The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus
This week is a big one for my online friends Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. They are the co-authors of nine other Emotional Thesauri and the masterminds behind my favorite writing resource, ONE STOP FOR WRITERS. Book #10, The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Stress and Volatility has just released and as part of their Street Team, I’m helping to get the word out about a HUGE giveaway Angela and Becca are running to celebrate!
This guide is a companion to the popular Emotion Thesaurus and covers all the ways to push a character emotionally, setting them up for BIGGER reactions.
What is an Emotion Amplifier?
I’m glad you asked.
Emotion Amplifiers are specific states and conditions that can strain a character to the point they lose control. Pain, exhaustion, and competition are just some of the amplifiers that can send your character over the edge. If they give in to what they feel, they might lash out, take foolish risks, show poor judgment, and act in ways that take their situation from bad to worse. Hello, conflict!
In a recent blog post, Angela wrote about 10 reasons Why Emotion Amplifiers Are Good for your Story. Here’s a master list of entries, and a link to one we can all identify with PAIN, and one on COGNITIVE BIAS. As you’ll see, each page is set up like their other thesauri. As a member of ONE STOP, I have these thesauri at my fingertips. While writing Half-Truths, I identified what I thought my character was feeling. Then I consulted these lists of physical signals and behaviors to show (instead of tell) my character’s emotional state. Since I wrote in the first POV, the list of internal sensations and mental responses was extremely helpful in nailing my protagonist’s feelings and thoughts. The Amplifier has a new category that will be extremely helpful to writers–Efforts to Hide the Emotion.
What Else is in the Book?
Flipping through the ARC, I found so many articles I wanted to read: “Using Amplifiers to Reveal Personal Growth”; “Using Amplifiers in Story Structure” (cue in Six-Stage Plot Structure); “Using Amplifiers to Create Dramatic Tension.” Each article uses examples that show factors such as mental health, instability, or something as simple as hunger to heighten conflict. The three appendices include tools to destabilize your character (yes, we must do that to our beloved characters!) and ways to understand character dissonance and their decision-making process. WOW. That’s A LOT!
Here’s a link to purchase this great writing resource.
Win A Free Workshop!
Amplifiers can bring a character’s emotions to the surface for readers to see, which is exactly what writers need to do. But these amplifiers do more. Becca and Angela can’t wait to dive into how they can power a story and are celebrating this release with a very special Zoom workshop.
100 Seats Are Up for Grabs!
To celebrate the release of their 10th thesaurus, Angela and Becca are hosting a free workshop. If you’ve ever attended a workshop by Angela and Becca, you know you’ll learn a ton. Head over here to enter the giveaway, but hurry – the last day to enter is May 17th, 2024.
I’ve mentioned several thesauri on my blog. The Occupational Thesaurus, Character Expression, The Emotional Wound and the Setting Thesaurus. Let me know in the comments if you’ve used one and which one you like best.
****
I’ve moved from Blogger to WordPress and in the process had some technical difficulties in getting it emailed out to my subscribers. This is my third post from WordPress, but if this is the first one you received in a few weeks, you can check out the other two here.
Salt to the Sea: A YA Historical Fiction Review
The Haunting of Lake Lucy: A Spooky MG Verse Novel
I entered the giveaway! And bookmarked their site! What great resources! Thanks for sharing, Carol.
Glad you received this post in time. Their resources are terrific!