Craft Powerful Stories by Mastering Description
A writer’s goal is to create story magic, drawing readers into the fictional lives of characters so they experience another’s life journey as if it were their own. To bend the reader’s reality in such a way requires skilled handling of a specific storytelling element: Description.
Description touches everything. Our bestselling thesaurus guides teach writers how to use show-don’t-tell to reveal a character’s deepest layers and make readers feel more involved in the world, events, and undercurrents taking place in the story.
Often called the “gold standard” of writing guides, the Writers Helping Writers thesaurus collection is available in nine languages and has sold over 1 million copies. These books are used in universities and by editors, agents, writing coaches & authors all over the world. (More on what’s being said about our resources.)
Our books are available at all major online retailers, can be ordered by bookstores, or can be purchased directly from us. Note: This page includes affiliate links and, as an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Signed Copies & Bulk Sales
Need a signed copy for a writing friend? Or wondering if you can order books in bulk (print, digital, or PDF) for your workshop, event, or to give as a gift to editing clients? Just email us for a quote.
When it comes to digital bundles, we have two options. (Please note that Emotion Amplifiers isn’t included.)
- The WHW Descriptive Thesaurus Collection Bundle is Kindle-only and available for Amazon.com customers.
- The Google Play bookstore has a Build a Bundle option that provides a discount on multiple epub purchases.
Indie Bookstores & Libraries
Like to shop local? Bookstores and libraries should be able to bring in our books for you. Give them the book’s ISBN number (listed on individual books below) as you submit your request.
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The Conflict Thesaurus, Volume 2:
A Writer’s Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles
The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles (Volume 2) explores more ways to activate story conflict and tension and serves up 115 more scenarios that lead to power struggles, lost advantages, dangers, threats, ego-related conflicts, and more. Use this guide to plot fresh challenges and story problems that will trip your characters up and force them to strive harder to win.
ISBN: 978-1-7361523-1-7
The Conflict Thesaurus, Volume 1:
A Writer’s Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles
Every story starts with a character motivated by a need and a goal that can resolve it. Physical obstacles, adversaries, moral dilemmas, deep-seated doubts and personal struggles…conflict keeps the plot fresh, challenges characters as they traverse their arc, builds tension and high stakes, and most importantly, keeps readers emotionally invested from beginning to end.
ISBN: 978-0-9992963-9-4
The Occupation Thesaurus:
A Writer’s Guide to Jobs, Vocations, and Careers
When you choose a character’s job with care you gain a way to show-not-tell their personality, skills, interests, priorities, beliefs, and more. Plus, you can use it to generate conflict, provide a route to goals and dreams, and showcase key relationships. If you need a guide to finding and describing the perfect job for your character that will further the story, this is it!
ISBN: 978-0-9992963-7-0
The Character Trait Thesaurus Boxed Set
Your favorite character personality brainstorming guides bundled together and beautifully cross-linked for quick searching between volumes. Find out why so many writers keep this powerful duo close at hand when they plan characters. Available in ePub, Mobi, and PDF.
Please note this book is not available through Amazon. You can purchase a copy through the iBooks Store (ePub) or use the BUY THE BUNDLE button to pick up a PDF, a mobi file for your kindle, or an ePub file for all other e-readers (Kobo, etc.). Instructions for downloading files to your device will be included with your receipt.
The Emotion Thesaurus:
A Writer’s Guide to Character Expressions
(Expanded Second Edition)
Do your characters smile, frown, sign, or shiver too much? Are their hearts always racing, their breath rushing, or worse, they stand there, doing nothing at all? It’s okay, you aren’t alone. Writing powerful, fresh emotional description can be a challenge…or rather it used to be before The Emotion Thesaurus came along. This bestselling guide helps you break free from tired description and telling by providing you with lists of body language, thoughts, visceral sensations, vocal cues (and more!) for 130 unique emotions. Get ready to master show-don’t-tell.
ISBN: 978-0-9992963-4-9
Are you a collector? Information and purchasing options for the first edition of The Emotion Thesaurus can be found here.
The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma
For characters to come across as authentic, they need a past, the same as you or me. And, like us, part of their history includes painful experiences known as emotional wounds which generate fears, insecurities, trust issues, and make it difficult for them to take risks when it matters most. This guide will lead you to specific types of trauma (and the dysfunctional behaviors tied to them) so you can choose what your character’s vulnerability is, what it will look like on the page, and develop a character arc where they overcome the past…or succumb to it.
ISBN: 978-0-9897725-9-4
The Rural Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Personal and Natural Places
One of the most powerful storytelling elements is your setting…but are you using it as well as you should? This guide not only lists sensory details for over 100 natural and personal settings, it provides options for conflict in each location and shows you how to build mood, steer the plot, and apply symbolism for deeper, more meaningful scenes.
ISBN: 978-0-9897725-5-6
The Urban Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to City Spaces
Is your setting description pulling its weight in the story, or is it just sort of…there? Do more with your settings, activating their power to characterize the story’s cast, deepen emotional moments, deliver backstory without info dumps, and more. This guide does all this and more, in addition to providing you with lists of sensory description for over 120 modern locations.
ISBN: 978-0-9897725-6-3
The Positive Trait Thesaurus:
A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes
Every character has good qualities, even the bad guy. Attributes help your characters come alive on the page by revealing their identity, showing readers how they treat other people, and giving them a moral compass to live by. This guide does a deep dive on 100 positive traits to help you brainstorm unique combinations of strengths to help your characters bend the story to their will and win reader’s hearts.
ISBN: 978-0-9897725-1-8
The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws
Ready to explore your character’s dark side? Protagonist, antagonist, or someone in between—all characters have negative qualities that mess up their relationships, keep them from achievement, and stymie internal growth. This thesaurus digs into over 100 character flaws, how to show them through dysfunctional behavior and attitudes, and provides ideas on how they will cause problems in the story.
ISBN: 978-0-9897725-0-1
Emotion Amplifiers: A Companion to The Emotion Thesaurus
If you know and love The Emotion Thesaurus, you’ll be happy to know that this companion ebooklet brings you more great ways to describe your character’s emotional state by amplifying their reactions using common states of being. Whether your character is hungry, bored, cold or stuck in the thrall of attraction, their emotions are amped, meaning they are more likely to make missteps and mistakes. And that means conflict and raised stakes! This guide contains all the body language, expressions, thoughts, viscerals, and more to help you amplify your character’s feelings. Available as an ebook and PDF.
Grab your copy at Amazon or buy the PDF direct. ($2.99)
These books are also part of the largest descriptive database for writers available.
Meet One Stop for Writers
Becca and Angela know strong storytelling and have spent years building a writer’s library filled with incredible resources, including your favorite thesauruses.
One Stop For Writers® is a powerful creativity portal which places one-of-a-kind story and character tools at your keyboard so you have what you need when you need it.
Take the video tour and then activate a 2-week free trial to explore this game-changing site for yourself (HINT: make sure to check out the fan-favorite Character Builder tool). Writing can be easier!
To discover more about what One Stop for Writers has to offer, visit the Features and Tools page.
Did you know Writers Helping Writers® donates a portion of book sales to a charitable organization each year?
To date we have given $8000+ to charitable projects. We’re able to donate to a worthy cause due to your kind support, so thank you very much!
Will there be a way to pre-order the Conflict Thesaurus, Volume 2? I’m so excited for it to come out that I check back on this page constantly. I bought the first volume and the preview of the entries for the second made me so eager for Volume 2. Really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy! Thanks for all that you do!
Hi, Jess. I’m so glad you’re pumped about this release! We did a pre-order for one of our books at one point, and one of our major distributors screwed things up. It was kind of a disaster, so we’ve sworn off preorders for now :). The book is set to publish on September 6th, but it usually goes up at various online bookstores a tad early, so the best way to get a copy as soon as possible is to just check the CT Volume 2 section of our Bookstore page in the days leading up to the 6th. When the Purchase Volume 1 button changes to Print and Ebook Options, it means the book is becoming available and you can start buying :).
Thank you!!!
Ordered!!
How about a Thesaurus on motives … the variety of reasons why a character may pursue a goal?
Hi Jeff,
have you checked out our CHARACTER MOTIVATION database at One Stop for Writers? It might help you: https://onestopforwriters.com/thesaurus
Happy writing!
Angela
Mmm. I got the PDF version of the Conflict Thesaurus and while it seems gorgeous, there’s a problem: It lacks digital content (like in the side pane of the PDF-viewer). I think you might have generated the PDF without that and I’d be very happy if it was possible to get a copy of the PDF with the table of content.
(I’m not at all sure how to go about this other than in this forum… it isn’t all that obvious how to communicate via gumroad or otherwise. I’ll keep an eye out for a reply…)
Cheers!
Oh well “digital content” should be “digital table of content”… it does have content, just not the sidebar table of content. /E
Update: I was contacted via email!
In a world where it seems most companies seem to have set the Customer Avoidance Factor to 100%, you’re a breath of fresh air!
Keep up the good work! Thanks!
/E
We’re happy to help! 🙂
I will gift it 😀
I love your website! I Googled “thesaurus for Writers” and it brought me here. So I just purchased every one of your thesauri on Amazon. Then I read further and learned that I could have access to all of them through your One Stop for Writers membership. Is there still any benefit for me to sign up? I’m not writing fiction, but a memoir. All of your thesauri are very helpful for my memoir, by the way. You should not be limiting this to fiction writers.
Also, is there a WHW Group where you can chat with other members to share ideas or ask questions about your writing?
Thank you.
Hi Kathleen! I’m so glad you found us, and thank you for test-driving our books! I hope they help you a ton. 🙂
We do indeed have a subscription site, and the thesaurus component from the books you have are part of that site, but it’s much more than that. We have a free trial so I encourage you to activate it to look into the site, but the quick version is the THESAURUS database is much larger than our books, and there are many topics there that are not in book form. We also have a suite of tools that help with every aspect of storytelling – character building & arc, plot and structure, world building, etc. The site also has a Storyteller’s Roadmap that takes a subscriber through every step and stage from the first idea to a publish-ready book, so it’s like having a story coach help you as you go, offering advice, tools and resources to help you, and links to all sorts of articles and such to make the job easier. 🙂
In fact, everything at One Stop is built to help a writer grow their skills as they use the site! 🙂 You can start your trial by signing up if you like: https://onestopforwriters.com
And here’s a tip – if you are writing memoir, run yourself through the Character Builder as it may help you remember yourself at the age you cover in your memoir, and explore the past events you wish to cover. 🙂
We have a Facebook page for WHW and OSFW, but no groups just yet – sorry. Becca and I are just spread too thin right now and have to focus on our sites and creating new resources. 😉
I haven’t been able to find a print version of the Conflict Thesaurus anywhere, and there are no links for IndieBound or Bookshop.org. I really, really don’t want to purchase from Amazon. Is it not going to be available with a distributor like Ingram, or is there a delay?
Thanks!
Hi Azurite,
The book will be available through all the normal sites (including Indiebound, Bookshop, Book Depository, etc. but unfortunately it always takes them a bit longer to get the book in their system. As soon as we see it up, we will update it on our bookstore page. Sp sorry for the delay.
I downloaded the seconded edition of The Emotion Thesaurus PDF and it doesn’t have any bookmarks like all the others making it difficult to use. Is there any way to fix this?
Hi, Kaylin. Thanks so much for getting a copy of the 2nd edition of The Emotion Thesaurus. I’ve checked that file, and the bookmarks are in place. I’m able to click all of the external links to other books, as well as internal links in the TOC and in linked fields within entries. I should note that the links in the TOC aren’t blue like the other links, but they’re still clickable. Would you mind checking to see if you’re able to click any of the entries in the TOC? Also, scroll through to any entry and try to click the entries located in the May Escalate To field. If you’re unable to click any of those, please email me at jaddpublishing@gmail.com and let me know exactly what you’re seeing. I may be able to do some troubleshooting that way.
I love these books and would like to use them with my students, any project to translate them into Spanish?
Regards.
No, Nicolás. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the books. Our books have been translated into a number of languages and we’ve got an agent shopping them in other markets, but we haven’t had any luck with Spanish publishers. We are looking, though, so hopefully in the future :).
Hi! I just bought all of your books on Kindle. Out of all the books I’ve read, I would say that The Emotion, Positive Trait and Negative Trait Thesaurus are my favorites! It helps me try to think of how to create likeable, flawed and relatable characters.
I think The Emotion Thesaurus Second Edition can be helpful in reading body languages, due to how comprehensive your thesaurus was, especially when you describe internal sensations, and signs that the emotions are being suppressed. Those could give away nonverbal cues that reveal their true emotion.
Thank you for picking up copies of our books. Those trait books are close to our hearts because we poured into them so much of we had learned about characterization and character building. And The Emotion Thesaurus is our firstborn, of course, so it’s special ;). I’m very happy you’re finding the books useful.
Hello, I’m interested in buying several of your books, but I’d like to have the Conflict Thesaurus.
Hi Cyndi,
We’re so glad you’ve found your way to our resources. Unfortunately, the Conflict Thesaurus isn’t yet a book, it’s only here at this blog, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the one we convert next as it’s generating a lot of interest.
Becca and I create a lot of thesauruses on show, don’t tell but not all of them become books. The next book, due out this year is the Occupation Thesaurus. If you\d like to see what other thesauruses we’ve created in the meantime, we have them all as part of one big database here: https://onestopforwriters.com/
All the best,
Angela
Hello girls,
I really love all this job, is there a bundle price if I want to buy them all?
Regards.
Hi Nicolas! We actually do not have a bundle price because for the entire set as we chose instead to make individual prices very affordable rather than price them the same as print (as we see so many publishing houses do). This way everyone across the board benefits!
With print, bundling them would be very costly due to the weight and shipping as these are large books. Thanks for asking though, and happy writing! 🙂
Greetings, girls.
How can I buy this book on Amazon.com? The site sent me to Amazon.uk 🙂
Cheers.
Hi Olga,
Oh, sorry about that—the links should read your IP address and send you the your default Amazon, so I don’t know what happened there. If you go to Amazon.com and search up one of our names or the title of the book (sorry, I don’t know which you are interested in) you can find the correct link. Thank you!
I got India. You may need to go talk to Amazon about this. I did send them a message about it. I was signed in and such but even then it’s just weird.
I’ve had the same trouble, I’m in Texas, Amazon sends me to India.
Electronic copies are up on Smashwords.
Thanks for letting us know, Charlayne. If you don’t mind, which book link is sending you to the wrong storefront? TIA
Personally, I’d love to purchase one of these books, as an aspiring writer, I would love to learn about how to convey certain emotions and traits with ease.
All the links are here to your favorite online stores, but if you give them the ISBN, any bookstore can order them in. And of course there’s always libraries too! Happy writing, Vexillion 🙂
I pre-ordered the updated Emotion Thesaurus from Amazon.ca but today (February 1) got an email saying the release has been cancelled (and thus my order too). Is there someplace else from which I can order it to Canada? Or, do you recommend I simply wait and it will be released on Amazon.ca at a later date. Thanks in advance for an update!
Hi Barbara, We have just started hearing from people who said Amazon cancelled their order, and so we are looking into why (this wasn’t us). I think some sort of glitch has occurred, and I deeply apologize for the inconvenience. As soon we we get this fixed we will be in touch. In the meantime, what would help us is to know the date you ordered (it should be on that cancelled invoice at amazon in your account). Also, to confirm, this was the print version?
Again, so sorry! trying to get to the bottom of it.
Is there a chance your occupation thesaurus will be coming out in paperback or ebook soon? I’d love to buy one.
Hi, Melanie. We’re not sure yet if this thesaurus is going to make it to book form; since we’re still in the process of building it, we need to see the demand and whether or not it’s beefy enough to make a published craft book. There does seem to be a lot of interest in it, so it’s definitely a possibility! Are you signed up for our New Releases newsletter? That one only goes out infrequently when we have news about a new publication. If you’re interested, you can sign up here. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSezNaxWvLZdk_jE1fVTXDHgcha2YbqGEzoMp9qngPvEUtesCw/viewform
Thanks for letting me know. I signed up for the new releases newsletter this morning.
I’ve purchased the full set of ebooks and now wonder if there was any discount if I bought a full set of the hard copy version?
(I have the printed version of the Emotion Thesaurus and find that format really easy to use)
Thanks. ms
Hi, Margie. We don’t have any discounts for buying more than one book at this time. We’re looking into the possibility of offering boxed sets in the future, but we’re not sure it’s going to be possible. Stay tuned!
Will do, thank you. xxm
I ordered and paid for a pdf copy of the Emotional Wound Thesaurus. It’s been half a day. I’m wondering when I can expect to receive my file.
I’ll be sending you a message shortly, John.
Do you have any intention of a resource for relationship types and interaction between characters. Sibling, boss-employee, childhood friends, enemies, ex lovers, just the interpersonal relationships that play a role in character interaction and choices? Or perhaps a suggestion of reading material?
We have another website (subscription) called One Stop for Writers https://onestopforwriters.com/ and we are building a Relationships Tool to explore and show the connectedness between characters in a novel, based on their role and a lot more. We expect to have that built late Fall. For reading material, we look at the types of friction that can be built between characters in the Negative Trait Thesaurus using clashing personalities if you have that book of ours. Here’s a blog post that also looks at this: https://www.thecreativepenn.com/2014/01/04/clashing-personalities/
I hope this helps! 🙂
Hi Angela,
Will you publish a thesaurus for Weather and Earthly Phenomenon? Thank you!
Hi Nadia,
Right now we don’t have plans to turn it into a book just yet, but you can find it all at One Stop for Writers: https://onestopforwriters.com/weathers
Will you be offering a hardcover pack of all the books for a discounted price?
Hi Robin,
Because of the size and the weight of these books (they are much larger than paperbacks), it is unlikely we could put them all together in a package. If there was an easy way to do it and we thought enough people would want it to make it worth the effort we would, but so far we’ve not found a way to do it that makes sense.
Hello,
Is there a way to buy all the 7 books in PDF and make a single payment? Thanks in advance for your answer.
I own every Thesaurus and just found the ONE STOP site and JOINED right away. I appreciate all the work and good information you provide!
Thank you for all the assistance you have provided me over the years! Even if you didn’t know you were doing it!
These are so great–I have two so far, I’d love to have all of them one day! Just a bit tight on my book budget right now. Is there a chance you’d ever consider some kind of “book bundle” deal on the Kindle or print book someday? 🙂 That said, I know a lot of hard work goes into these and good sales help keep things running. So if I have to wait and save up for them I certainly will. Thanks in any case for creating these wonderful writing resources!
Hi Sunny,
We may offer a book bundle at some point for some of these books, but we also have priced these very fairly to make them affordable for all (rather than choosing the “inflated pricing model” you see most traditional publishers run with). Because of this, any discount would be minor for a book bundle. As much as we wish it wasn’t so, Becca and I have to eat, lol, and so yes, we do charge a fair price for our work.
Thanks for asking about it,
Angela
Hi Angela,
I’m in Australia and want to purchase The Emotional Wounds Thesaurus from the Book Depository but my daily searches of their website only show the earlier Thesaurus books. Will The Emotional Wounds Thesaurus be available at the Book Depository at a later date?
Hi, Enisa. Yes, our latest book will eventually be available at Book Depository. Unfortunately, it takes 6-8 weeks for a new print book to make its way into the distribution channels that will enable Book Depository to access it. So it may be a while. I’m very sorry about this; I wish there was a quicker way. It just takes a while for each book to make it’s way to all the channels when they first go live.
I was confused as how to order now at the $5.99 price. When I pressed the Amazon icon above it stated $17.00 I think. Exactly what is your notice offering and what are the steps to take advantage of it? Do I need to wait another day?
Thank you, I’m anxious to read it, I guess.
Beverly J Campbell
Beverly if you click on the ebook (Kindle) link, you will be taken to the kindle price of $5.99, and if you click on the print link, it takes you to the print price, which is $17.00 currently. Sorry these are on 2 different links–it always takes Amazon a bit of time to link the two so they show up on the same page.
Just purchased the physical book version of the Emotional Wounds Thesaurus. It’s on Amazon. Thank you for putting this wonderful, helpful series together.
Thanks so much for your support, Frances. I hope you find it really useful!
Need Emotional Wound in PRINT please!!
It should be available this week, I promise! Official release date is October 25th. 😉
It just uploaded to Amazon, Kellie. 🙂 Happy reading!
I just received all the Thesaurus books that I could purchase on Amazon. I love them! The books are exactly what I was needing to get my creativity flowing once again. Thank you!
Angela, I hope you love them! Thanks for giving them a whirl! 🙂
I just purchased The Positive Trait Thesaurus and for some reason I cannot print this. please advise. Thank you
I just sent you a message, Naomi.
Do you happen to offer these in a bundle?
Hi Dorothy, unfortunately we do not. Creating a bundle for print books when you are a self-publisher is near impossible. We can control ebooks of course (hurray!), which is why we have priced our books at a very reasonable low price, rather than elevating it to the same price (or more!) of the print volume, a tactic that we typically see traditional publishers use. We don’t feel that is right, and we hope our readers agree. 🙂
Happy writing!
Angela
I have used your wonderful Emotions Thesaurus frequently. It is such a valuable resource.
Thanks for the kind words, Martii. We always like to hear that our books are doing what we intended them to do: help writers :).
Hi, Martil! In case you didn’t know, I wanted to tell you that we’ve released a second edition of The Emotion Thesaurus containing 55 additional entries and enhanced front matter. Because you enjoyed the first edition, I thought you might want to know about the second one :).
Hi becca ands Angela. I’m not able to post a pic but I absolutely love your work and have followed you on fb for a while now. The emotional thesaurus would be my pick of the books as it’s the thing I struggle most with and when I do I jump on the WHW website. I get carried away by all the info available. I go down a rabbit hole ending up looking at all of the other thesauruses. They connect through setting, emotions and characters so writers can create well developed characters and stories. Even if I don’t win a copy I’m still going to jump on the website whenever I need a bit of help. Great job girls!
I have tried to paste multiple pictures of your wonderful books in regards to the FB contest but cannot to no avail. Please know these would be an amazing help to my writing and I would love the opportunity to win them. I am a wordy girl! Please feel free to scope out my blog. I am known as the Word Junkie on my blog and at All Poetry. Thanks so much and blessings to all!
Sorry you are having trouble–not sure why the picture isn’t working. BUT, you can also leave a comment if you like–no picture needed! 🙂
Hmmm. I thought I posted this query once, but (at the moment) I do not see it in the thread. So I’ll try again (and please forgive me if it does end up being a duplicate).
=====
Is the PDF editable?
For example, which of the following can I do with the PDF?
– Highlight
– Annotate
– Add symbols (such as an arrow)
– Insert pages
– Delete pages
– Print
Hi, Rose. I’m not positive about this, but your editing capability on PDFs may depend on your system. On my Mac, I can highlight, add notes, and add symbols to a PDF copy of The Negative Trait Thesaurus, for example. I don’t know what options are available if you’re using a PC or viewing the PDF on a pad/phone/etc, but I do know that anyone has the ability to print the PDF and save it to your system. You could also do all of this with the kindle and nook digital versions. I hope this helps!
Hello, Becca – Nervous authors will sometimes lock their PDFs so tight that you can’t do anything except read it online; or you can print it and that’s all.
I bought the Emotion Thesaurus and experimented with Adobe Acrobat on a PC. So far, no speed bumps. Thank you for that!
Well, we definitely want our authors to get the most out of their PDFs. For nonfiction books, you really need to be able to highlight/underline and make notes, so I’m glad our product is giving you want you need. Enjoy!
Awesome collection of thesauri! We just published a gift guide for authors on our blog and included them on our list. Just thought you’d like to know. Thanks for caring about quality writing and publishing. 🙂 http://www.tlcgraphics.com/the-authors-12-days-of-christmas/
Thanks and blessings to you!
Tamara Dever, TLC Graphics
What a great list! You know Christmas is getting closer when the gift lists start making an appearance :). Thanks so much for including us on yours!
Is there anywhere that I can buy all the “thesaurus” books in a set?
Hi Terri,
We don’t sell these in sets, but the best way I could suggest is to go through Amazon as they do free shipping. They also tend to discount our books (something that happens on their end, so we never know when or how much) but it looks right now all 5 books are discounted, so that’s nice. 🙂
Happy writing,
Angela
Hello, love your past thesauri. I’m interested in your new rural setting thesaurus, but before I purchase, I’d love a “look inside.” This option is not offered on Amazon, though it is for the urban setting. Looking forward to it.
Hi, Tamara! I’m so glad you’re interested in The Rural Thesaurus. Unfortunately, the Look Inside feature for the print books can take a few weeks to generate. It’s weird that it popped up almost immediately for Urban; I’ve talked to the powers that be and they say that the timing can be somewhat random and there’s nothing we can do about it speed up the process. However, the good news is that if you go to the Rural Thesaurus Kindle page, there’s a Look Inside feature there. The kindle and print copies are identical, with the exception of the digital version being linked. So that’s one way you can get a glimpse inside :).
Hi Angela & Becca,
I would like to be notified when the The Urban Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to City Spaces is available as pdf. Can you please let me know? Thanks!
Hi, Daniela. Absolutely, I will let you know. This is the only version we were unable to have ready by today, but it’s on my list to have it ready this week. Thanks for your patience!
Hi Angela & Becca,
I just wanted to buy your new Urban & Rural Setting thesauri in PDF format from this page. But as it happens, there are just the usual links to Kobo etc, but no PDF options.
But because I’m reading more on my PC than on some stupid smart phone, I’d really prefer to read those books as PDFS than as epubs or kindles.
When will you put the option to buy those two setting thesaurus books as PDFs up?
Cheers,
Andreas
Hi Andreas,
Yes, we will have these in PDF as well, but those we format ourselves and so it takes us just a bit of time to get it put together. If you like I can send you an email when they are complete and up on the bookstore page? Sorry for the delay.
Hello Angela,
yes, please notify me when they’re available as PDFs.
Cheers,
Andreas
Will do! 🙂
I am very interested in reading these books. Thank you so much for sharing them.
Thank you for your books–they are so helpful! I’m really looking forward to the setting thesauri. To support independent booksellers, maybe you could include a link to Indiebound in the list of places to buy. Thanks again!
That’s a good idea, Julie! 🙂
Your positive and negative traits PDF books show the price as $5.99 each but when I try to buy the price is $6.35 each. How do I buy for PDF versions for $5.99 ?
Hi Cindy,
Our prices are the cover price, but do not include any taxes associated with where you may live. So, the price may be slightly different depending on where a writer is from. The price may also be converted into your local currency if you are not from the US.
Happy writing,
Angela
Hi everybody!
where can I get the books of PHYSICAL FEATURE THESAURUS and WEATHER AND EARTHLY THESAURUS???
Hi, Joe! Unfortunately those two thesauruses aren’t available in book form. The only book formats we have are the ones you see on the Bookstore page. But we’re always adding new ones; the setting thesaurus will be available for purchase in June. The ones that you’re looking for can be found here at our website and also at http://www.onestopforwriters.com, our online library that contains all of our thesauruses in expanded form, along with tons of other resources. Best of luck with your writing!
Hello,
where can I purchase the Emotional Wounds Theaurus?
Thanks,
Hi, Roxanne! The Emotional Wounds Thesaurus isn’t a book yet, unfortunately. We’re filling out that collection one entry at a time, every Saturday. Eventually, it may be turned in to a book, but for now it’s only available here at the blog. We’ll keep you posted :).
Allow me to say I love your books and I needed them
more than I thought.
I just purchased Emotion Amplifiers. I am curious where
you obtained your amplifiers describing addiction. It
appears to be from television and movies.
Please forgive my frankness. However, I am a
recovering women with the ‘disease’ of addiction.
I am also a college graduate, raised four children,
and a published writer who is finishing her
first novel.
I am no exception. Most of us with the disease
are gifted in some way. We actually practice good
hygiene. Our biggest issues are; financial, hiding
it from loved ones and withdrawal. We need to get
through the day like others.
I am referring to the disease not just a dependency.
Our livers metabolize chemicals much faster than
in others. The disease actually changes our cell
structure. It is far more complicated than most
would ever think.
Tremendous loads of guilt and shame are heaped
upon our shoulders by us. We were born with this.
Believe me no one would choose a life of addiction.
It is a miserable existence. We are the ones that
do not have blackouts we remember everything.
When we finally comes to terms with the facts it is
not a relief to know we must become a formidable
warrior in order to fight this beast every day of
our lives.
Your use of things such as; poor hygiene, strong
and strange odors floored me! I have found it to
be true that most authors use the same adjectives
concerning addiction. Sadly it is not their fault.
Education about the disease is a joke.
There are some like you describe. I suppose it is
dependent on geography. Homeless people in
general find it more than difficult to do the every
day rituals most of us take for granted.
We also have days of such physical and emotional
weakness from literally being at war; with the
disease and ourselves.
And at some point we hit a bottom! It could start
from losing a loved one. Whatever triggers the
descent doesn’t matter. After that we become
a bullet shot from a high powered rifle waiting to
to hurt someone…ourselves.
Thank you for all your help,
Sheree
Sheree, thank you very much for posting your own personal experiences with addiction. What we list is not one size fits all, but a simple range of indicators that could show an amplifier may be present. We are sorry you took it to mean that these descriptors apply to all people who struggle with addiction, and I can see how this would cause you stress. Our guide however, is to simply list a range of ideas, and encourage writers to chose the ones that fit their own fictional characters, nothing more.
Best,
Angela
Thank you, I’m spreading the word too 🙂
Thanks you Anabel–we really appreciate it!
Congrats on 100,000 copies sold! Yay! Can’t wait to see what other gems you will offer us in the future. Best of luck always!
I purchased the PDF version of the Emotions thesaurus, and was disappointed to find that it isn’t built like the other two thesauri, i.e., entries linked to their respective descriptions. Otherwise, it’s very helpful, if I can find the entry I may be looking for without browsing down thru it.
Pat, thank you for letting us know! We mistakenly had the wrong version up. I will email you asap.
Hi, I bought The Emotions Thesaurus online at Amazon and it was finally delivered yesterday. I would’ve read the guide and put it to good use last night but unfortunately had to prepare dinner, my sons’ breakfast for the morning, my husband’s lunch for work the next day and mine, as well as our clothes to wear the next day. But first thing this morning, I combed through it while riding the bus into work. And as soon as I got into work, I started to spread the word about The Emotions Thesaurus with another coworker. She was so interested she wanted me to email the url to your site and I also shared a link to your bookstore.
Wow, Lidy! First off, I’m glad there was no buyer’s remorse with our book. And secondly, thank you so much for spreading the word. Regardless of how many promotional and marketing hoops we jump through, word of mouth is how our book continues to sell. So THANK YOU! And happy writing :).
Hi, Lady! I know it’s been awhile since you commented here, but I wanted to tell you that we’ve released a second edition of The Emotion Thesaurus containing 55 additional entries and enhanced front matter. Because you enjoyed the first edition, I thought you might want to know about the second one :).
I’m spreading the word around to my writing buddies, inviting them to visit your websites and buy your books.
That is so very kind of you! Thanks Feather, and for your visit! Looking forward to the next WWC! 🙂
I am so looking forward to your book on settings!
Just bought The Positive and Negative Thrait Thesauris.
I just can’t thank you two enough for writing these. The hours of research and trial and error is cut down to minutes with these two books.
Thank you so much Michael! We’re so happy you will find the process of creating meaningful, unique characters so much easier now! Happy writing 🙂
Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi – THANK YOU!!!! 🙂 I just recently purchased all three (3) of your books:
The Emotion Thesaurus
The Positive Trait Thesaurus
The Negative Trait Thesaurus
I absolutely LOVED the sample that I read of them. I loved them so much that I not only purchased the paperback versions of the book, but also put a copy of each on my iPad. I’m new to the Script Writing game and while still learning wanted something that would help me with substance and insight into why people do what they do and at times say the things they say. Only by reading these books and with practice will I hone my skills in writing Screenplays with deep, rich characters. I’m also ordering these books for my 17yr old daughter that is also an aspiring writer.
Jock, I’m so happy these books will be a help to you, and how awesome that you share this passion with your daughter. I would love to try a screenplay one day–it’s on my bucket list. there is a ton that we writers of fiction can learn from scriptwriters too. In fact. two books I recommend over and over for writers is Save The Cat and Writing Screenplays That Sell. Both are brilliant!
Happy writing–let us know how it goes!
Angela
Angela – Thank you for your kind response. YOU are an EXTREMELY TALENTED writer. It’s also your passion that bleeds through the writing of your book that inspires me. What you and “Becca” bring to the table of writing allows others I believe to learn from what you do and helps others be what they’ve dreamed of being.
You made me laugh when you mentioned “Bucket List!” Writing, Directing and Producing my own films is a HUGE DREAM!! Your website couldn’t be named any better: “WritersHelpingWriters.net”
Oh and my Daughter thinks it would be so cool for She & I to write something together. How awesome would that be? 🙂
Hi, Jock! It’s been awhile since you commented here about The Emotion Thesaurus, but I wanted to tell you that we’ve released a second edition of The Emotion Thesaurus containing 55 additional entries and enhanced front matter. Because you enjoyed the first edition, I thought you might want to know about the second one :).
I previously bought a kindle version of the emotional thesaurus. Problem is that I would love to print it out for reference. I’d also like to purchase both your new books and I probably will in PDF. Is there some kind of package where we can have both versions?
Great question. Currently we don’t have book packages because the two trait books have just released, but it is something we plan down the road. (We are also watching to see how people respond to Amazon’s Match program, to see if that is something our readers would be receptive to.)
We have tried to keep digital copy prices low in order to make them more affordable (and all three are available on print for those who want a desk copy.) I am happy to add you to our Newsletter mailing list if you like, so that you will be the first to know when ebook pairings are available in the future.
Have a great weekend!
Angela
Hi, Teri! I’m replying to a wayyyy back comment of yours regarding the Emotion Thesaurus :). I wanted to tell you that we’ve released a second edition of The Emotion Thesaurus containing 55 additional entries and enhanced front matter. Because you enjoyed the first edition, I thought you might want to know about the second one.
I purchased (and loved) my Nook version of The Emotions Thesaraus – until my Nook died. sniff, sniff. Had no idea you had other books available until I browsed for a kindle version. Is there any discount for purchasing a set of your various titles?
Debbie
I just ordered The Emotion Thesaurus by mistake. I already have that book. I wanted the Negative Trait Thesaurus in PDF.