Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
12th out of 56 books
—
10 voters
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression
by
Angela Ackerman (Goodreads Author),
Becca Puglisi (Goodreads Author)
One of the biggest problem areas for writers is conveying a character's emotions to the reader in a unique, compelling way. This bookcomes to the rescue by highlighting 75 emotions and listing the possible body language cues, thoughts, and visceral responses for each.
Using its easy-to-navigate list format, readers can draw inspiration from character cues that range in int...more
Using its easy-to-navigate list format, readers can draw inspiration from character cues that range in int...more
Paperback, 170 pages
Published
May 2012
by JADD Publishing
(first published April 21st 2012)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
1,363)
When I sit down at my computer to write I do three things before starting: I close my office door, I crank up some rock 'n roll, and I make sure The Emotion Thesaurus is open on my Kindle reader app on my desktop.
Every writer can learn something from this excellent resource. Look up the emotion your character is experiencing and you'll find physical signals, internal sensations, mental responses, cues of acute or long-term effects of said emotion, cues of suppressed emotion, a list of other emo...more
Every writer can learn something from this excellent resource. Look up the emotion your character is experiencing and you'll find physical signals, internal sensations, mental responses, cues of acute or long-term effects of said emotion, cues of suppressed emotion, a list of other emo...more
You can also read this review on my blog: http://cathykeatonwrites.blogspot.com...
When I first learned about The Emotion Thesaurus I was intrigued. Was this like a regular thesaurus, but for emotions? Would I be able to look up any type of human emotion and find varying ways to portray it through prose that would help me avoid being redundant and stale? The answer to these questions is a definite YES.
What a brilliant idea it was to create this amazing resource for fiction writers! The authors of...more
When I first learned about The Emotion Thesaurus I was intrigued. Was this like a regular thesaurus, but for emotions? Would I be able to look up any type of human emotion and find varying ways to portray it through prose that would help me avoid being redundant and stale? The answer to these questions is a definite YES.
What a brilliant idea it was to create this amazing resource for fiction writers! The authors of...more
As a newbie/wanna be writer, I'm always looking for tools to help me improve. Writing good stories take study, practice and motivation.
The Emotion Thesaurus is a very good tool to help anyway who wants to write. The book is divided in 2 parts. The first part, the author explains motivations, story flow and how to keep things going. It is a very interesting tutorial and, to me, the best part of the book.
The second part is the thesaurus itself. For every emotion, you will see a definition, physica...more
The Emotion Thesaurus is a very good tool to help anyway who wants to write. The book is divided in 2 parts. The first part, the author explains motivations, story flow and how to keep things going. It is a very interesting tutorial and, to me, the best part of the book.
The second part is the thesaurus itself. For every emotion, you will see a definition, physica...more
This book is a real gem. I'm often reluctant to read books about writing techniques because I feel that trying too hard to 'stick to the rules' sucks a lot of the fun out of writing, and can leave me creatively paralysed for fear of 'getting it wrong.' Not so this book. If you ever find it hard to think of ways to describe your characters' emotions without falling back on the same old cliches (and let's face it, who doesn't?), then this book will give you a great nudge in the right direction. I...more
Every author should have this book near at hand. You probably know that readers relate most strongly to stories with lots of emotional expression, but you may not know how to do this beyond occasional statements like "She had never felt so angry." The Emotion Thesaurus will give you the tools you need to embed emotion into dialogue and nonverbal expressions like facial expression, behavior, and movement. You'll learn about likely mental responses or self-talk, and typical internal sensations.
Ac...more
Ac...more
How well-rounded are your characters? Do you default to limiting their reactions to the major 6 or 7 emotions: anger, contempt, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise? Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have put together an excellent resource to help you express a full range of emotions in your story without turning to hackneyed clichés.
Can you tell the difference between remorse and shame, worry and unease, or adoration and love? How can you make sure that all your characters don’t react...more
Can you tell the difference between remorse and shame, worry and unease, or adoration and love? How can you make sure that all your characters don’t react...more
By Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. Grade A
“All successful novels, no matter what genre, have one thing in common: emotion. It lies at the core of every character’s decision, action, and word, all of which drive the story. Without emotion, a character’s personal journey is pointless.”
This is the note with which Ms. Ackerman and Ms. Puglisi start the book. And I am sure that none of us would deny this fact.
One of the biggest problem areas for writers is conveying a character’s emotions to the r...more
“All successful novels, no matter what genre, have one thing in common: emotion. It lies at the core of every character’s decision, action, and word, all of which drive the story. Without emotion, a character’s personal journey is pointless.”
This is the note with which Ms. Ackerman and Ms. Puglisi start the book. And I am sure that none of us would deny this fact.
One of the biggest problem areas for writers is conveying a character’s emotions to the r...more
This is a reference book, for the times you need to look up--not synonyms but descriptions, ways you can write to show your character's emotions. Pretty fancy, huh. Each entry (emotion) has several descriptions that are divided into Physical Signals, Internal Sensations, Mental Responses, Cues of Acute (Insert Emotion Here) and Cues of Suppressed (Insert Emotion Here).
If you are: an observant person and/or reader (and have been reading for pleasure since you were a child), have taken a beginner'...more
If you are: an observant person and/or reader (and have been reading for pleasure since you were a child), have taken a beginner'...more
I’ve long been a fan of Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s blog, The Bookshelf Muse, as it offers great tools and resources for writers. When they announced that they were compiling their info and writing a book, countless other writers and I were thrilled.
Angela and Becca believe that emotions are the core of good characters. “Without emotion,” they say, “a character’s personal journey is pointless.” This is true, but how do we translate that emotion into print to provide a rich and satisfyin...more
Angela and Becca believe that emotions are the core of good characters. “Without emotion,” they say, “a character’s personal journey is pointless.” This is true, but how do we translate that emotion into print to provide a rich and satisfyin...more
I promised my wonderful and long-suffering wife that I wouldn’t buy any more book until I’d read everything on our shelves. Now, here I am buying a new thesaurus after reading only 31 of the original 188 titles awaiting my attention. Why? Well a friend (she’s a friend, and she made me break a promise to my wife?) passed on a review of this book. I’m afraid I can’t now find the link to that review, but thanks to whoever it was! It was the review that persuaded me to bend my knee and ask my lovely...more
This book tells me how a a character feels and acts under the influence of certain emotions, including body language and facial expression.
I've long wished for a book like this.
There have been books and classes before telling writers about character emotions, but those haven't been as helpful. Typically, those books and classes get it the wrong way round: they tell how to read body language (if a character's posture looks so-and-so, it means he's feeling such-and-such). As a writer, I found thos...more
I've long wished for a book like this.
There have been books and classes before telling writers about character emotions, but those haven't been as helpful. Typically, those books and classes get it the wrong way round: they tell how to read body language (if a character's posture looks so-and-so, it means he's feeling such-and-such). As a writer, I found thos...more
Picture me dancing with abandon around the late night campfire like a Johnny on the spot gold rich prospector. Yessiree, life’s been pretty damned good up to now, but it just went antimatter fueled supernovae. How so; my copy of the Emotion Thesaurus; a Writers Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi came by big brown is beautiful truck. Fearing the tome fool’s gold, I leapt right into her and took her out for a test drive: leaving my socks and shoes smoking on the car...more
Jun 04, 2012
Sheri
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Writers of all genres, high school and college students
The Emotional Thesaurus is a fantastic writer's handbook, and must have as a reference while writing to help bring clarity yet interest to one's writing.
Angela and Becca have created a functional tool to enhance an author's writing and storytelling choices. The book is written in an easy-to-read-and-follow format, which is great for any writer, even high school and college students.
I especially liked the breakdown of words into Verbal and Nonverbal Communication, Physical Signals, Mental Respons...more
Angela and Becca have created a functional tool to enhance an author's writing and storytelling choices. The book is written in an easy-to-read-and-follow format, which is great for any writer, even high school and college students.
I especially liked the breakdown of words into Verbal and Nonverbal Communication, Physical Signals, Mental Respons...more
Personally, I find The Emotion Thesaurus a bit expensive, seeing that I have thicker books which are still cheaper than this one, but it was worth buying it.
It can sometimes be hard to think up of all the nonverbal cues an emotion would bring out in a character when writing a story. The Emotion Thesaurus is an easy way to find such information.
While there are nonverbal cues and emotions that are missing from the book, you could still mix and match things from The Emotion Thesaurus to get the des...more
It can sometimes be hard to think up of all the nonverbal cues an emotion would bring out in a character when writing a story. The Emotion Thesaurus is an easy way to find such information.
While there are nonverbal cues and emotions that are missing from the book, you could still mix and match things from The Emotion Thesaurus to get the des...more
Great addition to my reference collection.
I cannot say enough about how much I love this book!! I saw some people suggest it online and after finding out what it was- I ordered it right away. It is a FANTASTIC writing resource!
When writing, sometimes its hard to come up with new ways of describing feelings or situations so Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi came up with this amazing book. You identify the "root emotion" that you are trying to describe, and then they have a list of the following things for each root emotion: physical sig...more
When writing, sometimes its hard to come up with new ways of describing feelings or situations so Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi came up with this amazing book. You identify the "root emotion" that you are trying to describe, and then they have a list of the following things for each root emotion: physical sig...more
This is an amazingly helpful, well thought out book that every writer should have handy.
We all know we're supposed to show, not tell. Don't tell "Joe is sad." Show "Joe's shoulders slumped and his eyes brightened with unshed tears." And that's a prime example of how writer's can easily fall into the cliche trap when showing.
THE EMOTIONAL THESAURUS lists emotions, and then gives all the physical signals, mental responses and internal sensations associated with that emotion. It includes cues for i...more
We all know we're supposed to show, not tell. Don't tell "Joe is sad." Show "Joe's shoulders slumped and his eyes brightened with unshed tears." And that's a prime example of how writer's can easily fall into the cliche trap when showing.
THE EMOTIONAL THESAURUS lists emotions, and then gives all the physical signals, mental responses and internal sensations associated with that emotion. It includes cues for i...more
Jul 06, 2012
Jillyn
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Role players, Writers, Students
Shelves:
first-reads
I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.
The Emotion Thesaurus is a short but extremely useful Writer's Guide that, as the title would suggest, deals with writing the emotions of characters. I was pleasantly surprised that this is not just a mere thesaurus that provides synonyms. This guide includes so much more, like mental reactions & physical reactions. This little book includes 75 basic emotions that are alphabetically listed, making it easy to quickly reference what you need.
I...more
The Emotion Thesaurus is a short but extremely useful Writer's Guide that, as the title would suggest, deals with writing the emotions of characters. I was pleasantly surprised that this is not just a mere thesaurus that provides synonyms. This guide includes so much more, like mental reactions & physical reactions. This little book includes 75 basic emotions that are alphabetically listed, making it easy to quickly reference what you need.
I...more
Dec 15, 2012
Missye
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
writers, playwrights, scriptwriters, screenplay editors
Writing, as those in this craft know, is about balance and story. Balance the right amount of beats, dialogue, pacing, IM, imagery, description, backstory, characterization, location, etc. Admittedly, I get lazy and fall back on the tried and true in telling...especially conveying emotions. Heck, sharing them to someone else is hard; writing them? Harder yet without sounding corny, overblown, overdone, hoaky. You know, back in the day of daytime soaps and "Jerry Springer" takes their place now,...more
Apr 18, 2013
James
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
arts,
entertainment-and-recreation,
graphic-novels,
literature,
psychology,
reference,
writing
Very useful, very down-to-earth - as the title indicates, this isn't so much a book to read as one in which to look things up. The authors have catalogued a great number of emotional and mental states in which writers (or visual artists, or actors) need to realistically portray their characters, and then for each, listed physical signals, internal sensations, mental responses, cues of that state in an acute or long-term form, and cues of the state being present but suppressed.
Not all the cues wi...more
Not all the cues wi...more
A five star review because it does exactly what it says on the tin!
This is a book that I could download from Smashwords (although living in Crete I could not download it from Kindle or Kobo or itunes - as far as I could tell). It works very smoothly using it on my iPad and in the iBooks App.
And the content - well it's cleverly thought through:
for each emotion you get -
A definition
Physical signals
Internal sensations
Mental responses
The effect of this emotion long term
And how it manifests when (un...more
This is a book that I could download from Smashwords (although living in Crete I could not download it from Kindle or Kobo or itunes - as far as I could tell). It works very smoothly using it on my iPad and in the iBooks App.
And the content - well it's cleverly thought through:
for each emotion you get -
A definition
Physical signals
Internal sensations
Mental responses
The effect of this emotion long term
And how it manifests when (un...more
The Emotion Thesaurus contains some opening material about characterization, showing versus telling, and using this thesaurus as inspiration and applying it naturally to characters and their surroundings. This opening material is nothing particularly new or ground-breaking, but I see how it's necessary--sort of a why-you-need-this-book combined with a disclaimer.
The bulk of of the text is made up of sections dedicated to many different emotions, where each section includes a list of ways to disp...more
The bulk of of the text is made up of sections dedicated to many different emotions, where each section includes a list of ways to disp...more
Recently on reviewing my own writing and talking to others, I realised I had fallen into a typical first time writer's pot hole. I had developed a habit of telling my audience what was going on rather than showing them through my characters. So I went back to the drawing board, to work out what I need to change and I realised my characters needed to reflect what was happening to them through their actions.
After talking to a few people on Twitter, I was told about this book, which I quickly down...more
After talking to a few people on Twitter, I was told about this book, which I quickly down...more
This review also on Ramblings of an Amateur Writer: http://reenajacobs.com/blog/?p=10111
I have to admit, I was a bit bummed to see one of my favorite free resources with a price tag. But really, I don't blame the authors. Their Emotion Thesaurus is a treasure cove.
Okay... I'll be honest, I didn't read this book in its entirety. But then again, it's not that kind of book, since it's for reference. Still, you're getting my review anyway.
Without fail, I've gone to the Bookshelf Muse (the author's w...more
I have to admit, I was a bit bummed to see one of my favorite free resources with a price tag. But really, I don't blame the authors. Their Emotion Thesaurus is a treasure cove.
Okay... I'll be honest, I didn't read this book in its entirety. But then again, it's not that kind of book, since it's for reference. Still, you're getting my review anyway.
Without fail, I've gone to the Bookshelf Muse (the author's w...more
Useful resource. It takes an emotion (everything from agitation to worry in alphabetical order) and after the definition of the word lists physical signals, internal sensations, mental responses,etc. and ends with a little tip for writers. Easy to use, it can be dipped into as and when needed, allowing the writer to add a little something to the 'show don't tell' aspect of their characters emotions or even simply to confirm you've got it right when the crows of doubt fly in (we've all been there...more
One of the biggest problem areas for writers is conveying a character's emotions to the reader in a unique, compelling way. This book comes to the rescue by highlighting 75 emotions and listing the possible body language cues, thoughts, and visceral responses for each. Using its easy-to-navigate list format, readers can draw inspiration from character cues that range in intensity to match any emotional moment. The Emotion Thesaurus also tackles common emotion-related writing problems and provide...more
The author has put together a comprehensive list of cues, physical signals, internal sensations and mental responses for every emotion possible. When a writer is stuck for how to describe an emotion and is tempted to just tell, this book provides a great way to stimulate the thought process. Combined with a deep sense of setting, character and situation, it can help a blocked writer come up with better descriptive details. But like all reference books, it should not be used to cut and paste but...more
I needed a concise way to look up alternatives to the same old tired:
"Whatever," she shrugged. "Do what you want."
This book gave me:
"Whatever..." She looked past me as though I wasn't even there, her voice as flat and emotionless as a tombstone in winter. "Do what you want."
The first sentence is fine when writing your rough draft, but when you're past-deadline and need to edit that chapter that is otherwise falling a little flat, this book will help you quickly add a little zing without going on...more
"Whatever," she shrugged. "Do what you want."
This book gave me:
"Whatever..." She looked past me as though I wasn't even there, her voice as flat and emotionless as a tombstone in winter. "Do what you want."
The first sentence is fine when writing your rough draft, but when you're past-deadline and need to edit that chapter that is otherwise falling a little flat, this book will help you quickly add a little zing without going on...more
Authors, if you've ever been told show don't tell, this is a great guide! The authors wrote this wonderful guide to assist. Following the instructions can help any author bring their character's to life in a story. There are areas where an author would "tell" but if you are looking to spice your characters up and pull readers in, this guide is a must-for showing the character's emotions, not telling readers he's mad, hurt, sad, lonely, or happy, relieved, anxious, etc. There's much more to the g...more
I've only read the introduction and a few entires. The book isn't something you read from cover to cover. The introduction gave some basic writing tips regarding dealing with emotions. They were pretty simple, but I found the useful. The best part are the entries. For each emotion there is a list of physical signals of the particular emotion. While some are obvious, there are quite a few you wouldn't have thought of. The entries also list internal sensations, mental responses, and cues. I know I...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Can't wait | 10 | 25 | Aug 18, 2012 01:22am |
ANGELA ACKERMAN lives in Calgary, Alberta, just a short drive from the Canadian Rockies. She is a co-author of the popular book, The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression which profiles seventy-five emotions to help writers show, not tell what their characters are feeling.
A writer of Chapter Books, Middle Grade and Young Adult, her work has appeared in Spider Magazine, Wee O...more
More about Angela Ackerman...
A writer of Chapter Books, Middle Grade and Young Adult, her work has appeared in Spider Magazine, Wee O...more
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
Roxie
Mar 02, 2013 06:37am