Available at Amazon
Many of you may be familiar with Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman’s books, particularly, The Emotional Thesaurus, – A Writer’s Guide To Character Expression, which is a wonderful writing aid to give us a more in-depth description for words we use in our writing by elaborating on physical signs attached to the emotion, sensations felt, responses, etc.
I came across this sample, in the following paragraphs, written about The Emotional Wound Thesaurus, which takes a character’s situation a step further . . .
“When you’re writing a character, it’s important to know why she is the way she is. Knowing her backstory is important to achieving this end, and one of the most impactful pieces of a character’s backstory is her emotional wound. This negative experience from the past is so intense that a character will go to great lengths to avoid experiencing that kind of pain and negative emotion again. As a result, certain behaviors, beliefs, and character traits will emerge.
Characters, like real people, are unique, and will respond to wounding events differently. The vast array of possible emotional wounds combined with each character’s personality gives you many options in terms of how your character will turn out. With the right amount of exploration . . .” Click here to continue:
DGKaye ©December 2015
DGKayewriter.com 
I have Angela Ackerman’s book on my desk behind my computer. This is a good reminder to use it as a reference as I revise my memoir drafts. Thank you!
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I’m glad that I, once again, have offered up some useful information Marian. I too keep it right beside my computer, and buried amongst so much clutter, I sometimes forget to use it myself. 🙂
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That was a great choice of quote from the book. I have The emotional Thesaurus as well as their other two books in the series. They are fantastic tools in developing characters. Your post reminded me to USE them! Thanks, Debby. 🙂
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Lol Carol, it seems a few of us needed a reminder here. I’m also guilty, it sits on my desk, yet I forget to use it. Good reminder for us all. 🙂
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Thanks for the tip 🙂
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Glad to pass it along. 🙂
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Thank you for this Debby too, I’ve never heard of this book but I can see how extremely helpful it is, a wonderful writing tool 🙂 xx
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Glad to have been helpful Sherri. It is really a wonderful book, and funny that many of us have a copy and are reminded by this post. 🙂
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Makes sense, Debbie. I think sometimes people assume that their own response to some kind of adversity is the typical one, but I think we are all the product of our backgrounds and therefore respond accordingly.
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So true Anne. Thanks so much for taking the time to visit and read. I look forward to reading your book that now resides in ‘the TBR’ 🙂
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I adore this book – I have all of them. They are tatty and stained and loved like the velveteen rabbit – well worn and loved to bits.
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Why does this not surprise me? ❤
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