Writing a novel is tough.
The good news? You don’t have to do it alone.
The right support can make all the difference, which is why The Emotion Thesaurus authors, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, created One Stop for Writers®, a powerful web app built to help fiction writers plan, write, and revise with confidence.
This story development system combines technology (not AI) with master instruction from story coaches who know how to leverage psychology, the human experience, and storytelling elements to help you craft fiction that truly connects with readers on an emotional level.
A Story Development System for Fiction Writers
Whether you’re playing with new story ideas or deep into a draft, One Stop meets you where you are—offering smart tools, expert guidance, and creative resources that make writing human-centric fiction easier, faster, and a lot more fun.
What’s Inside One Stop for Writers?
STORY DEVELOPMENT & DESCRIPTION THESAURUS: This massive description bank is a writer’s dream, helping you unearth the details that matter most in your story. Use it to deepen characters, spark conflicts, and enrich your story’s emotional beats so readers are captivated from start to finish. This story development database is our most popular feature for a reason (and we’re always adding to it).
CHARACTER BUILDER: Build layered, believable characters using prompts that guide you through backstory, motivation, personality, and more. Includes a Character Arc Blueprint that maps a character’s internal journey based on the needs, fears, goals, fatal flaws, and motivations you’ve chosen. This powerful tool leverages psychology and human experiences to help you craft a fresh, relatable person readers will connect to, and provides a PDF profile to take with you.
STORY & SCENE MAPS: Plan your plot visually with drag-and-drop tools that help you organize scenes, turning points, and structure.
TIMELINE TOOL: Track backstory, key events, character movements, and important details so your characters and scenes stay organized.
WORLDBUILDING SURVEYS: Bring your world to life with guided prompts that help you develop everything from cities and ecosystems to magic systems, organizations, and climate.
IDEA GENERATOR: Feeling stuck? Instantly brainstorm plot twists, character secrets, personal fears, stakes, internal growth paths, quirks, and more.
WORKSHEETS & TEMPLATES: Focus on one element at a time—characters, behavior, backstory, pacing, setting, etc.—with printable sheets that help you think deeper and write clearer.
THE STORYTELLER’S ROADMAP: Almost like a writing coach without the price tag! Get step-by-step guidance to help you plan, write, and revise your story—from first idea to final draft.
WRITING TIP AND CHECKLIST DATABASE: Packed with craft advice, reminders, and cheat sheets to help you level up every part of your story. Fix weak spots fast!
Take the One Stop for Writers Tour
Meet the One Stop Team
We’re writers, educators, and tech builders who believe every storyteller deserves tools that make the writing process easier—and a little more magical.
Becca Puglisi (co-founder) is a bestselling author, story expert, and co-creator of the iconic Writers Helping Writers® Thesaurus writing guides series and website. Her passion is to bring the best resources and tools together in one place so writers not only get the support they need to write mesmerizing fiction that sells, but they also grow their skills as they do it.
Angela Ackerman (co-founder) is a story coach and bestselling author who’s dead serious about one thing: helping writers succeed. Known for her deep love of character psychology and the human condition, Angela uses her insight to create game-changing tools with Becca Puglisi—ones that help writers craft emotionally rich, unforgettable stories and characters.
Abhishek Raj (CTO) is the tech visionary behind One Stop for Writers’ creative tools, bringing years of experience from companies like Meta and Apple. He’s dedicated to building intuitive, scalable platforms that remove friction from the writing process so authors are able to focus on what they do best—craft powerful stories.
One Stop for Writers Was Built by Writers Who Get It
We know the struggle: messy plots, flat characters, cliché emotions, and scenes that just won’t come together. These tools are what we wish we had when we were starting out—and now they’re here for you. So if you need a bit of help as you create, give One Stop for Writers’ Free Trial a test drive.
See you inside,
Angela & Becca
64 Comments. Leave new
I’ve been using One Stop for Writers for a few months now, and the Character Builder combined with the Story Map has honestly changed how I approach outlining. I used to just wing it and get stuck in the messy middle every time, but mapping out the character arc alongside the plot structure has made my drafts so much tighter from the start. The Show-Don’t-Tell database alone is worth it for anyone who struggles with emotional beats feeling flat. Thanks Angela and Becca for building something this thorough — it really does feel like it was made by people who understand the actual struggle of writing a novel.
I wrote this as an experienced Leadership building coach and author.
Hi Linda,
I’m so glad you are finding the site helpful! Writing a novel is hard, and we love to be able to support others in creating human-centric fiction because this is what really pulls readers in. Thanks so much for taking the time to let us know how it’s going for you!
Angela
Hi there, I’m writing a psychological suspense thriller and am looking for a few beta readers to give me feedback. None of my family members or friends like this genre. How do I find a few good beta readers? Thank you!
Hi, Kristina. This is a common question, because finding beta readers (and the right ones) is super important. Angela’s and my favorite resource for this is Critique Circle, a website that connects writers for this purpose. It’s actually where we met and began working together as critique partners.
https://www.critiquecircle.com/landing
We also have a post containing more ideas on how to find critique partners and beta readers that you might find helpful.
https://writershelpingwriters.net/2020/02/how-to-find-critique-partners-beta-readers/
Good luck making that match!
Happy New Year to ONE STOP FOR WRITERS I am taking the time out to thank you for all the freebies and for carving and creating such dynamic books and program God Bless you all
Thank you so much! Happy New Year!! Here’s hoping it will be an amazing one for all of us 🙂
Hi Angela,
What are your suggestions for finding writing mentors/coaches for a beginning fantasy writer? Also, are there any suggestion of courses?
Please note, the tools you have created on the website and the books are helpful and appreciated.
Warm regards,
Savannah
Hi Savannah! If you are a beginning Fantasy writer I would consider a few routes. If you want a top-notch writing coach, I would go with Author Accelerator: https://www.authoraccelerator.com/They are higher in price, but if you are career-focused (as opposed to just want to get this one book out there), they are excellent and you will learn so much. You could also look into Writer Your Best Book: https://writeyourbestbook.com/. However, you might want to draw in community support and develop your skills if you are new to writing, and then seek out more formal coaching. If so, consider The Creative Academy (free): https://creativeacademyforwriters.com/ or The Critique Circle (free): https://www.critiquecircle.com/ Feel free to say we sent you!
For courses, I would check out our Resident Writing Coaches as many of them offer courses and they are all terrific teachers: https://writershelpingwriters.net/resident-writing-coaches/
I hope this helps and so glad you find our resources helpful 🙂
How does one research a controversial subject anonymously? I’m afraid to google it, as I might get weird stuff coming back at me because of cookies and all that algorithm stuff I don’t understand. Thanks.
Search up “incognito mode” in your browser. It will show you how to browse safely.
Thanks! I’ll try that.
I’m trying to figure out the setting- place- for one of my stories that I am working on. The only problem is… I don’t know exactly how to describe it because it lies on another plane of existence.
The good news there is that you can do anything with it. So start by thinking about what will happen in the scene and what the character is supposed to feel, and then think about what you can weave into the setting to reinforce that feeling (mood), or to create symbolism for something meaningful that will happen or what the character wants in the scene, or foreshadow something that is coming. Good luck! 🙂
This is so awesome! I have all your books. Thank you!!!!!
Thank you, Tricia! I hope you find the site really helpful!
How would I come up with a town name for a book I’m writing. I want it to be something like river dale. But I can’t think of a good name.
Think of the characteristics of the town–what is it near, what type of town is it (in the woods, artsy, redneck, etc.?) or a mood you want to bring out (if it’s a mystery, you might want something that seems foreboding or isolating, that sort of thing.)
Love this. It seems so simple that one could pass by such an invaluable consideration. Someone once said, “Write about the town you live in…” To which my response was, “There’s nothing here.” How could I have been so blind and ignorant – but, I was. There’s a story in every rock, stone and grain of sand, every aspect of place and in the space of the when I read your post, I thought, “This is gold. We just need to open our eyes to see the beauty and the richness of a town (or other place) to write! It just takes a powerful little prompt – thanks. The impact of your post is huge. (Don’t get sunburnt!)
Where can I find the listing of all Conflict Thesaurus postings? And, is a Conflict Thesaurus in the works for being published?
Hi Joe, just go here: https://writershelpingwriters.net/conflict-thesaurus/
And what we do is see how people react to a thesaurus we build here on the blog first, and if it seems that they would find the thesaurus helpful, then we consider making it into a book. This one already seems pretty popular, so I can definitely see us turning it into a book. Either way, we will also upload it to One stop for Writers for our subscribers to make full use of there. 😉
Happy writing!
Thank you for the link, and for all the work you have done that is helping me finish my first novel.
happy to help!
Question?
I have all your published thesauruses. I am an aspiring writer. Would this subscription help me with the editing process of a novel I’ve already tried to polish, but isn’t quite there yet?
Thanks.
Hi Tammy,
Without knowing what you need most, it’s hard to know how helpful the resources at One Stop for Writers will be. We are focused on showing writers how to craft stronger stories and improve their skills, and we have extensive tutorials, tools, and resources to help them do it. Certain editing help you’ll only get from critique partners and editors, though. So what I recommend is signing up and trying out the 2-week free trial. This will give you a lot of time to explore the site and see if it can help you get your story where you want it to be. If you visit https://onestopforwriters.com/ you’ll see the link for the free trial. 🙂
Happy to answer any questions you have!
Angela
I believe I belong to your group please confirm Patricia G. Venn.
I can’t find a One Stop for Writers user with your name, if that is what you are asking?
Thanks so very much. I saw Becca’s interview on Creative Penn and I know Ill be using the resources. thank you very much
I’m so glad you were able to see the interview. That was definitely a fun one :).
Is there anything on habits for characters? I love this site, it helps me, as a writer and roleplayer!
Hi, Jul. We do have a Character Trait Thesaurus, but it doesn’t cover what you’re asking about. However, I believe you can find what you’re looking for at One Stop for Writers. In the Positive Trait and Negative Trait Thesauruses there, you’ll find lists of character traits. Each entry discusses how that trait might manifest in a character, including behaviors and attitudes. You can register for free and see a sampling of entries, so you can see if a subscription might be worthwhile for you. Best of luck!
Thanks for the great resources and ideas.
Gods morning. I would love to be able to access your writers theasaurus.
Can you please send me info on how I can go that. Thank you. My email is Zenon.dumyn@peelsb.com
Hi Zenon, I sent you a note. 😉
Hi Angela,
I may have a few thoughts for the Occupational Thesaurus. Prosthetist (designs and makes prosthetics) Robotics Engineer or implementer. My son was responsible for putting in the Robotic Surgical room. Software designer.
I was doing some research on future jobs. End of Life Counselor. Helping patients nearing the end to get their affairs in order.
I am a subscriber to One Stop for Writers. I use it all the time.
What is the URL for the Occupation Thesaurus. The couple of occupations I’ve seen described are terrific.
Hi, John. I’m so glad you’re liking our newest thesaurus! It’s just getting started, so there’s not much there yet, but here is the current list of entries. New ones go up on (most) Saturdays. Enjoy!
Hi,
Great video. I am looking for a video animator myself and I would really appreciated if you could let know the name of the company/ person you have used to create your video.
Many thanks,
Dana
I sent you a PM, Dana. 🙂
[…] Writer’s Helping Writer’s […]
[…] Writer’s Helping Writer’s […]
[…] of you may be familiar with Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman’s books, particularly, The Emotional Thesaurus, – A Writer’s Guide To Character […]
It went down briefly, but is up now. 🙂
[…] One Stop For Writers […]
Great Idea. Keep me posted.
Great idea. Looking forward to the completed project, but your sign up link for updates does not work for me. Says server cannot be found. Would you please add me to the update list? Thank you!
You bet Louise, consider yourself added! The site is actually down right now for some maintenance and will be up soon. 🙂
I’m really looking forward to it, great work!!
[…] Writer’s Helping Writer’s […]
[…] Given their huge success, they raised the bar. Writers Helping Writers has partnered up with a developer who also works on Scrivener to build some new brainstorming-centric writing software. One Stop For Writers™ is a library experience like no other, saving you time as you plan, research and write by having all of your favorite writing resources and tools in one place. – See more at Writers Helping Writers. […]
Signed up! BTW, the signup link does not work in Firefox.
Thank you for pointing this out. We’ll see if there’s something we can do.
Hi Kimagine,
Becca let me know you were having problems, so I tested a sign up with another of my accounts using FireFox and had no issues. I am thinking maybe it was a momentary glitch that fixed itself? Thanks for signing up!
[…] authors behind The Emotion Thesaurus series (a must-have resource for writers!) are launching a new platform called One Stop for Writers with a developer who works for the company that produces the writing […]
thanks
[…] https://writershelpingwriters.net/one-stop-for-writers/ […]
[…] https://writershelpingwriters.net/one-stop-for-writers/ […]
Can’t wait. It’ll be a terrific resource for writers.
Thanks so much! We are excited 🙂
What a fantastic idea!
I am thrilled to hear about this One-Stop for Writers software! I have been thinking about how much more efficient and economical my research might be with the right tools at hand…if only…
Now the next thing is to create an AI (Artificial Intelligent) system that will mak suggestions to a persons lame rough-draft writing to offer others ways to express the same idea…*grin*
Haha, if you figure that out, send your AI my way! 🙂
Nice work! Editing and marketing are my difficulties. Writing a moving yarnhas always been my heart’s desire.
Thanks so much–we are looking forward to helping writers through a new medium. 🙂