Sunday’s writing session at Foyles Bookshop proved how creative work naturally leads to deeper inquiry. Settling into focused writing time, I found myself still processing ideas from the recent sci-fi authors social – particularly conversations about world-building and speculative societies.
The blank page demanded something specific, and gradually a short story began emerging. An authoritarian regime responding to apocalyptic crisis. Government control mechanisms. Citizen behaviour under extreme pressure. But as the outline developed, I realised my understanding of group psychology remained superficial.
This awareness led me away from my laptop and into Foyles’ psychology section. The beauty of writing in a bookshop revealed itself – immediate access to research materials when creativity demands deeper knowledge. Browsing shelves on empathy and mass behaviour, I discovered texts that immediately illuminated character motivations I’d been struggling to authenticate.
Reading about crowd dynamics whilst my fictional world waited half-finished felt like genuine creative process rather than academic exercise. Theory and imagination informing each other in real time. The apocalyptic scenario required understanding how communities fracture and reform under pressure, how individual moral choices shift when survival depends on group loyalty.
Returning to my story with enhanced psychological insight transformed the writing completely. Characters gained complexity beyond simple political archetypes. Their decisions now reflected authentic human behaviour patterns rather than plot convenience.
The session reminded me that effective fiction requires more than imagination – it demands rigorous curiosity about how people actually function. Research doesn’t constrain creativity; it provides foundation for believable speculation about human nature under extraordinary circumstances.
— Writer Anastasia Dubinina