NEW RESOURCE FOR CRIME WRITERS

[Glenna Fairbanks]

For those writers who do not receive the daily email from QueryTracker, I want to share news of a new book just released and available at Borders and Amazon.com - THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY: How to Write Accurately About Psychological Disorders, Clinical Treatment and Human Behavior.

The author, Carolyn Kaufman, whose doctorate is in clinical psychology, is a former psychotherapist and currently a full-time psychology professor at Columbus State Community College. She is considered an expert source in her areas of specializations of clinical/abnormal psychology and media psychology.

This book, released December 1, 2010, will help writers get the psychology right for their characters whether it be behavioral or motivational or the treatment or medication. Personally, there's nothing that causes a story (writer) to lose credibility quite so much as when the story's "facts" just fly in the face of reality - unless perhaps the writer is writing sci-fi or fantasy. But saying a character has schizophrenia and then giving him symptoms that really fit bipolar disorder only shows the writer didn't do his/her homework. A book such as THE WRITER'S GUIDE TO PSYCHOLOGY will enable the writer to write it right.

This book belongs on the desk of any mystery/thriller/police procedural writer - right next to their dictionary and thesaurus. I've already ordered mine.

Carolyn is no stranger to me. I read her column regularly on QueryTracker and find a lot of valuable information. I expect this book, her first for writers, will be well worth the investment. I expect it will be a gold mine for developing both villians and vixens.