound like a good comparison for him since human emotions (not just love and happiness but also dealing with sexuality, too, and having a desire or need to be others on more than just temporary job positions even experiencing fear, as just some examples). Would there be any online websites you can recommend off-hand that I could read over that deal with explaining children`s emotional development?

What I have going on with him, an idea I and my boyfriend have been thinking on, is that he is forced into a human body by another deity. In this new religion I want to develop for the story, there are multiple deities who are each of an element. The element our main guy/deity is, is destruction. The deity that placed him into a human body is the deity of darkness. Deity of darkness wants to be the solely worshipped one so he is first putting these other deities into human bodies with restraints to hold back their power so that they can`t really fight back as well as they could have if they were their normal forms and at full power. Some of the deities darkness wants to use as a weapon (such as the deity of desctruction) and others he wants to just absorb their power and make it his own (such as deity of creation, who is our main female character [though no one realizes that`s who she is until later on - even she doesn`t know it]). But destruction managed to escape before things got too far with him but he is in a human body and has found a device which helps him tap into his godlike powers (without the device, his powers are significantly minisculed). He is looking for a way to get back into his normal form and wanting to take out darkness for changing him and throwing things out of balance when the story starts. He has picked up a "gang" in which each member does serve a purpose for him, giving him reason to keep them around (which I`m still working out).

Once he starts developing human emotions, it sort of throws a monkey into his machine on what his goals are, even changing them. He starts wanting the main female character/deity of creation as his mate/companion and starts doing things for others rather than himself, even coming up with things like purposely holding his power back himself during fights on the street as not wanting to destroy buildings with people in them in the process, as an idea of what general direction he`s heading (whereas before the development of human emotions, he wouldn`t have given a second thought as to who he would be hurting and what would be destroyed as a reuslt of what he`s doing). I think he might still hold his attitude that he is above people being that he is a deity no matter what changes take place, but maybe a tad less of a jerk about it than what he was prior to the human emotion development (or at least towards the people he surrounds himself with).

Then there is the main female character. I haven`t quite figured out how or when it happens but she does have the deity of creation within her and she acquires that prior to the story beginning. However, she, and most everyone else, doesn`t know it until later on in the story. (Most of everyone doesn`t know that destruction is a deity either until further along in the story, so everyone thinks he`s just another human.) She is a delicate, "safe", and shy girl who would even dream of fighting anyone. I would describe her as having the almost perfect life before descruction enters her life. But unlike him, she has long before developed human emotions and has already gotten good grips on the concept for her age. So she has acquired friends and does things for others and tries to help people. However, the lifestyle she has had is far different than destruction`s so when she starts hanging around him, her own life will be thrown in a loop from how much rougher/wilder/dangerous his lifestyle is (including getting dragged into a fight between destruction`s gang and a rival street gang) which of course is going to scare her.

I`m thinking that once the two spend more than 2 seconds in ecah other`s presence that maybe destruction will be the first to notice how the other is not a typical human as he is still knowing what he is and therefore is in acute tune to his powers (as opposed to creation, who seems to have "forgotten" what she is and therefore isn`t as in touch with her powers). So maybe I was thinking that what starts the interaction between them is that he picks up on her being a deity and is drawn to her because of that (not out of love or lust or anything beyond that, but after a while when the human emotions start developing, it becomes more, especially with her tipping the scales in that direction).

There`s still a whole lot yet to figure out but this might be a good starting point to figure out the psychology/emotions involved with the two most important characters of the story. Also to try and figure the exact kind of background/upbringing and family life for the main female character/deity of creation for her to be the type of girl she is (she has a mother, father and elder brother). I definitely don`t want to use any real religion in the story - I want to avoid any possible offense to readers. I`ll be using this religion that I`m "making up" for the story.

There are two main theories that you could look into with emotional development. I'm sure you've heard of Freud, and his work is generally laden with sexual connotations; and this may be what you're after with your work. But you should also look at Erikson's eight stages of development for a.. more well rounded look at development.

Links are:
Psychosexual Development
Stages of Social-Emotional Development In Children and Teenagers (Child Development Institute)
(Keep in mind that these do focus on how a child develops physically as well as emotionally; tying the two together)

For an overarching look at emotional development (this one is quite long);
Emotional Development | Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence | Find Articles at BNET

This link could help with how your deity learns to cope with his surroundings.
Emotional Growth and its Link to Learning!: Six Stages to a Strong Self-Images | Scholastic.com


I'm going to write down some of my thoughts on your work, and hope that they offer a fresh perspective.

Firstly, and this is just a semantic thing, I'd change the 'element' to 'aspect', or 'fraction' or something similar. 'Element' speaks of water, fire, earth, etc and initially had me thinking of captain planet.. which persisted through reading you post. I know it's a subjective thing, but try to avoid allowing readers to find links between your work and other people's works. And this is the only 'gripe' I've got; on to more important things:

I like the idea of creation vs destruction. Both have a place in the natural world and a 'force' they can put to effect. If written the right way, destruction could also be interpreted as change (and thus not a negative thing). This could be one of the conflicts that gets resolved near the end of your story (his perception of himself as a good/evil force).

Prior to their enslavement, I can imagine the forces they exerted on the world (on a global, or even universal scale). This allows me to see the type of existence/job they had. As a side note, you may want to have all creation/destruction in the world cease/slow once these beings are trapped in their bodies. If they have lost much of their power, then either their influence on the world is diminished, or you'll need to explain why/how their influence continues (unconsciously).

A question I have is with the darkness deity. What power/force does he have? I'm assuming that his opposite is light, and I can piece together some concept of her(?) power; of life-force or vitalisation - a catalyst. But what would/could darkness do?

At a stretch, I can imagine that darkness (not the deity) is not simply an absence of light. It has substance itself (much the same as light, but its opposite), and exerts a force against light to prevent its progress. Thus darkness could be a force to prevent life. But this entails tampering with the laws of physics, which runs the risk of your readers losing their sense of belief in your world.

I am curious as to what other deity aspects you've got planned, and how their powers influence in the world.


It looks as though you've got your deities being forced into a human body that already exists (rather than a human body that's been created for them). This could explain why the female has prior memories, but it runs counter to our hero not understanding emotions. I'm conflicted here.. it's a catch-22. Either you have them in new bodies, and let the female suffer something of amnesia. Or you let them inhabit the body of someone else, and let their memories and emotions flow through. This option creates a range of other problems.

Our hero might have some memories of his life (much like the female), and thus know how to handle his emotions (cancelling out a large portion of your story). As a possible explanation, when entering the male body, the deity of destruction wiped the man's memory clean, allowing him to inhabit the body entirely. The female was left intact, and results in the two consciousnesses fighting for dominance; because the deity is unused to being in a physical form, it takes a back-seat until it learns enough to push its way forward.


Another thing I'm curious about is how the deities influence the world. In what is a personal opinion, I assume that deities sorta see everything at once and can process a multitude of events simultaneously. Their efforts at affecting change would be second nature to them, and wouldn't require a great amount of directed attention. The change from this existence to one of a singular point of view (looking out from a set of eyes in a single direction) would be troubling enough. Add that to technically 2-dimensional view as opposed to a encompassing 'understanding' of all matter... you see where I'm thinking his initial problems with coping with a body would be?

Throw a bit of fear into the mix, and even a lessened innate destructive ability... and we're going to see some interesting things. We may even find out if his physical body can be damaged. I'm picturing him glancing at his hand, focusing his attention on it, unconsciously applying his skills.. the hand decays into nothing. Pain, fear, surprise.. strong emotions spur him into a panic, he destroys a building.. his hand grows back, painfully.

You may have it be some time before he is able to consciously restrain his destructive influence on the world, that merely looking at things causes them to age slowly. But this (somehow) doesn't affect your female character.


I'm going to stop with the suggestions here. I'm sure you've thought of your own story and plot, and I don't want to tamper with that. I'm just naturally creative and my mind seems to get ahead of me. Let me know if you wanted more ideas, otherwise I'll just stick to answering the questions you have.

If you have time, I have a few movie suggestions that don't deal directly with your story, but might lend you some perspective, or just may be food for thought. One is Starman, then, 'The Man From Earth', then 'Earth Girls Are Easy'.
I've been watching a lot of movies when I can, kind of as research, but mostly just because I like them. I like to read too, but movies are quite a bit shorter and still have something to offer.
If you have not already, read some Neil Gaiman.

Thanks for all of the links! I`m sure they will be of great help to me to get a better understanding of the development of emotion and psychology. I`ll definitely be doing some reading on them.

Don`t feel shy about suggestions and ideas, I am definitely open to them! I`ve written many stories (both original and fanfiction) but this one just feels extra important to me and I want to be sure that things about it are standing firm with the audience and can be captivating with the way the characters have their emotions and psychology as well as how characters interact with one another (which by itself grabs me right away and interests me, like the other day I was watching The Dark Knight and as much as I love the movie, the extra on the disc where they go over the psychology of the characters had my attention 200%). I also like seeing my work being able to appeal to both sexes (the female in me wants romance in there and I know the concept can be done without being "stupid" and "unreal" while the tomboy/male side of me wants the action/violence/gore in there and I know it can be done without being too much and without turning away the female audience).

Again I`m about to head to work so I`m pressed for time, but definitely I`m open to ideas and suggestions! (I`ll post again with more details soon.)

Looks like you head to work about the same time as I get ready for bed

I'll write some more in the morning. Feel free to post some sections of your work. I didn't mention it before, but I'm a psychologist, so I may be able to help with character development.

Really? Man, that`s going to make this tricky. XD Well, maybe not. Maybe you`ll be awake again when I get home.

It`s awesome to get in touch with someone who is a psychologist - that does help a lot in figuring this section about character development out. I was hoping there would be one somewhere who`d be willing to take the time and help me. Looks like I lucked out!

Though I wonder, since I`m a paranoid kind of person and have had a few of my works stolen in the past, I don`t want to give out too much on a public/open place for others to steal my work again. Would it be ok if I just pm`ed you?

EDIT
Hrm, it doesn`t seem like this forum have private messaging available. o.O

I'm just glad I can help, regardless of how.

I think you'll find that most people here are honest. The 'Writers' Workshop' isn't crawled by web-bots, and is only viewable by members. Don't be afraid to post small sections of your work there, if only to get feedback on your writing style.

And I'm happy to help in any way you're comfortable with. Send me a pm when you need some help, I'll be here.

Do you have PMs turned off? I`m unable to send you one.