Psychology of Character

Photo credit: Dr Stephanie Hutton

The Twitter writing community is fabulous. There's some angst, a lot of fun and an occasional frustrated cry of 'why are writers posting gifs instead of writing?' (If you need to ask that question, you probably don't understand the joy of procrastination!)
An unexpected bonus of writer Twitter has been finding fantastic writing workshops, events and festivals. I can't list them all here. I can't attend them all in real life but I can say that every one I have attended has been a revelation in some way. 
It's thanks to Twitter that I found Dr Stephanie Hutton and signed up for her workshop on the Psychology of Character.  An NHS clinical psychologist and Winner of Best Novella, Saboteur Awards 2019, Stephanie's course brings together her two passions: psychology and writing.
As a professional psychologist she's aware that exploring a character's psych may expose your own. She is warm and supportive as you dig deeper into motivations, attachment types and core beliefs.
Working with my main character in my current WIP, the character timeline and trauma responses helped me recognise the seeds I'd scattered throughout the text and how they could be nurtured to ensure consistent characterisation. My 13 pages of notes are going to be very helpful, when I start editing. 
Again, I was pleasantly surprised by how lovely everyone was. I couldn't make it to the pub afterwards but it was a joy to spend the day with these wonderful people. Oh, and another unexpected bonus was the fabulous lunch. Best food at a writing event so far this year!