Boosting psychology through fiction

Three best-selling writers of fiction will be honored for their contributions to psychology.

By Patrick A. McGuire
Monitor Senior Editor

It?s not hard to see that Jonathan and Faye Kellerman have much in common?they?re not only married to each other, they?re both best-selling novelists. Add famous storyteller Michael Crichton to the mix and you have a trio marked by a more subtle distinction.

'They are three excellent writers,' says Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD, APA president, 'who have disseminated psychology in responsible ways to the general public, and whose works have reflected well on all of science.'

Seligman will present each with a presidential citation at the 1998 APA Annual Convention in San Francisco 'for their contributions to science through literature.' He has also invited each to address the convention on the connections between literature and psychology.

'I?ve read pretty much everything they?ve written,' says Seligman, who has known the three writers for several years. A few years ago, he remembers urging Crichton to make a movie version of his novel 'Eaters of the Dead.' Coincidentally, Crichton was working on the film version of that very novel at press time and was unavailable to comment for this story.

'I think Michael?s best books are ?Eaters of the Dead,? and his essays, ?Travels,? says Seligman. '?Travels,?' he noted 'uses the metaphor of traveling from one place to another for major psychological transitions in life.'

In 'Eaters,' set in the Middle Ages, the story imagines a meeting between a Persian traveler and the last vestiges of Neanderthal man. 'It?s so imaginative in setting,' says Seligman. 'It?s Michael?s trip backward, contrasting with his trips forward. He is one of the deepest thinkers about science and its effects on our future.'

A well-edited psychologist

Jonathan Kellerman, meanwhile, is best known for his fictional sleuth, Alex Delaware, PhD, a practicing clinical psychologist who helps the police solve crimes in novels such as 'The Clinic' and 'Survival of the Fittest.'

'I tried to create Alex as a good psychologist,' says Kellerman, 'Actually he?s much more sensitive than I am. But then, I get to rewrite his dialogue.'

While he says he has never used his real-life patients as characters in his novels, Kellerman admits that his stories grow out of what he has experienced in his clinical work. In analyzing his own career, he remembers how he tried for years to write a novel without success, finally realizing 'I didn?t have the guts to expose myself in my fiction. I was keeping my fiction at arm?s length' from his life.

Also, he says, 'I think you need some kind of life experience to write. And not enough had happened to me.'

He eventually found fulfillment with the creation of Delaware. 'I wrote from the perspective of what I was, a psychologist,' he says. 'I wrote what I knew. I?ve been exposed to very troubling material as a psychologist, but here was a way to write my own story and play God by having the cases turn out the way I wanted them to.'

Alex Delaware?s style is unlike that of the typical hard-nosed private eye. He goes about his work by interacting sympathetically with the people he meets and by quiet, professional observation. Kellerman says an empathetic psychologist is an ideal model for a detective.

'When you do therapy as a psychologist you focus on the patient,' he says. 'You keep yourself out of it as much as possible. Basically you sit there and try to get that person to communicate to you. So Alex asks people to talk to him. He doesn?t inject a lot of himself in there.'

While Jonathan says he finds creation of character the most enjoyable part of his writing, his wife, Faye, who has topped the best-seller lists with novels like 'Prayers for the Dead' and 'Serpent?s Tooth,' comes down squarely on the side of plot and story. 'The whole fun of fiction is making up stories,' she says.

Overcomming dyslexia

As a child, Faye Kellerman daydreamed stories constantly, but never considered writing because she was phonetically dyslexic and found reading 'a chore.'

Instead, she concentrated on math and sciences, though she never gave up on stories. In overcoming her dyslexia, she eventually discovered that while she has some difficulty putting thoughts into spoken words, her writing was completely unaffected.

And then, once she began writing, she found her love of math served her well. 'In plotting, I use the same process you go through when proving a theorem. It requires a methodical nature of going point to point and getting there without illogical leaps,' she says.

'It allows me to create very intricate plots.'

Her best-known novels feature a husband and wife team?Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus. In creating them, she adhered to the same principle that Jonathan followed.

'Like Peter and Rina, I am married and find it a very integral part of my life. I don?t think I could write as effectively with an unattached female.'

Both Kellermans say they have found much of their success in rewriting the old crime story formula.

'People aren?t interested in whodunnits anymore,' says Faye Kellerman. 'They need character motivation. They want a whydunnit. That?s why it?s good to have a background in psychology to be able to make it look like you haven?t pulled something out of a hat.'

Yes, she admits, she has taken a few psychology courses, but chuckles 'just living with a psychologist, you learn to pick up the terms.'

The Kellermans are scheduled to speak Friday, Aug. 21, at 10 a.m. in the Marriott Hotel, Yerba Buena Salon 8. Crichton will speak Saturday, Aug. 22, at 4 p.m., Marriott, Yerba Buena, Salon 8/9.