Psychological novels encompass many things. They involve, usually, a mystery of some kind. Even if it is not a crime novel, as such, there will usually still be something that needs to be discovered. Many people are drawn by this aspect, but there are other, even more important ones. There will be, of course, an emphasis on character and human psychology.

The motives of the character will come up, here, which refers to the reasons behind their actions and what propels them through the story. Another thing that will be important is how the circumstances that the character is in will affect those motives, as well as their actions, in general. The story will be about how these things are brought together to move the plot forward.

For this genre, the plot progresses more on the strength of the influences of the characters and the way that it affects them, rather than a sequence of events. In another story, the things that happen will be just simply relayed. The motives of characters may still have insight, of course. But the focus will tend to be on the events, themselves, rather than the psychology of the characters.

This is inverted with stories that are psychologically influenced, however. Those who enjoy deeper characterisation will likely enjoy this kind of book, in particular. It is, to begin with, interesting from a sociological perspective. Being able to write engaging characters in this way requires a certain amount of knowledge on how minds work. It may also be more likely, with this, that the characters are much more relatable.

There is a better chance of you relating to characters, after all, if you know how their minds work. Even if the situation is not one who have any experience of, this can still be the case. Understanding the way that the mind of the character is working means that there is a better chance of being able to put yourself into that particular situation. Of course, you can often find that the reverse applies. You might not be able to relate to the character, no matter how familiar to you the situation might be.

Very common in this type of fiction is the stream of consciousness narrative, which replicates the mind, itself. Often, narratives will show the thoughts of characters, distantly. Point of view will be limited, of course, at least for as long as the stream of consciousness of the character in question is going on. If this is the case, then you will not have such things as an omniscient third point of view.

The story may still be in third person, of course, because third person can still be limited to the viewpoint of one character. Internal monologues are also very common. Stream of consciousness narratives will move quickly and subject the reader to a lot of detail, and some of this detail might seem superfluous.

With internal monologues, the character will probably keep to one subject in particular. They are, in psychological novels, a way in which a character can be shown to be influencing the plot or being influenced by it.