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WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

A Show-Don’t-Tell Database for Writers

October 14, 2021 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

One thing we’re known for around here is description. For a dozen years, Becca and I have explored topic after topic, and whether it’s settings, emotions, backstory wounds, conflict, weather, or something else, we dive in and find all the ways this storytelling element can be leveraged via show-not-tell to improve your book and the reader’s experience.

As you know, once complete, some of these “thesaurus” collections become books, while others go straight to our One Stop for Writers site, so we can continue to expand on them and then fold them into our massive show-don’t-tell database.

That database continues to grow each year and is integrated with some of our smart tools, like the popular Character Builder, meaning endless character-centric brainstorming information is at your fingertips, making character creation & arc planning a lot easier.

Because we’ve restructured our database to have one main portal page rather than a drop-down menu of thesaurus topics, I thought I should give it some airspace. Too, not everyone knows that the thesauruses they first discovered here at the blog can be accessed as a single, expansive database:

If you have any of our writing guides, you’ll have a good idea of how each thesaurus functions. But if you’re new to the idea of a descriptive thesaurus, we urge you to take One Stop for Writers’ Free Trial for a spin so you can see and use this show-don’t-tell database for yourself.

When you choose meaningful details over bland, generic ones, every layer of your story grows stronger. And meaningful details is what show-don’t-tell is all about.

Don’t forget…

If you think you can survive the most dangerous, ill-fated Writing Retreat in history, Becca and I dare you to take the Conflict Challenge.

This choose-your-own-adventure type quiz makes YOU the protagonist of OUR story, where your decisions will lead you to victory…or the grave.

Will you take on Camp Deadwood? Prizes are waiting for those who survive!

ANGELA ACKERMAN
ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

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Filed Under: About Us, Character Arc, Characters, Description, One Stop For Writers, Reader Interest, Show Don't Tell, Software and Services, Story Ideas, Tools and Resources, Uncategorized, Writing Craft, Writing Resources, Writing Time

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Dilawar Khan says

    October 15, 2021 at 4:45 am

    I really love all your thesaurus books. I have some in pdf but I want the other ones as well. They definitely a great help for people like us. If you please send these books to me via e-mail, I shall be very grateful to you.

    • ANGELA ACKERMAN says

      October 15, 2021 at 9:02 am

      Hi Dilawar,

      So glad to hear our thesauruses are a help! Now some listed are also available as books, and you can find those here: https://writershelpingwriters.net/bookstore but many of these are only available through One Stop for Writers, a subscription site. Here’s that site if you wish to check it out: https://onestopforwriters.com/

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