The Psychology Behind the Story — and the Manuscript
This page is for fiction writers who need psychological depth in their work, and authors or organizations producing mental health content that needs to be both clinically accurate and readable.
Great fiction isn't driven by plot. It's driven by the gap between what a character consciously wants and what they're unconsciously terrified of. Most writers feel this intuitively but struggle to locate it precisely, so the character moves through the story instead of driving it.
I'm a licensed therapist who has collaborated with writers and industry professionals on building out the unconscious motivations, relational dynamics, and psychological architecture that make characters feel real and give the plot somewhere genuine to go.
I bring that same clinical precision to mental health manuscripts, auditing for accuracy, clarity, and reader accessibility that doesn't water down the truth.
Character Psychology Consulting — For Fiction Writers
For novelists, screenwriters, and any other works of fiction or creative non-fiction:
I work as a psychological expert in your writers' room. We build a precise internal map of your character — core wound, protective beliefs, unconscious drives, and how all of it creates the inevitable collision at the center of your story.
What you get: Diagnostic questions that unlock stuck characters. A full internal map from wound to belief to behavior to external conflict. Clarity on the gap between what your character wants and what they fear, because that gap is your story. Arc guidance on what has to shift internally for the external story to move.
Why it's different: Most craft feedback is about what a character does. This is about what's running them underneath — the specific unconscious fear that makes their choices feel inevitable rather than arbitrary.
What to expect: Your protagonist stops happening to the story and starts driving it.
Mental Health Manuscript Consulting — For Authors and Organizations
I audit mental health writing for psychological accuracy, narrative structure, and reader accessibility, making sure complex concepts land clearly without losing their clinical truth.
What you get: Psychological accuracy review. Structural feedback so your argument lands. Clarity on where you're writing for yourself versus for your reader. Copy that sounds like you at your clearest, not like a textbook.
Why it's different: I'm both a clinician and a writer. I know which side each problem is coming from.
For organizations producing mental health content: B2B consulting available.