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Since Give Up the Ghost was released, I’ve been getting a question I suspect every writer hears after publishing a book not clearly part of a series: “Is there going to be a sequel?” When I wrote Ghost, it never … Continue reading
Megan
Last week I talked about how memory and behaviorism might affect readers’ enjoyment of a story. The final area of psychology I’m going to discuss is persuasion. When psychologists study persuasive techniques, they are usually focusing on topics like advertising … Continue reading
Next week I’m going to be leading a Topic of the Week over at The Enchanted Inkpot about “strong” heroes and heroines. While I’m gathering my thoughts on the subject, I thought it’d be interesting to do a quick poll … Continue reading
Earlier I talked about how the psychological study of memory can give us clues about what qualities cause a story to be considered “good.” Today I’d like to examine the role behavioral psychology might play. When people talk about behavioral … Continue reading
Context: I had invited B over to my house to study for exams together. He was supposed to arrive at 3:00. December 14, 1995 (Megan is 14) It’s 3:40 and B isn’t here yet. He phoned me at 2:30 to … Continue reading
As a psychology major and someone whose day job regularly draws on psychological principles (I’m a behavioral therapist for children with special needs), I thought it’d be interesting to do a series of posts examining how the science of the … Continue reading
Want to support your local library (school or public)? Direct the librarians you know over to these two awesome giveaways! The 2009 Debutantes are giving away 46 books to the winning library, simply for sending in a picture of one … Continue reading
Delve into the folk tales of any culture in the world, and before long you’ll come across ghost stories. The woman who lingers on the bridge where she jumped to her death. The lord of the manor who haunts his … Continue reading
Three bits of news for you all: -I’m going to be blogging over at Tor.com a few times a week for the next month! So some days I’ll be directing you over there for a post. My first, on how … Continue reading
Since Halloween is fast approaching… 🙂 The Witches by Roald Dahl – My favorite Roald Dahl book ever (which is saying a lot) features some very creepy and nasty witches. Beware of women with gloves and itchy heads! Witchery Hill … Continue reading