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The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression Kindle Edition

by Angela Ackerman (Author), Becca Puglisi (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 2,875 ratings
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Did you know there's a SECOND EDITION of The Emotion Thesaurus? Find it by clicking the author's names.

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 provides methods to overcome them.

This writing tool encourages writers to show, not tell emotion and is a creative brainstorming resource for any fiction project.

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  1. Print length
    174 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    May 9, 2012
  5. File size
    2269 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

One of the challenges a fiction writer faces, especially when prolific, is coming up with fresh ways to describe emotions. This handy compendium fills that need. It is both a reference and a brainstorming tool, and one of the resources I'll be turning to most often as I write my own books. - James Scott Bell, bestselling author of Deceived and Plot & Structure

About the Author

Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are bestselling authors, writing coaches, and international speakers. Their books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. Angela and Becca also co-founded their popular Writers Helping Writers site, a hub where authors can hone their craft, as well as One Stop For Writers, an innovative online library built to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00822WM2M
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ JADD Publishing (May 9, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 9, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2269 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 174 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 2,875 ratings

About the authors

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  1. Becca Puglisi

    Becca Puglisi

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and author of bestselling books for writers. Her books are available in multiple languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling. Her books are represented by foreign rights agent Marleen Seegers of 2 Seas Agency.

    During her free time (ha), Becca enjoys playing video games, watching movies with her family, baking, and adding to her stash of emergency supplies. She has always enjoyed contemplating the What if? scenario, which serves her well during hurricane season in south Florida.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Angela Ackerman

    Angela Ackerman

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    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    ANGELA ACKERMAN is a writing coach, international speaker, and co-author of 11 bestselling books for writers, including The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression. Her books are available in 10 languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. Her home country is Canada.

    Angela is also the co-founder of the popular site Writers Helping Writers®, as well as One Stop for Writers®, a portal to powerful tools and resources that help you think like a writing expert so you become a stronger storyteller. A strong believer in writers helping and supporting other writers, she tries to pay-it-forward however she is able to.

    http://writershelpingwriters.net

    http://onestopforwriters.com

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
2,875 global ratings
Excellent reference - from beginning to end!
5 Stars
Excellent reference - from beginning to end!
This is an excellent book!! Listing many emotions, this book also details many of the "physical signals" that a person feeling that emotion might display, while giving writers tips for showing that a person is feeling these emotions. Excellent reference - from beginning to end! Please mark if you find my review helpful. Thank you so much!
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Top reviews from the United States

Bookish33
5.0 out of 5 stars Must For Any Writer
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2023
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What a resource for writing! If you write anything, this book will help you connect emotion with your story, whether fiction or nonfiction. A simply outstanding contribution and should be on your writing shelf.
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Rebecca
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent brainstorming tool for any writer
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2016
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This is a great tool to help you get out of a description rut. As any writer knows, it's all too easy to fall back on the same handful of emotional responses (my characters "sigh" so much they have breathing problems).

This book is essentially a list of physical and visceral reactions to the most common emotional responses. I find that it's a great brainstorming tool. Obviously it isn't meant to provide "exact" phrases you would use in your writing. It's more like a springboard to help you visualize your own characters and how they might react in ways you hadn't thought of. In that respect it's an excellent resource. My characters are much more three-dimensional and real as a result of this book.

It IS a bit limited and the lists are a little repetitive. Granted, emotions like anxiety, fear, and dread overlap, and so do normal responses to those emotions, but a lot of the things listed are very generic, making it easy to loose the subtle nuances between those words. However - that's the WRITER'S job, not the thesaurus author's job, so I can't fault the book too much. I just wish it had more emotions listed than the basics that are covered.

But overall it's an excellent resource and one I reach for whenever I'm struggling with my characters. I also reach for it whenever doing an editing pass, mainly as a way to make sure I'm not in a descriptive rut without even realizing it. My writing has definitely improved with use of this book and I plan to purchase the others in the series.
3 people found this helpful
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Frankie Allen
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a GREAT tool!!
Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2013
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I'm a very visual person. I love movies. I love bright colors. I love watching people (not as a creeper). So I looooooooove seeing emotion. One of the things I enjoy the most is watching people being human--experiencing emotion. So when I'm writing a scene, I always ask myself, "If I were an actor, how would I portray this?"

It's funny how you'll get a pile of books that have similarities that bug you. This week, it's books where the author attempted to show the non-verbal indicators of emotion, but did so using major indicators. Frustration was shown by "flinging her body onto the bed and throwing her stuffed bear across the room with a wild screech". Oh yeah. I got that I was supposed to be frustrated, but I also felt like I was two years old. This particular heroine wasn't immature. She was supposed to be quiet, withdrawn, subdued. That's not subdued.

My personal opinion is that these are authors trying to show and not tell, but who are still trying to figure out the best way to do that. I recommend The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide To Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglist. I'm not saying this because I'm making any money on the link. I'm not. This book was actually very helpful even to me. I say this with a note of surprise because I am so very visual and I have my own internal journal of visual emotion indicators. This book goes into the physical signs of someone you're watching. This is great for first person and third person limited because you can convey by watching. Let's go to frustration for example.

If I had Synn (my mc in Fall of Sky City (A Steampunk Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure Novel) (Devices of War) ) talking to Joshua who was frustrated with me, I could have Joshua do the following:

-narrow eyes in Synn's direction and pinch the lips together
-tap his fingers against the table staring at something that's pointedly not Synn
-Give an impatient snort or sneer

Now, if Joshua were really hot--because he does have a hot temper--he could do something more dramatic.

-swear at Synn
-get up and start pacing, gesturing wildly
-claw the hands and then relax them

These are all straight from the Emotion Thesaurus. Now, you can scoff, if you like, but if you're one of the authors who hasn't figured this out yet, I'm going to laugh maniacally at you as I review your book. Now, here it is, all put together.

"Joshua raised his clawed hands, his lips pinched in frustration, before he turned away, his hands relaxed at his sides."

The Emotion Thesaurus also goes into the internal sensations and the mental responses, and they go into signs of acute or long-term emotions. It's a really fantastic tool I wish more authors were using!
4 people found this helpful
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Tonja Drecker
4.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful guide to bringing across characters' emotions
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2019
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I find this one to be a 'must-have' for writers, especially beginning ones. Many of the basic emotions are covered. It's easy to locate them, and the break-down of each word's possibilities is clear and easy to use. This is a thesaurus in a boarder sense. While it does give possible 'other words' to describe an emotion (as a normal thesaurus), this one goes a step further and gives hints at physical expressions or emotional ones. This helps writers to steer away from the problem of 'telling' and 'show' instead.
I personally don't use it so much as an exact help but rather use the hints more as guides and inspirations when I'm having trouble fitting an emotion into a character. Because sometimes a small shove can mean everything.
It's a great guide, which I can highly recommend.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Cristina
5.0 out of 5 stars Author BFF!!!!
Reviewed in Mexico on June 8, 2018
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Love, love, love this book! It helps me to express a way a character goes through without actually instead of having to tell the readers.
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Loyal Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars I am happy I bought the paperback
Reviewed in Brazil on May 10, 2018
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I love this dictionary, and anything put out by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi is (re)commendable. But I have a problem whenever using reference material in kindle format -- I don't use it. That is why I bought this one in paperback, and I am most grateful that I have done so -- this is a great book for anyone writing in whatever field, although fiction writers are most likely to profit from using it.
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Supralo
5.0 out of 5 stars Coup de coeur
Reviewed in France on December 22, 2018
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Un must-have pour tous les écrivains! Excellent travail et les autres tomes de cette série sont tout aussi bien. Dommage qu'il n'existe pas de traduction
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Jennifer Richards
5.0 out of 5 stars A great resource!
Reviewed in Australia on May 16, 2023
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This is such a useful book to keep on my writing desk.
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Cliente Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars A very useful tool
Reviewed in Italy on August 15, 2017
Verified Purchase
I often struggle when I have to depict my characters' emotions, and this book is extremely useful on that regard. It even has some tips at the end of each chapter on how to better convey the characters' feelings, also the index is extremely well done, and it's very easy to find what you're looking for. I never feel lost and the chapters (each one giving suggestions on how to portray a specific emotion) are very easy to read. Definitely a worthy purchase if you need help on portraying emotions while writing.
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