Book Review: The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression

You've heard me mention The Bookshelf Muse on the blog before. Writers Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are some of the most generous writers I know, offering a huge amount of information to writers--free.

If you've never checked out The Bookshelf Muse, you need to head over there. Ackerman and Puglisi have assembled a constantly expanding series of thesauruses (or is it thesauri?), which has earned them a spot in the Top Ten Blogs for Writers.

On , you'll find a character traits thesaurus, a weather & earthly phenomena thesaurus, a color, shape & texture thesaurus, a setting thesaurus, and a symbolism thesaurus. The emotion thesaurus has recently been gathered into an ebook, which makes it an amazing and handy reference for writers trying to evoke emotion without settling for cliches.

And, generous as they are, Ackerman and Puglisi are offering a sample of the book for free. In the sample .pdf file, you'll find "15 specific conditions (Pain, Hunger, Thirst, Attraction, Exhaustion, etc) that can alter a character's physical and mental state." Once you check it out, you'll probably see why having the book on your computer or ereader would be so helpful. For even more examples from the book, check out the sample entries here.

The $4.99 price is a small amount to pay for seventy five emotions, complete with all the details of how to show those emotions. From body language, internal sensations, actions and thoughts, writers will feel confident in keeping their writing fresh.

Do you have any tried and true resources for showing your character's emotion? Do you act things out yourself, or watch movies depicting the emotion?