Will having a good grasp of philosophy and psychology help me

>>8326788
Ask Miguel Delibes

Of course. Have you read any Dostoevsky? Guy could've probably both been an academic philosopher and a psychiatrist.

>>8326788
Having a decent grasp of psychology, equivalent to one semester of university level psychology courses, will help you create more believable characters. You have a better understanding of social dynamics and different personality theories, and can make up more realistic personal conflicts—one character might be bothered and motivated by material comfort, another might be an idealistic, and yet another has schizoid or autistic traits. It is not necessary but it might certainly help.

>>8326788
William Gass was trained as a philosopher. Some great prose there.

>>8326818

Oddly enough, Dostoevsky considered himself "weak in philosophy".

>>8326914
Which has to be irony on his part, because the Brothers Karamazov is essentially a philosophical novel.

The Broom of the System is basically Wittgenstein merged with Derrida - Settembrini and Naphta's philosophical discussions make up a large part of Magic Mountain -

if it doesn't make you a better writer, then you'll at least have an unlimited source of material