Understanding the Psychological Impact of a Character’s Past Pain Readers connect to characters with depth, ones that have experienced life’s ups and downs. To bring realistic, compelling characters to the page, writers must know them intimately—not only who they are in the present story, but … [Read more...] about The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma
Search Results for: how to show emotion
Generic Settings Won’t Do: Choose Locations That Have Emotional Value
As writers, we try to draw readers fully into each scene. Not only do we want them to picture what's happening, we want them to feel as if they are sharing the POV (point of view) character's experience. Shared experiences are all about emotion, and Deep POV is one of the best ways to encourage … [Read more...] about Generic Settings Won’t Do: Choose Locations That Have Emotional Value
Struggle With Show, Don’t Tell? Try This Ultimate Description Toolkit
Today I'm sharing some amazing tools as part of Verbaleyze's My Writing Toolkit event, in hopes you might find some new weapons in the battle for strong, compelling description. For those not familiar with VerbalEyze, they are a 501(c)3 nonprofit that serves to foster, promote, and support the … [Read more...] about Struggle With Show, Don’t Tell? Try This Ultimate Description Toolkit
The Emotion Roller Coaster: Why Characters Resist Change
I'm reading this fascinating book right now about the human brain (yes, really!) that details how our gray matter works, and how we can evolve ourselves through concentrated intention and awareness. One of the terrific nuggets is the belief that every emotion, good or bad, sends a flood of chemicals … [Read more...] about The Emotion Roller Coaster: Why Characters Resist Change
Emotional Wounds Thesaurus Entry: Being Raised by Neglectful Parents
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 … [Read more...] about Emotional Wounds Thesaurus Entry: Being Raised by Neglectful Parents
Emotional Wound Thesaurus: Finding Out One’s Child Was Abused
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 … [Read more...] about Emotional Wound Thesaurus: Finding Out One’s Child Was Abused
Grow Reader Empathy By Showing Your Protagonist’s Vulnerable Side
As writers, we all want to encourage a powerful bond to form between our audience and the protagonist so that readers care about the hero or heroine and root for them to succeed. How we do this is through empathy, which is a feeling of understanding and connection that comes about when we … [Read more...] about Grow Reader Empathy By Showing Your Protagonist’s Vulnerable Side
Emotional Wounds Thesaurus Entry: Becoming a Caregiver at a Young Age
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 … [Read more...] about Emotional Wounds Thesaurus Entry: Becoming a Caregiver at a Young Age
Why Is Your Character’s Emotional Wound So Important?
Emotional wounds hold incredible power, steering a hero’s motives, actions, and beliefs. They damage their sense of self worth, filter how they view the world, and dictate how they interact with other people, making it harder for them to achieve their goals. So what exactly is a wound? An … [Read more...] about Why Is Your Character’s Emotional Wound So Important?
The Connection Between Emotional Wounds and Basic Needs
As many of you may know, we have a new thesaurus, one that looks into a problematic (yet SO important) area: Emotional Wounds. It's somewhat intuitive to see how a traumatic event might spawn specific fears or cause flaws or attributes to form. What isn't quite so clear is the relationship between a … [Read more...] about The Connection Between Emotional Wounds and Basic Needs
Emotional Wound Thesaurus
Below are condensed sample entries from our popular emotional wound thesaurus as they first appeared here on our blog. It has since been developed into the bestselling book: The Emotional Wounds Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma. This resource profiles well over 100 … [Read more...] about Emotional Wound Thesaurus
The Art of Story: When Telling Trumps Showing
Show, Don’t Tell. This is something we say quite a bit at WHW. As most of you know, our thesaurus collections are packed with inspiring ways to help you ‘show’ so you can craft compelling fiction that readers feel they can almost see, hear, taste, smell and touch. But while showing is key to … [Read more...] about The Art of Story: When Telling Trumps Showing