Suggestion Box

I have two of your books, plus a third one on the way. Very helpful books.
Have you considered a Character Appearance Thesaurus or a Historical Setting Thesaurus? The former can be tricky, and the latter could help writers who want to set a story back decades or centuries in the past.
Thank you.

Hi Angela and Becca,
I’m not sure if this is an idea you two could turn into a thesaurus, but I thought I’d share it with you.

Being a transplant to Arizona, from Ohio, it surprised me when we built a house to have the building code require the breaker box mounted to the outside of the house. In Ohio, they were typically in the basement, or failing that, inside the laundry room.

If I’d lived my whole live in one place or the other, I *never* would have thought twice about writing scenes one way or the other. I broached the question with my local writing group (it’s rare to find a native Arizonan, so most of us have experienced different regions). While the conversation started out as just language differences (cellar vs basement), it quickly shifted to common bugs (here: scorpions and black widows; other areas: centipedes). Now, I wonder what other tidbits might be different.

And all this because I decided to set this novel in Alabama, a place I’ve never lived and have only passed through on the way to somewhere else.

If you decide to develop this into a thesaurus, I’ll bet your readers (me included!) could cough up a wealth of “you gotta live there to know this” type of things.

Thanks for all the thesauri you’ve already created! They are great for knocking out the cobwebs and getting my keyboard clacking away!

Hello Angela and Becca,
Love your work. Just thought you would like to know what a dreadful experience we had getting your new occupation thesaurus to Sydney. My husband ordered it via Amazon in October for my birthday in November. A series of disasters later, which I will not bore you with, and it was sent back “undeliverable”?? We followed up with Amazon after a long and painful process it was re sent… we thought… again, another follow up…sent again. No notification was given of its pending arrival, no notification of its actual arrival, a chance follow up by my husband this afternoon caught it on the last day sitting in the post office waiting to be sent back?!
I understand this has absolutely nothing to do with you and its all Amazons problem, but I/we thought you maybe interested in the degree of frustration to get your books when living on the other side of the world. Especially when we have no choice but to use Amazon. Perhaps others may have had similar problems?
Previously I have purchased your other books via book depository, alas (unless this has recently changed) we can not get this volume via that vendor.
I am, however pleased to finally have it in my hot little hands at last, and am grateful for you both to have done the hard yards for us writers.

Many thanks
Esther

Hello Angela and Becca. I want to start by saying that I’m obsessed with your collection. I have soft covers of most of your thesaurus and have convinced lots of my writer friends to get themselves copies as well. To say I’m a fan feels like an understatement and I’m so impressed with the tools you’ve provided to help “show not tell” emotions.

So I have the rural setting thesaurus, but my writing is mainly fantasy/sci-fi related and most of the entries are clearly catered to a contemporary setting. I wonder if you might consider a sci-fi or fantasy related thesaurus. You could go wild with settings, what might things feel like underwater for a mermaid, or standing a cloud in the sky or on another planet with xyz, or a haunted forest, or a medieval tournament. What jobs might people have without technology? What kind of dwellings might the live in and what would it look like inside of each one? If they were in ancient China (or an ancient China like setting) would there be clay pots and sleeping mats and the like. What about if someone were in a icy climate? What might the dwellings look like and have? What sights smells and sounds might people encounter?

Anyway, I just want to thank you for your amazing work. I’ve tried lots of writing books looking for gems and this series has blown me away time and time again and I can’t recommend it enough.

My copy of The Occupation Thesaurus arrived in the mail a few days ago, and I’ve been going through the opening chapters and appendices of all the current Thesaurus books on the lead-up to reading it, to refresh my memory on each entry’s advice, and as much as I like each Thesaurus, I like the connection each one has to one another even more. I’m glad that my copy of The Emotion Thesaurus also informs entries on The Emotional Wounds Thesaurus, The Negative Traits Thesaurus, as well as The Occupations Thesaurus, and vice versa, while The Negative Traits and Positive Traits directly balance each other, and The Occupations Thesaurus ties in with the two Settings Thesauruses, revealing the hidden genius of how these books create a network of ideas for writing and planning help. This is why I think all of the books are useful, and why I appreciate the articles leading up to the entries in each book, and why I can see myself rereading them before starting new projects. It’s also why I look forward to each new book you release.

That said, I’ve also been reading the comments on the Thesaurus blog posts throughout this site, and I’ve found that the common response to book requests is that the Thesaurus has to have enough demand to get turned into a book, so I thought I’d quickly give my list of preferences for “The Next Thesaurus” to add to that demand.

I echo the majority of visitors on this site that I’d like to see them all turned into books. But I also know that won’t be possible, so my current Top 3 (in order) are Character Motivations, Conflict, and Skills & Traits. I’d actually prefer Skills & Traits first since it would complement Occupations quite well, but I notice it doesn’t have as many entries as Character Motivations has (and that you’ve recently added a few new entries to One Stop a few months ago), and allowing for more time to add more entries would make it better later, so it’s officially my third preference after Character Motivations (I’m terrible at coming up with wants and goals for my protagonists) and Conflict (a truly great Thesaurus that I want now but have to wait until it’s finished, hence why it’s behind Motivations instead of ahead of it). At some point, I’d also like to see Shapes, Colors, Textures, and Symbols combined into a single volume, because they, too, would be great for the bookshelf, but that would be after the other three: It seems like the patterns in particular are still light on entries (I only see two, and checkered and leopard-skin are not among them, and I’m only assuming “spotted” is the same as polka-dotted), so it would make sense to wait on them until there’s not really anything left to add.

So, this brings me to suggestions for future topics. I admit I’m light on ideas, but I do sense your preference is for topics that complement other topics, so here’s what I’d like to see integrated into the collection someday as a means to keep to the trend:

The Food and Beverage Thesaurus (Book):
-Focuses on “core” foods and drinks like beef, poultry, candy, water, wine, etc.
-Lists the common foods and drinks for that type (beef: hamburger, steak, filet mingon, etc.; wine: red, white, blush, etc.)
-Covers the emotional ties that characters have to food and drink
-Covers the conflicts one might create by consuming said food or drink
-Describes the types of places they’ll likely appear (not just restaurants, bars, or grocery stores, but also sports arenas, school cafeterias, etc.)
-Describes the occasions one might eat or drink this item (breakfast, lunch, dinner, birthday party, holiday, etc.)
-Describes the packaging or presentation: packaged, boxed, bottled, sliced, on a plate, etc.
-Associated tastes, textures, and smells (salty, sweet, meaty, oak, sulfuric, etc.)
-Describes how the character might feel after consumption (sugar rush, brain freeze, drunk, heavy, guilty, etc.)
-Describes how food might originate (garden, cow, harvested, butchered, etc.)
-Describes the person “making” the food or beverage

The Traditions Thesaurus (Maybe Book):
-Focuses on holidays, customs, and traditions around the world, in history (and maybe in fiction–Festivus anyone?).
-Ties into other Thesaurus topics including:
-Emotional ties and/or wounds (Smell of Christmas cookies, Wife kissed Santa Claus, etc.)
-Traditional settings (park, banquet hall, church, Chuck E. Cheese, etc.)
-Associated foods and beverages (Food and Beverage Thesaurus!!!)
-Associated clothing (future Clothing Thesaurus?)
-Associated conflicts
-Physical requirements (putting up a Christmas tree, decorating a cake, etc.)
-Potential costs (buying ingredients for cake, buying a plane ticket, etc.)
-Examples in Movies or Literature (National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation; Planes, Trains, and Automobiles; The Purge … okay, maybe not that last one)

The Genre Thesaurus (One Stop):
-Focuses on BISAC genres, Save the Cat genres, and other familiar types
-Discusses common character professions or positions for genre (detective: mystery, lawyer: thriller, deliveryman: romance, high school student: coming of age, etc.)
-Discusses common archetypes for genre (reluctant hero, superhero, etc.)
-Common settings for genre (police station: thriller, castle: adventure or romance, etc.)
-Common weather effects and symbols for genre (fog/rope: thriller, rain/cat: noir, sunshine/picnic basket: romantic comedy, etc.)
-Common cliches (woman in the red dress: thriller, man without the shirt: gambling…I mean romance, etc.)
-Associated moods (lighthearted: comedy, emotional: drama, adrenaline: action)
-Whatever else is important

And because I mentioned it in another suggestion:

The Clothing Thesaurus (Book):
-Type (hat, shoe, shirt, etc.)
-Category (casual, formal, swimwear, etc.)
-Materials (thread, leather, cotton, etc.)
-Sensory details (light to touch, airy, smells like mothballs, etc.)
-Trending era (1920s, 1980s, always, etc.)
-Associated profession (tennis player, businessman, any profession, etc.)
-Protection against weather types (raincoat protects against rain)
-Associated tradition (religious ceremony, graduation, nontraditional, etc.)
-Character type likely to wear it (adventurer may wear a hat)
-Reasons why character may wear this (going swimming, going to a picnic, trying to impress somebody, etc.)
-Reasons why a character wouldn’t wear this (afraid of the water, afraid of loose straps, can’t work a zipper, etc.)

And a related topic:

The MacGuffin Thesaurus (One Stop):
-Focuses on common MacGuffin types (murder weapon, nuclear bomb, lost jewel, etc.)
-MacGuffin by genre (mystery, thriller, adventure, etc.)
-MacGuffin by location (mansion, city park, deep cave, etc.)
-Ways to subvert expectations (murder weapon: a computer keyboard; location: in a cave; genre: romantic comedy; reality: protagonist is a love-starved teenager playing a massively multiplayer role-playing fantasy game while his love interest is the ambitious girl he just KO’ed in the cave while trying to be the first to the diamond)
-MacGuffin as symbol for inner conflict (stopping the bomb is symbolic of the character’s need to stop destroying his reputation at work)
-Probably doesn’t need much else.

Finally, and probably overkill, but:

The Action Thesaurus (One Stop):
-Basically a reverse Emotion Thesaurus for additional indexing
Example: “Running Away”
-Emotion (fear, self-preservation)
-Personality Trait (negative, cowardly; positive, wise)
-Literal Common Triggers (animal, police, gunman)
-Figurative Common Triggers (bad relationship, responsibility, fear of failure)
-Escalation/De-escalation/Starts As/Leads To

Okay, I think that’s enough for the next decade. Thanks again for making these books and running One Stop. These are all amazing resources. I’m grateful for each of them. Hopefully all of this is already in the notes.

Thank you for such great references for new authors!

I just finished the book “Save the Cat Writes a Novel” by Jessica Brody. I am one week into the two week free trial of One Stop for Writers (which I love!) and I was wondering you have any plans to create a scene template for the 15 beats? I know you have the Michael Hauge scene template. I haven’t read his book yet as it seems to be catered to screenwriters. Just hoping maybe you’ll consider adding a new scene template. Thanks!

Hello The Main Conflict Thesaurus page doesn’t list all the entry posts you’ve made. Is there an updated page that you can point me to?

https://writershelpingwriters.net/conflict-thesaurus/

Um, when you publish a type of conflict on your blog (ie, a “conflict thesaurus entry” on your blog like today’s post), how’s about adding a link to it on your Conflict Thesaurus blog page? That would make it easy for folks to keep finding it! (Yes, I realize this is a “duh” and probably just a teensy oversight on your part.) Thanks!

Hello Angela,

I’m Gen Psych Professor at a local private and I just came across the concept and word Character Wound because one of our psychiatrists used the term; however, I am wondering if your terms have been validated by research measures. You may have conducted extensive research already and my question will feel naive. I believe that valid terms and designations do exist outside of DSM or ICD(like co-dependency). However, is their construct validity with this term like CW being correlated with PCL-C or Dissociative indexes?

Thanks for responding.

Why do authors insist on writing huge books about “tight” writing?!!!
Will Strunk said, “Omit needless words!” “Make every word tell!” And a famous French architect said, “Less is more”.
Hell…I wish those ‘writers’ would get on ‘that’ bloody program!

Hi, I absolutely love your thesaurus collection, it’s been such a valuable resource over the years, I don’t know what I’d do without it! I recently downloaded the urban setting thesaurus, excited to have finally found the perfect reference to help me with this one specific setting I’ve been struggling to write. And thus I learned an important lesson about checking the table of contents before whipping out the credit card, because it just so happens that one specific setting is the one location that doesn’t crop up anywhere in the pages (jk, I’ve learned no such lesson, this book is great and I have no regrets, impulse shopping has once again emerged victorious, eyes closed, head first, can’t lose XD).

Then I recently saw that you guys published a second edition of the emotion thesaurus with added entries, and I was wondering if the other thesauruses might end up getting revamped as well? If so, let me be the first (or not, I didn’t exactly scroll through all the previous messages here, there very well may be hundreds of people requesting different settings, but I am lazy and my shields of narcissistic denial are strong so if I’m not aware of there existence they obviously do not exist) to offer a suggestion for the urban setting thesaurus: ROOFTOPS

I feel like a lot of people would find an entry on rooftops incredibly useful; I know I, for one, know pretty much diddly squat about them. City rooftops are not a location a lot of people can easily access, and if you are in a city, and the building you’re in does happen to have roof access, it’s oftentimes restricted. And I can tell you from personal experience that trying to research this subject is a headache of slogging through hundreds of hotel/restaurant/condo sites advertising their luxury rooftops pools/bars/etc (Which, granted, can be useful depending on what you’re looking to write, but sometimes you want your character to be able to crouch on some rooftop overlooking the old abandoned meat-packing district to spy on a clandestine deal happening below without him having to wade through a heated infinity pool or getting interrupted by a cocktail waiter looking to take his order, ya know?). Now, with some highly-skilled google-fu you might be able to narrow down the search enough to learn about city roofs from a constructional point of view, you know, the materials, the technical terms, etc., and while that’s slightly more helpful, I’m stymied by the fact that as a non-construction worker my practical experience with these things is limited. I may learn the name of a material often used in the construction of roofs, but I still don’t know what that material looks like/how it smells/the feel of it under your feet/how it might look after years of wear and tear and countless cigarette butts ground into it beneath the shoes of underpaid workers sneaking out for a quick smoke/etc.

So yeah, I guess that was my long rambling way of saying that if you ever were thinking publishing a second edition of the urban setting thesaurus, I would love it if there were an entry on city rooftops! 🙂

(And if you feel you don’t have enough additional settings to justify a second edition, I will gladly spew more ideas at you ;D)

As Serbian writting in English, but lacking in fluid English I am in problem because my stories lack of final touch. Most stories I have created are full of irony and, as history fun, I like to mix amd mash different epochs, like in stories “The NEw Gods”, or ” Julius Caesar VS Napoleon”. I about to try to create Odyssey~s journey in novel fashion. My question is do you have any writer out there who would tackle with mine ideas for mutual benefits?
Sincerelly Yours

Idea for a thesaurus! Maybe a Physical Injury and Wound one? Detailing different types of injuries (head injuries, stab wounds, etc) and maybe even wounds that don’t result from a fight (botched surgery/abortion leading to bleeding, poisoning, etc) and the consequences of what would happen and any possible psychological trauma that comes with it.

How about a power verb thesaurus?

The emotional wound thesaurus has been quite useful in helping me solidify some of my characters’ motivations. However, there are several “wounds” that seem to be missing. Granted, it is impossible to cover every contingency, and some situations are so unique and specific to a small selection within a single genre (e.g. experiencing death and being resurected by a necromancer) that one can be forgiving for not including them. However, there are a few that were surprisingly absent given their common occurance. You have death of a parent and oneself receiving news of a terminal illness, and the chronic illness of a sibling. But what about the long term terminal illness of a parent (the slow deteriaration and inevitable death)? You include the character who experience the betrayal of a sibling. This can be used as a starting place to adjust to betrayal by a parent, or friend. But what of the wound received by the person who did the betraying—whether through anger or in the belief they were saving the person’s life? Perhaps there is enough material out there to write The Emotional Wound Thesaurus 2.

I absolutely love your thesaurus books! I can’t stop singing their praises on social media. These books have helped me through some ruts in my novella I’m currently working on, as well as my short stories. They have really helped me gain confidence in my writing.

I love and agree with all the comments on an era/historical setting thesaurus. I would also like to see a thesaurus on mental health disorders. I know you touch upon that in the Emotional Wound Thesaurus, but I’d love to see a book or post that really fleshes mental health disorders out. Maybe even on how they not only affect adults, but children who suffer from, or knows someone who has them as well.

Thank you so much for creating these awesome books again! 🙂

A hot air balloon setting would be a cool idea. I had a writing prompt just not about that and have never actually BEEN in one myself, although I can imagine the idea of it. I checked my books because for some reason I thought it was in there but nope then checked here and nope! lol. I don’t know how often it would be used but it just came up so I thought, hey why not, I’ll add a suggestion.

Congratulations on your new release. I have all your thesaurauses and look forward to read this one. Thanks for your efforts.

Hi there! I love your work and find it indespensable! Thank you!

I had an idea that would save tremendous time for writers: An Era Thesaurus. A way to get all the senses from the period. Manners of speech and popular terms could be included. Wardrobe, class styles, music, art, famous people of that era, etc. It could be separated by decade going backwards and when going far back enough, it could be categorized in full eras (Victorian, Edwardian, etc.).

I know I’m not going to write it myself, and for someone else other than you to write it just seems wrong.

I hope that idea is worth something to you. I’m sure it would be worth so much to so many if it came to fruition.

I’d love to know what you think.

Cheers!

Nathan Chamberland

I would like to see a fashion designer profile added, thanks

I was looking through the Emotional Wound Thesaurus and couldn’t find quite what I wanted (which is OK, I still love the book!). I’m creating a character who, it turns out, suffers from the high expectations of her parents and those around her. (Think “The Cutting Edge”.) It’s similar to parents loving conditionally and being so beautiful no one sees anything else—having immense talent and really supportive parents who nevertheless don’t make it quite clear that they’ll love her whether or not she meets the sky-high expectations of everyone around her. I’m not sure if that’s different enough to warrant its own entry, but it’s a suggestion! 🙂

Hey there,

I would love to pre-order the Emotional Thesaurus, but I definitely want it in PDF rather than kindle form. Is there any way I can give you money for that now?

Thanks,
Steen

What about having all the thesaurus’ available as a PDF download to purchase? Say US$9.99 each? I know I would buy occupations, weather, physical features to name just a few.

I love everything you do! I read all of your posts and I have all of your thesauruses. I just have one suggestions – I think it would be great if you could add “tools of the trade” to the information on each occupation in the occupations thesaurus. This would help writers write metaphors and similes that a person with that occupation would use. It could also help with setting – what kind of things would that person carry in their backpack, briefcase, have on their desk, or in their home etc.

Your setting guides are great, but one that I would love to get my hands on is a dystopian setting guide. Same types of settings, but what they might be like after years of decay and abandonment.

Hello Angela and Becca. I am so amazed and grateful for the extremely detailed and extensive work you do to help other writers succeed. Thank you so much for dedicating your time and hard work to these many projects. I don’t know how you do it!

Would it be possible for you to add entries in your Occupation Thesaurus for the following two occupations?

1) Outdoor Survival Skills Instructor

2) Search and Rescue Volunteer or full-time worker

Even if the second one is a volunteer occupation, it could be the main occupation of someone who supports it as their true calling, either by working a second job, or possibly someone who doesn’t have to have a side job because they are able to live off of an inheritance.

My WIP’s main character is a highly-driven, over-acheiver, trying to compensate for a tragic loss for which he blames himself. He seeks redemption or absolution through his choice of occupation. He is a part-time English teacher in an accelerated program for highschool students who take some of their classes at the local Community College. He works the rest of the time as an Outdoor Survival Instructor, and is an on-call Search and Rescue volunteer on weekends. I am getting overwhelmed by my research into the secondary occupations, and would be very grateful to have a reasonably thorough, yet succinct summary of both of the secondary occupations and all of the things that you cover with your descriptions of other occupations in your Occupation Thesaurus. Thanks so much for considering my request.

Can you please write a whole book discussing characters’ desires, ambitions and goals?

Your Tait Thesauri are among the many books I’ve purchased for my Kindle devices and apps. I’m currently saving up, and considering your other works, but if you write a book solely about characters’ wants, I’ll definitely buy it.

In the meantime, thank you for the teachings you’ve been offering so far.

I am just a new subscriber but down at the comment box I don’t see a way to subscribe without leaving a comment…or subscribe in general. If you could make it a bit more intuitive, that would be super nice.

Thank you for providing excellent resources for writers. One of the writing needs I have and struggle with is locating experts for topics related to specific themes, conditions, or situations presented in my story (i.e., doctors, police, scientists, information technology, FBI, etc.). Since your website already contains wonderful resources, I was wondering if you would consider adding a section to your website that highlights guest experts to provide a Q&A for writers.

Also, another resource that would be beneficial are forms that could be used to send to beta readers so the feedback they provide is effective and efficient. Templates that include checklists to quickly complete, open-ended questions, and other questions that focus on effective story development and improvement for effective feedback.

Thanks again for your dedication to providing invaluable tools for writers.

How about a thesaurus of weather. The Eskimos reportedly have 22 words that characterize snow. What about various words for rain, wind, temperature, etc.