"Following his packed workshops at our L.A. and Palm Springs events, back to SCWCSD http://www.writersconference.com/scwcmain.html, by popular demand is 'Shooting Shrink' series author and semi-retired psychologist Michael Thompkins."

That is how this blog column all began for me. I signed up to do a workshop with Michael Steven Gregory, MSG to his friends, and the Southern California Writers Conference in October 2006. A year later in LA, and a year and a half later in San Diego, we were still packing the rooms for workshops devoted to “how psychology can help you write good fiction.”

Then, a month ago in San Diego, after a tremendous amount of interest and support from the conferees and SCWCSD staff, it became obvious to me that there were www.shootingshrink.com blog articles to be written. Each article, whether it is on writing character or plot, once posted, will appear on the blog until I write the next one. Then, it will be archived on the site.

Shrinking Fiction #I: Earliest Maps of Character

Some of the earliest Emotional Anatomy maps of character structure come from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western Folk Medicine, world-views inherited from the ancients. In TCM, and Western Folk Medicine (Naturopathy, Homeopathy, et al.), there is no difference between the practice of psychology and the practice of medicine. Specific emotions, patterns of thought, and attitudes are associated with specific anatomical organs and other physical structures in complete systems of correspondence.  In TCM these are often called Five Element Theory.  In Western Folk Medicine these are call humours.

 

For example, in TCM the human liver is associated with the emotion anger and the mental function of planning, and the heart is connected with the emotion of joy and the controlling of the entire organism. TCM comprises a complex, voluminous system of such correspondences. In the TCM world-view an individual’s anatomical structure, inherited and acquired, significantly influences an individual’s characteristic attitudes, thoughts and feelings.  The systems of correspondences in Western Folk Medicine are less organized, less discrete, and less studied.

As a psychologist, I have spent much time studying these and other similar emotional anatomies, the organization of emotional patterns into specific anatomical patterns.  My point here is not whether these systems have any relative or absolute scientific merit; I will leave that to the scientists and the physicians. My focus here is whether the psychological systems to be found here in these bodies of knowledge can help us as writers to construct more congruent characters, characters that ring true on all levels, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. To quote Brian Hilling, a fellow writer and friend, "It may not work so well as a science, but for writing, psychophysical alchemy is what we do anyway."

I caution you. Before I give you an exercise to practice, reflect on the following idea first: The map is not the territory. It is important to remember in discussing all maps that "the map is not the territory."  When we talk about character and maps of character, we can only approximate something intangible. Anyone who has ever gone hiking in the wilderness knows that maps can be helpful but are not totally representative of reality. Many a hiker has had danger follow his naïve belief in the reliability of maps. A map can get you near the territory you are looking for, then, you must find the real territory yourself.

Writing Exercise

Even if you have taken a workshop from me, you can profit from the following exercise: Consider your protagonist. With only the consideration that his or her thoughts, feelings, and attitude are reflected in totality of his or her physicality, list the physical characteristics of your protagonist as he is now. List the characteristics you feel some certainty about and the ones that you have questions about. This will summarize your native intuition of the existence of the character maps that I will be writing more about. This will get us started.

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• More later.

Question for Commenters: 
       In Episode I of Season I of the Tudors (Showtime), King Henry VIII asks his ambassador to France if the French king has strong calves. Why?