Over the past twenty years or so psychological research has ascertained that motivation and behavior change in a particular and consistent pattern, and they have named the steps involved ‘The Stages of Change’.  As novelists we can use elements of the Stages of Change to assist us with character development and to help us understand how to maximize productivity in our writing lives.

Jane Lesley, MSW, is a retired clinical social worker and lecturer at Boston University.  Over her twenty years of practice she used Motivational Enhancement (the Stages of Change) in her clinical practice and with her students; she is now using it in her writing.