Need help with your story or characters?
You’ve come to the right place.
Many of our writing guides contain ingenious tools that help you better understand key aspects of story planning and character building. We’ve turned these into printable “blanks” so you can download them and use as needed. Scroll down to find those.
If you need a story coach…
Save yourself buckets of money and check out the Storyteller’s Roadmap we’ve designed for you at our sister site, One Stop for Writers. Whether you are planning, writing, or revising, these will help you get from your first idea to a publish-ready novel.
(Click here to visit the Storyteller’s Roadmap.)
Brainstorming Downloads
NEW! Decision-Making Crossroads Tool (PDF)
- When your character encounters something that challenges their beliefs, it causes cognitive dissonance. Draw readers in by showing a real-world psychological look at what may be at odds: their beliefs, emotions, biases, and situational factors to consider.
NEW! Using Emotion Amplifiers to Destabilize a Character (PDF)
- Wonder what emotional volatility looks like? It’s not all ranting and raving. If you need ideas on how losing control can shape what a character says, does, and thinks, leading to regret, browse this list!
NEW! Emotional Reasoning: Weigh-And-Measure Questions (PDF)
- Tough decisions require soul-searching. A character will weigh and measure factors tied to their situation to determine what to do. This list of questions can help you show readers their emotional reasoning process.
Goal, Motivation, Conflict + Stakes Tracker (PDF)
- Being able to see the fundamentals of your story can help you test out a story idea and make sure it’s strong enough and help you plot your book. This is a great tool for plotters and pantsers.
Troubleshooting Problems with a Story’s Climax (PDF)
- The climax is your story’s big moment, the one that readers have been waiting for, so the last thing we want is to disappoint them. But the reality is lots can go wrong with a climatic moment, or we can unknowingly sabotage its effectiveness. This “problems & solutions” style chart is a must-have!
Character Conflict Responses (PDF)
- We all know the role conflict plays in the structure and flow of a story. But it’s also an integral piece of your character’s arc, with each conflict opportunity contributing to their success or failure over time. Is this news to you? If so, we’ve created this simple graphic that shows how conflict relates to character arc in both a change and failed arc.
Internal Conflict Brainstorming Sheet (PDF)
- If you’re writing a story about a character who will have to evolve to achieve his goal, a cohesive and well-planned character arc will be vital to its success. This change arc requires internal conflict, which will provide opportunities for your character to adapt and grow. But how to decide on that main area of internal struggle? Use this chart to identify a few key factors, and you can zero in on what that struggle will be for your character.
Career Assessment Tool (PDF)
- Choosing a character’s career is no small thing…the job you pick will not only communicate their personality, skill set, morals, priorities, and interests to readers, it can also feed into their character arc and goals. Our Occupation Thesaurus assessment tool looks at all the important story factors to help you choose what career is the best fit for each character.
Occupation Speed Dating Tool (PDF)
- Oh boy, with thousands of careers to choose from, which one will you pick for your character? Decisions, decisions. Don’t worry, we’ve made it easy and fun, matching 124 iconic and interesting jobs from The Occupation Thesaurus with some of the most powerful Primary Traits your character might have. Start Speed Dating!
Occupation Thesaurus Job Entry Template (PDF)
- Were you unable to find the exact career you were hoping for in our Occupation Thesaurus writing guide? NO PROBLEM. If you’ve also checked these Contributed Job Entries and the expanded Occupation Thesaurus at One Stop for Writers, we’ve put our OT job template into a handy-dandy printable pdf so you can write your own!
Character Arc Progression Tool (PDF)
- Did you know that a character’s arc is tied to the wounding event from his past? Traumatic events are formative, impacting a character’s basic need, determining his story goal, generating sources of inner conflict, and more. The Character Arc Progression Tool can help you explore all the pieces and see how they fit together. For a deeper understanding of this resource, please reference The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma.
Backstory Wound Profile (PDF)
- This questionnaire can help you map out your character’s past wounding event and its aftereffects, giving you a clear idea of who he or she is in your current story. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma.
Setting Planner (PDF)
- Use this handy tool to organize the settings in your story while keeping track of the various elements (such as sensory details, weather elements, mood, and symbolism) that will bring them to life. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Rural Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Personal and Natural Places.
Emotional Value Tool (PDF)
- Craft emotionally charged scenes by using this tool to determine which settings will have the most impact on your protagonist. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Urban Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to City Spaces.
Setting Checklist (PDF)
- Build each setting in your story so they do double duty while setting the stage for your reader. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Urban Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to City Spaces.
Setting Exercises (PDF)
- Hone your description skills and enhance your settings with these exercises. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Rural Setting Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Personal and Natural Places.
Character Pyramid Tool (PDF)
- Visualize your character’s FLAWS & associated behaviors. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws.
Character Target Tool (PDF)
- Organize and group your character’s POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES by category: moral, achievement, interactive or identity. For a greater understanding of this tool, please reference The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes.
Character Profile Questionnaire (PDF)
- Not your average character questionnaire! Get ready to dig deep into who your character is by exploring his backstory & personality (sourced from The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes).
Reverse Backstory Tool (PDF)
- Work backward to find your character’s wound, needs & lie. For a deeper understanding of this tool, please reference The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws).
Weak Verb Converter Tool (PDF)
- Transform all those generic, boring verbs into power verbs
Scene Revision/Critique Tool Level 1 & Level 2 (PDF)
- A ‘light’ and ‘in-depth’ revision checklist for creating compelling characters and scenes
Emotional Movie Scenes (PDF)
- A list of specific scene examples from movies that showcase different intense emotions
Crutch Words (PDF)
- Those little, annoying overused words that hide in our manuscripts…finally a list for Search & Destroy during the revision process!
The Show, Don’t Tell Pro Pack (PDF)
Want to strengthen your description but you’re unsure where to start? Or have you heard about our thesaurus books from other writers and wondered what the fuss is about?
This kit contains a descriptive thesaurus entry from each of our writing guides, tips on how that aspect of description will power up your story, and links to our top show, don’t tell articles. If you want to ensure your details work harder in your story, don’t miss this freebie.
Looking for our Marketing Handouts and Swipe Files?
The best for last…
Writers Helping Writers is proud to bring you One Stop For Writers®, a powerhouse library packed with unbelievable tools and resources, including the largest fiction-focused description database available ANYWHERE.
If you like what we do here at WHW, then get ready to have your proverbial socks blown off. Explore One Stop for Writers for yourself by activating our generous 2-Week FREE TRIAL.
Thank you so much for all this valuable information. I’m at a point right now in my story where I’m not sure which way to go. These will help tremendously!
I’m so glad! 🙂
Hi, thank you for these wonderful resources. I am struggling with turning into my story concept/idea into a developed plot with characters, themes and structure. Which resources should I use to overcome this? Xx
It can be a bit challenging to go from an idea into a developed plan for a story, I know. Some people struggle with what’s more important, plot or character, and the answer is character, because what readers are drawn to is how what happens to your protagonist, but how they handle it and why. The story, the true story, is that – what goes on within your character and motivates them to leave their comfort zone for a goal that will complete them in some way.
So the first think you’ll want to do is really dive deep into who your character is and what makes them tick – backstory, motivation, personality, fears, desires, what’s missing from their life, all of that, and then have them choose a goal that represents the very thing they need most to be satisfied and complete. The most efficient way to do this is to create a character bible or profile, and the best tool for doing that is the Character Builder: https://onestopforwriters.com/about-character-builder. But if you are the sort to find a questionnaire helpful instead, scroll down to the Character Profile Questionnaire (PDF). The Reverse Backstory tool might help you. too. There are other tools on this page around personality building as well, but as I said, an all-in-one would be to use the Character Builder at One Stop for Writers.
If you need step-by-step help as you plan, write, and revise, One Stop for Writers also has a Storyteller’s Roadmap: https://onestopforwriters.com/storytellers-roadmap
I would also suggest books like Structuring Your Novel and Outlining Your Novel by KM Weiland. You can find these and some others we find helpful here: https://writershelpingwriters.net/recommended-writing-books/
I hope this gives you a good start. Because you mentioned story vs. theme & plot, give this a read, too: https://writershelpingwriters.net/2023/06/story-vs-plot-vs-theme-know-your-5ws-and-h/
Happy writing!
I have two question. First of all I love your thesaurus, I have them on Kindle and the paperbacks.
I have your Occupation Thesaurus, but I’m writing a book on a Bull Rider, would you suggest I use
the Rancher section? I feel they go hand in hand, as most bull riders are ranchers and or farmers?
I’m also going to make my lead character as someone who sells in a flea market, she sells crafts/jewelry style
and spells with herbs. (Kind of like Shamanism/New Age.)
I’m going to see if the reiki master and small business owner helps with that one.
If not, I would appreciate any suggestion, or maybe you can add one in a future book, or update.
Thanks for the kind words about our books, Carmen. I wish the Occupation Thesaurus could have included every possible job, to make things easier for all of our writers. Sometimes the similar entries (like Rancher instead of Bull Rider) can provide ideas or prompt you about things you may not have considered that make sense for your character. But with the two jobs you mentioned, I don’t think the entries we’ve included are going to give you exactly what you’re after.
My suggestion here would be to download the Occupation Thesaurus template and take just a bit of time to create your own Rancher entry. Google, or even some of the AI tools available now, can provide a lot of the information for you, and you can brainstorm the rest—as well as adding any other information we didn’t include in our entries. Then you’ll have a full picture of what this job could look like for your character.
Hi, it’s my first visit and I am really impressed with your website, tools and the resources you provide. I will embed your button on my site “Helpwriters.co” -a forum where writers help each other-to provide my audience with the opportunity to take advantage of your resourceful website.
I have always used your Active Verb List with my classes and am so sad not to find it on your site any longer. Do you happen to have it posted somewhere else? Thank you so much!
Hi, Melissa. Good news! It’s still there. On the Resources tab, click on the Build Your Toolkit link. What you’re looking for is now called the Weak Verb Converter Tool :).
https://writershelpingwriters.net/writing-tools/
Hi friends am hoping that i get the help i need, Am writing a true based on my experience as a disabled person i’ve began with flowing thoughts but now am kind of stuck. Am expriencing problems in story changes features and ideas and how should i better this story can anyone help.
Hi, Jeanine. You can find a lot of help with the various storytelling elements in the I Need Help With Section of our home page. There, you’ll find a ton of resources on writing characters, plotting your story, developing the setting, how to show instead of tell, and a lot of other topics that can help you hammer out your book. Best of luck!
These resources are amazing. Thank you so much!
Hello, I work at a library and we are starting a writing group, could I share these PDF’s online to our group?
Congrats on starting a group, Linsey! Of course, the tools on that page are free for you to share as needed. We hope they come in handy! Good luck on getting things up and and running.
A major character in my story, “Blue Cottage” frequently speaks in very simple to understand language. Consequently, she uses a lot of adverbs. I use Grammarly rather frequently, but it loves to suggest that I not use adverbs. However, it does not suggest any alternatives to the adverbs (I’m using the free version). Could you make a PDF for adverbs in the same vein as the Weak Verb Converter Tool? Thanks, this place is great!
Sorry Tom, we have to agree with Grammarly on this one. I can understand in your case you might have good reasons for using adverbs but generally we don’t want to encourage writers to overuse them. It’s much better to think of a specific verb that conveys exactly what it is needed rather than a weak verb + adverb. 😉
Grammarly flags **every** single adverb. I try to not use them because I know that Grammarly is going to give me this headache. But my MC is identified by her use of adverbs. To be more specific she loves to use the word “really”. I beg you to reconsider. I was checking my third chapter last night. My protagonist, Cassie Carter, loves to talk. But Grammarly won’t allow my characters to sound as I write them. Readers would be able to tell Cassie was speaking because she uses the word “really”.
It’s not like the story is peppered with the word. Grammarly won’t allow any. All I’m asking for are *alternatives* to adverbs so I don’t tear my hair out. Right now, my characters really don’t “sound” the way I want them to. Grammarly is re-writing a bit too rigidly. Thanks and stay safe in these crazy, mixed-up times.
I get this for your character it’s important. You should be able to google “adverb list” and find what you need. I would still encourage you to challenge yourself to minimize use. There will be other things that identify her as a speaker beyond her love of adverbs. If she loves “really” maybe that’s her thing and she only uses that one. Not every dialogue line, but just here and there, and have someone make a point of noticing that she really (har har) likes that word, and she can explain why she’s connected to it if needed, so readers get a bit of a heads up that this is her quirk, not you overusing adverbs unknowingly.
Avoid using Grammerly. You are the human, you decide! I prefer dialogue that reduces adverbs not because of the single word like ‘really’ rather because the underlying meaning for me as a reader is drab and resembles a non communicative person. I rather read scenes and the dialogue to have purpose. If the situation is a whoops or a tragedy in real life all that can be said is ‘wow, my eyes hurts trying to believe what just happened.’
Meaning simplistic speech has its moments but not a recipe for full service reading.
Anyways, ProWritingAid, Wordtune.
I refuse to pay for grammar assistance websites. These above have free no hidden fees usage — websites, apps and plugins. Also human detection and editing is something that must be paid for and necessary towards the final steps of book writing.
I would love to see a networking help section for Instagram. I personally do not use Facebook and have a very strict view on never wanting to use it. I also do not have a twitter and don’t really have the want to use it. I would love to see some help/information in regards to an Instagram platform and ways to help aspiring authors & writers who use this platform.
Hi Amy,
I would love to provide a section for this, but it’s just not in my wheelhouse beyond the basics, and there are just so many great blog posts and free courses on how to use instagram and be successful at it out there, I usually point people to those. You can do a bit of googling, but here’s a good starting point: https://shaylaraquel.com/blog/instagram2020 and this one, too: https://prowritingaid.com/art/514/How-to-Win-Instagram-If-You-Are-a-Writer.aspx
Good luck! 🙂
Several of the tools above, listed as printable versions, print with a black rectangle or square in the center, the apparent watermark. How does one print the forms in useful format?
That’s quite strange – can you give us a bit more information, such as whether you have a mac or PC, and your process to print (do you save it to your computer first, or print directly from the PDF?
Not the original commenter, but I’m still seeing this. The watermark on the Backstory Wound Profile is not transparent, so there’s a big grey square where that image is (does not appear to be an issue with any of the other PDFs). It’s really distracting.
Hi Anne,
I’ve tried re-adding the watermark if you’d like to give the download a try again and see how it looks?
02/20/2021: When I print from the link, my Mac fills the watermark in all black.
I discovered if you download and open the PDF, you should be able to print the worksheets without black squares interrupting text.
The Backstory Wound Profile will have watermark black background but will not mask the text.
The watermark needs to be saved and applied as a PNG format so whitespace is created instead of black space. I’d research the technique used to apply the watermark on the docs too.
Thanks very much for this information, Vili. We’ll look deeper into this.
I have just completed the first draft of my first single room novelette, thanks to your invaluable direction, without that advice I couldn’t have done it. Now, I have set myself another new goal – I am trying to pen a “Time Loop” story, I am watching all these films and studying online, but still, I couldn’t get my head around it. SO, here I again seek insight on how should I be approaching to write a “TIME LOOP” story.
Regards
I think we would need more information on what you mean by a time loop story?
Movie like – Groundhog Day, Looper, Predestination, Source Code, Edge of Tomorrow, Triangle, A Day, Run Lola Run. The main problem I am experiencing is conjuring up the “Main Reason” which is making the repetition of the events over and over again. Also whatever resetting the time, why is it doing so? How can I connect these with story’s theme? Inside my head I am feeling foggy of these things.
These are all great questions to ask, but answering them is personal to the story you want to tell, so I don’t know how much help I can offer. The “why” behind the reset is key, and will direct everything else. Is there a disruption of some kind outside the character’s control that causes the reset (a rift in time, a time displacement, a thin spot in between realities, etc.) or is it another causing it (god, technology being part see by someone, etc.). Either answer forces you to look at what: what caused the loop to form and what will end it, or what is the motivation of the person causing the loop and what goal of theirs will close it? Start here so you can move onto the other questions.
Thank you and lots of love & Thanks again for this christmas gift!
Wish you all a very good christmas eve.
Regards
Dear Sir:
I just wrote a memoir, and am looking for a literary agent to represent me. Please notify me, if there are agents where one of their specialties are memoirs, and I will Email them my query.
Hi,
I am struggling with a writing project. The goal is I need to keep the whole story exactly in a single setting. I need advice & guidance. Please help.
Try to think about where your character is, what they need most, and how the setting itself they are in and things within that place are keeping the character from the thing they want most.
Thanks a lot for your advice, I am going go to give it my best shot.
Looking at this site, is like listening to a handful of marbles rattling around in a five gallon drum!
Is that a good thing or not? 😉
I love this site! Just shared on my blog: http://www.martacweeks.com/2018/05/what-heck.html
Thank you so much, Marta! That’s awesome!
Thank you for providing such helpful information. After reading the first 52 pages of a manuscript, my wife encouraged me to hurry up so she could see how the story ends. She purchased The Emotion Thesaurus, The Positive Trait Thesaurus, The Negative Trait Thesaurus, and The Emotional Wound Thesaurus and eagerly handed them to me because, as she put it, I’m too hard on myself when it comes to my writing.
I have found them very helpful and would recommend them to any aspiring writer. Even though I have a very strong understanding of my protagonist, who turns out to be an antihero, the tools have helped hone certain character attributes for many of the other characters in the manuscript.
Thanks again! I look forward to receiving the other two Thesauruses, which have already been ordered.
Sincerely,
Rob Mason
This is such a nice note to receive! I’m really happy that the books are helping you. Big hugs to your wife, both for her purchase and her words of wisdom and encouragement to you. We all need those honest cheerleaders in our lives. Keep up the good work!
I wondered about the Character Target and Reverse Backstory tools for a while and how to use them. But I finally managed to get the Positive and Negative Trait Thesauruses yesterday and I was finally able to see an example for each of them. But I still have questions about them, if you wouldn’t mind answering.
What would be a good place to start on each of these tools? Just with finding out what are the most defining traits, or by figuring out your character’s backstory or lie? For both tools, about how many traits are necessary to make a well-defined character? And when using both for a single character, how can you bring the results together?
Thanks for answering all my questions in all the pages around this site. I’ve been looking forward to getting your books for a long time and I can’t wait for the new ones.
Hi, John. I’m sorry for the confusion about these tools; while I’m glad you were able to get some answers from our books, this tells me that having an example at the blog for these tools might be a good idea, too.
In terms of where to start, I would begin with the Reverse backstory tool, since that fills in all the important blanks. And with that tool, you can start literally anywhere within the spreadsheet. If you’re plot driven and know what your character’s outer motivation is, you can start there and work downward. If you know your character well and you know their personality, you can start there and work your way backward and forward. If you know what wounding event is motivating them, start there. I love this tool because of its versatility.
Once you’ve gotten all the blanks filled in, I would then go on to the Character Target Tool, because you’ll already have an idea about some of the traits. I like to identify a defining moral trait first, since moral traits will determine what other traits he might have and which ones he definitely won’t have. I would shoot for around two traits per category; some will have a few more. But you don’t want to have too many or the character becomes hard to define. Then you’ll want to figure out which of those traits your character will really own throughout the story. You may end up with 10 traits for him, but you can’t focus on all of those or he’s going to come across as scattered and not well defined. I would pick two, maybe three, of those traits to focus us on when you’re writing the character so the reader can get a good bead on him. Think of how you want him defined; to do this, think of your favorite characters who are clearly drawn. Which traits define them, and how many? Scarlett O’Hara (determined, self-serving, clever, manipulative). Sam Gamgee (loyal, organized, simple). For your own character, figure out which the traits are the important ones both for him and the story, and make those his defining traits.
I hope this helps! Best of luck!
Hello, Becca
Thank you for your reply. I have been using both tools for some time now to practice creating characters or try and develop or break down characters I’ve seen elsewhere.
However, I have come across a bit more confusion in terms of the Positive Trait tool. I am a little confused about the distinction between the Morals and Identity attributes. As I understand, morals are natural beliefs held by the person in terms of right and wrong, while identity is who the person is naturally? In that case, adding in the Interaction aspect, it becomes more confusing, as people can act differently from their actual selves in public. What I mean to ask is, can I get a little more explanation/clarification on the four attribute types? Thank you.
Ok, let’s back up a little bit. We know that personality traits are formed based on our positive experiences and the people who have influenced us. So before you can figure out which traits your character embodies, you have to know about those positive things and people from the past that have caused those traits to form. What role model had a positive influence on your character, and which traits did they embody? What positive experiences and exposures allowed them to form positive ideas about culture, society, and community, and what traits would naturally emerge from those? When were they able to successfully navigate a difficult situation, and which traits enabled them to do that? These are where positive attributes come from. Knowing these important people and events from your character’s past will enable you to figure out which positive traits he would likely embrace.
Digging into the backstory will give you a long list of possible attributes for your character. You’ll want to narrow it down to a manageable size that will enable you to focus on the really defining traits and write them clearly into your story. That’s where that Target Tool comes in handy. To answer your question, yes, moral traits are ones that tie into what we believe to be right and wrong. Sometimes a character adopts a character trait simply because he believes it’s the right way to be: just, honest, generous, kind, etc. (possibly because a role model exemplified that trait, or because that trait enabled him to overcome something difficult, etc.). So when I’m building a character’s personality, the core moral trait is the one I usually unearth first, because it will determine what other traits will (or won’t) follow, since the others have to align with that one. Interactive traits are relational ones; they determine how we interact with other people. Ask yourself: what is my character like when he’s with others? (extroverted, enthusiastic, nurturing, etc.). Achievement traits are ones that help us succeed at life (and help the character succeed at his goals): organized, responsible, cooperative, thrifty. And identity traits are ones that often make your character unique; they make him who he is and help him stand out from the crowd: spontaneous, talented, wholesome, curious, etc.
I like to shoot for 2 traits from each category. This is just a ballpark, or course, not a set-in-stone rule. Out of that final short list of categories, there will probably be 2 or 3 that really define who your character is and also help him in the story. Those are the ones I focus on when writing. Those become his defining traits.
Does this clarify things for you? This response field is getting narrower and narrower ;). If you need more info, please feel free to email your questions to me at becca.puglisi@yahoo.com.
This information is so valuable for new writers. Thank you for your help.
Very glad it’s helpful to you!
Thank you for sharing such a wealth of information. This is great.
I’m a young teenage writer, and everything on the website has helped me so much.
I’m so glad you found us!
Hi, thanks for the great tools!
Having so much fun with the Settings Exercises tool. Done 12 and can’t stop – addictive! Thanks for these tools, and so much more.
That’s so great! It really does get you thinking, doesn’t it?
Awesome tools, Angela! Thank you so much for sharing this with the rest of us 🙂
Thank you Krisna! Happy they help. 🙂
Your weak verb converter is the most complete list of non-specific verbs I’ve ever seen (or concocted myself). I’m going to send the members of my Reno Writing Clinic to this site to 1) download the list, and 2) to discover this incredible blog. As I compared your list to mine, there were three I had that you didn’t. Novice writers that come into my group constantly use three “telling” verbs, and I’m constantly harping for more specific verbs that will create an image in the readers’ heads. They are Gesture, Motion, and Head. My neophyte writers constantly “gesture” and “motion” to other characters before “heading” toward the bathroom.
Thanks so much for sharing this amazing IP … so useful and a real blessing!!
Very glad you found your way here–I hope the tools help! 🙂
Lately ive been struggling with my writing and have had writers block for over a month. This website has been opening my mind more and more. The material is starting to flood my brain again. I love it!
Glad to hear some of our posts have giving you a creative kickstart!
Lately ive been struggling with my writing and have had writers block for over a month. This website has been opening my mind more and more. The material is starting to flood my brain again. I love it!
Okay, that really did help me a great deal. Thanks again, so much for these great helpouts. Thank you even more for sharing.
I have a question about the Character Target Tool. I have the Positive Trait Thesaurus, and I’m wondering if in the “target” tool, these are attributes that present conflict for the antagonist. I’m a bit confused on the term “target” if you could shed some light on it. Please.
Hi, Victoriah. The traits in this tool are ones that define the character. We call it a “target” tool because at the center of the target lies the character’s moral traits, which will determine or rule out many of his other attributes. The rest can really be added in any order. If you look at the Aragorn example, you see that his moral traits are honorable, honest, and just. His achievement, interactive, and identity traits all fall in line with his moral ones. All of the traits listed are traits that he embraces, that are true for him. This tool is just one way to create a snapshot of who your character is at his core—which traits are most important in defining who he/she is.
Wonderful Site!!! Very Informative! I have recommended it to others.
Thanks so much, TK, and welcome!
As a newbie indie author, I’ve found your downloads incredibly helpful. I often find myself stumped to find different words for the same condition that my character is going through. I went through this with my lastest short story, Sharpshooter. I found it difficult to describe the character’s injuries in new and different ways. I’d love to purchase the thesaurus, are they available in print format, I just find it irksome to keep turning on my Kindle when I want to check out something lol.
Love the site, keep up the great work 🙂
Hi, Michael. I know what you mean. While I like digital books, for nonfiction, there’s something about being able to flip through a print copy and find what you’re looking for. The Emotion Thesaurus and The Character Trait Thesaurus (in two volumes) are all available in print. You can find links to each book at the various distributors on our Bookstore page. We’re currently working on turning The Setting Thesaurus into a book; that one will be out hopefully by the end of the year.
I have always found it difficult to add emotions to my writing, especiially due to the show and don’t tell rule. Your Emotion Thesaurus changed that and I am now expanding my descriptions, word count and the depth of my work. I just turned a rough draft of a oneshot into Short Story, mostly due to the added emotional depth. I have bought all three books and downloaded your PDF as well, which I hope will help me write my current WIP Novel. I just wish I knew about these books when I wrote my anthology submissions. Thank you.
Hi Michael,
Thanks so much for stopping in–I am so glad that our books are helpful to you. Emotions are especially difficult, aren’t they? Keep at it – you will rock those stories! 🙂
Angela
Just a few dozen pages into your book on negative traits, and I knew I had to have your other guides. So now I have them all, and the free downloads. They are treasure chests filled to the brink with indispensable advice and ideas, from cover to cover. I’ve never seen writing guides this clearly presented, matter-of-fact, and completely unpretentious. Thank you for doing such a brilliant, thorough job. My writing has taken leaps in the right direction, and I am a better writer for reading this material.
Alex, thank you so much for taking the time to write us and let us know you’re finding our books so helpful! I am thrilled you are working so hard to improve your craft and find our material useful. There is a lot of stuff here on our website as well, so I hope you’ll stop in and poke around here and there. Happy writing–wishing you much success!
I’m starting my writing career (well–for about 20 years I have been hampered by re-writes, research, self-doubt and A LOT of other junk that got in the way) I absolutely LOVE the trio of thesarus’s (how does one refer to multiple thesaurus?) and I bought them up all-at-once from Amazon.
One of my biggest struggles has been to create in-depth characters, ones that don’t seem like those ‘paper-doll’ cutouts of action heroes Indiana Jones or Han Solo. I have bought books on personality, adjusted astrology charts to match characteristics of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. While I have had some success in these experiments, I have found that simply adding some positive, negative and emotional traits from you trio of go-to books have really helped me improve overall depth to my characters, whether they be an Aries or a Gemini or no matter what 4-letter alphabet soup Myers-Briggs assigns them.
I also have greedily downloaded your tool/helpsheets as they offer great advice and points on writing.
I intend to finish my 1st book this year (and in no small-part due to the help these 3 AWESOME books have provided) and there is no greater feeling than to realize your lifetime goals. I would hope you both have felt this way, as I doubt even winning the lottery feels this good.
Thank you, Angela & Becca for these truly great resources.
Congrats, Ron, on realizing the dream of writing your first book! Angela and I have both been there, in the finishing of our personal fiction books as well as the publishing of our thesaurus books. I’m so incredibly glad that they’ve helped you with your writing. We’ve been where you are as a new writer, and we just wanted to share the information that helped us get a grasp on characterization and showing instead of telling. Thank YOU for your kind words of encouragement this Saturday morning. Shoot me an email when you type THE END and I’ll celebrate with you 🙂
That will definitely be a red-letter date on my calendar. And I will certainly let you both know when it is done. Again, thanks for all your help.
Ron
I’ll echo Becca–we are so happy our resources help, and that you are getting full use out of what we provide! Another great resource for building characters is K.M. Weiland’s Helping Writers Become Authors. It is well worth checking out!
I kept seeing great tips from Angela on the NaNo column in my TweetDeck… and finally, today, I poked into this website!
Okay, I’ve bought the Emotions Thesaurus, and am digging through it today.
Wish you had your “Weather” tips as a pdf as well. I’ve bookmarked and will be back again!
Thanks for your very helpful tips.
HI Celia, very glad you found your way here! Apologies there’s no PDF yet – Becca and I are slowly transforming these blog entries into book sized entities, but because we continually strive to offer value, we greatly expand on the content found here for the books. This requires a lot of time to do right, but we think it’s worth it! Happy Nanoing! 🙂
Do you ladies have a fan club? As the proud owner of all three thesauri and having recommended them to dozens and purchased them for my critique partners, it is fitting that I start such a group.
I’m slogging through my first full-length manuscript, learning as I go. Having just discovered your website with all its cool resources, I have taken a breather to do some planning with the tools you offer. Just the thing to get me jumpstarted again, and this time, with more of a true sense of my protagonist. Yippee!!!
I am SO happy to hear this, Kathleen! Angela and I started our writing journeys at about the same time, and I remember both of us being really confused and overwhelmed at certain points, needing direction. It makes me glad to think that our resources might be offering you the kind of answers that other writers were kind enough to share with us along the way. Best of luck with your writing!
I just bought three books (positive traits, negative traits and emotion thesaurus) and could not have found better tools for writing my first screenplay! It has all been an amazing learning experience, especially with writing to show instead of to tell. These books have really helped in finding my character’s driving force and how they look and what they do when they are “mad”, or “upset” instead of just blatantly saying that they are mad or upset.
I have to admit, my favorite part is the list of conflicting traits for secondary characters to help in creating the drama.
Thanks!
just starting to write my first book, those tools will help me for sure. thank you for sharing.
Congrats, Houda! That’s such a big step, starting to write the first one. We’ve blogged about so many aspects of writing over the years. As questions come up, feel free to use the search engine to see related content that we may have shared in the past. Best of luck!
Love all of these tools. Great for the new and more experienced writer. Thank you Angela and Becca!
Hi A.K.! Glad you did some poking around–hope the tools help you! 🙂
Very well thought out tool box, Angela! I do use a few of these and do have a toolbox but these must be added.
Good reminders too, since my writing group has decided that next *fun* contest is trying your hand at writing a Sci-Fi story. I’ve always enjoyed reading Sci-fi but never really written it. My brain is running through ideas and also kicking me for saying sure, lol! One of the cool things with my Wombats is they get you into trying new genres.
Sia McKye Over Coffee
I think that’s awesome! What a great way to encourage writers to stretch themselves. You never know–you might just find you enjoy writing in that genre! Glad the toolbox goodies will be a help. Good luck on your submission!
Ladies, you have built a book that I keep wearing OUT as I’m writing. I couldn’t live without my Emotions Thesaurus & highly recommend it to ALL of my writerly people. When my next birthday &/or Christmas come around, I’m going to be getting the rest of your lovely collection.
This collection should be on a list somewhere of writer’s tools you MUST have if you’d like to succeed in writing. 😀
Thank you ever so much for doing this. The writerly community is so much more the richer for having the two of you in it. I’m in absolute platonic love with the two of you! *mwah*
Oh my gosh, what a tremendously kind thing to say! Thank you so much, Monica, both for taking the time to write to us and for letting us know we’re on the right path. The next time doubt hits, I am going to re-read this. It means the world–you rock!
The one about crutch words is a great one. One word I noticed I use a lot is ‘thought’. Currently doing a line by line edit of my manuscript.
My hope is to one day get to the point where I don’t overuse these words. Until then…enter the Crutch Words PDF, lol.
Angela, I was so excited to find this page! Thanks so much for sharing all of these fantastic, time-saving writing tools. Sometimes it becomes very stressful trying to write, rewrite, and then do endless edits. I bookmarked your website!
Cheers, Sue
I just want to say, thank you so much for actually having this site to help other writers. Personally, this is a huge benefit for me because I now have a great resource I can turn to when in doubt. I will keep checking as often as I can on anything that you post.
Thank you so much! I’m elated that you are finding the help you need here. 🙂 We love producing content others will use, and it’s very satisfying to aid others in their writerly pursuits!
I have all your three books and they are awesome tools for me as a writer.
Thanks a lot for giving us these extra writing tools. They are wonderful too! (it is, for example, really handy to have a PDf version of some appendices of the books)
Thanks a lot!
And I hope you continue the great work you are doing helping writers 😉
Aw, thanks Meg! Becca and I love helping writers, and I’m so glad you are making good use of these tools! Happy writing 🙂
Thank you so much Angela and Becca for the in-depth resources you guys provide. I just bought the Negative trait thesaurus and saw the link to more resources at the latter parts of the book.
Unfortunately, some of the PDF files…
(Character Target Tool (PDF),
Character Profile Questionnaire (PDF),
Reverse Backstory Tool (PDF),
Weak Verb Converter (PDF) and
Emotion Amplifiers (PDF)),
I could not open with three different pdf viewers. The applications either tell me it’s an error or the files are not pdf formats.
I would really, really appreciate it i can get access to them.
Believe me, having seen all the files here was in itself almost sufficient to convince me ‘to help’ was a huge factor why you provided The emotion thesaurus in the first place.
Sending you an email, Isso 🙂
Well now…as I delve into some serious writing this April can I just say…thanks! What a great list. Bookmarked and ready to us. As are all three of your books, of course.
Aw thanks Deb! 🙂
Thank ytou for putting together such wonderful advice! This is great!
This site always amazes me with its depth of information. Thank you so much for sharing with us. Wish I’d won the ET, but guess I’ll have to look into buying it now!
thanks so much for giving these items for free
This is an absolute treasure! Thanks a lot for this 🙂
I really don’t know how to compliment you enough – I haven’t had enough time, clearly, with your WONDERFUL books!! 🙂
I have bought all three “Thesauruses” and loved them so much I bought all three for my Kindle too so I can have them on the move.
Added to which you have all these great downloads and extras which add up to another fabulous book on their own.
I will be writing an excellent review on Amazon once I have read and used your amazing books a little more.
Thank you so much!
Wow Lynn, what a kind thing to say! We’re glad you’re exploring all these tools and hope they help you in all your writing projects. And thank you as well for saying such great things about our books. Becca and I love to help writers and try to do so in a way that allows them to get what they need so they can get right back into writing.
Have a wonderful day, and thanks for reviewing. Those really help others discover our work. Appreciate it so much!
Thanks so much, Lynn. Reviews are hugely important, especially for self-published works, so thank you for doing that. And I’m very glad you’re finding the books and tools useful :).
Not only did you create awesome reference books, but you included a host of goodies!!! All for the unbelievable price for what I’d pay for a cheap lunch. Thank you so much. I received a wealth of rich and detailed information from your books which I will embed in my own book, and all my future books that have yet to write. Special thanks once again!
Just a note to say thanks. Although I’ve been writing for years, I’ve only just recently published my first novel (on Amazon.com). Other websites haven’t been quite as welcoming or generous with their resources. I appreciate all that you’ve done here.
So glad you found your way here, and we’re happy to help! 🙂