I’m still in soccer season and end of school year is fast approaching. Needless to say my life is a bit on the busy side. So today will be a quick post about a little gem of a book I’ve discovered.
A writing pal Angela Ackerman and her blog partner Becca Puglisi have a great writing blog called The Bookshelf Muse where besides writing topics they have created multiple thesauruses (or is it thesauri?), covering emotions, character traits, and settings. An amazing site really. Check it out.
These two ladies have put together their most sought after information into a book. The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression. I bought it for $4.99 and I have to say I’m totally impressed. I don’t know about you but I’ve always got my characters doing the same actions to express the same feelings (smiles/grins, clenching fists/teeth, cocking an eyebrow or the infamous eye roll.) This book lets you pick the emotion and gives lists of physical body cues, visceral reactions and thought processes for each one.
Now I wouldn’t suggestion using this book or the site when you’re in the middle of your first draft. The first draft is allowed to be shite. If you spend time worrying about whether you’ve rolled your character’s eyes too many times, then you’ll never finish. But this book and others like it totally help when in the midst of revision.
Check out their site. I hope you find something to help your writing.
Do you have any problems showing your character’s emotions? I’m always on the lookout for good craft books. Have you read any good ones lately?
Leanne Shirtliffe (Ironic Mom)
Elena Aitken
Trish Loye Elliott
I love that you posted about this book today because I think this is the coolest idea for a writing craft book I’ve ever seen. Also…I’m eagerly awaiting my print copy. (ya know I like my writing books in paper.)
Should be here next week! And now I’m even more excited.
I bought the print copy too. Kindle is nice, but I like to dog-ear the pages and use sticky notes as tabs.
Christi Corbett
You are the BEST Trish! Thanks for such a great shout out. And Elena, I hope you won’t have to wait too much longer–thank you both for being so supportive of us!
Angela
This sounds great, but you’re right about the first draft. Just get the general idea down and improve the writing at a later stage. That’s something I’m only realised recently.
I’m laughing now. I just finished writing for the day and I had my characters grinning and eye rolling
Ha! That’s awesome. Our characters can eye roll together.
Thanks for stopping by!
Sent from my iPhone
Trish,
I got a $25 gift certificate card from Amazon last Christmas, and I’ve been waiting to find the perfect book.
I held onto the card for nearly six months, and then I dug it out about three SECONDS after reading your post!
Book is bought and on its way
Christi Corbett
I ended up with the print version too. I just like my craft books in paper it seems. Enjoy yours!
Sent from my iPhone
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Thanks for putting out the word about The Emotion Thesaurus. Christi Corbett told me about it and let me leaf through her copy. I have a print copy on order and hope it gets here in time for my last writing class on the 17th. I look forward to wandering through your blog site.
Thanks. I hope you enjoy the book and also hope to see you in Sept when we’re back after our summer break. (Now I must go back to running through the sprinkler!)
Hi, Trish! Not sure how it is that I’m just now seeing this awesome recommendation for The Emotion Thesaurus, but there you have it. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. Angela and I think it’s a pretty cool resource, but then, we kind of have to. It’s so much better to hear other writers talking about it.
And thank you, ladies, for the support!
No worries Becca! It’s a great resource. I’m already using it much more than I thought I would be. I’m using it even with my first draft when I’m stuck trying to show and not tell a character’s emotion. Thanks so much for putting it together!