Crafting emotion in writing is an essential skill that every writer should master to create compelling characters and stories. The Emotion Thesaurus is a valuable tool that can help you add depth and authenticity to your characters’ emotions. In this section, we will explore how to use body language cues, vocal cues, and nonverbal cues to craft emotion in your writing. Body Language Cues The Emotion Thesaurus is a valuable tool for writers who want to create characters that feel authentic and relatable. To use the second edition effectively, start by identifying the emotion you want to convey in your scene. Then, look up that emotion in the Emotion Thesaurus to find a list of physical, internal, and mental responses that your character might experience. Never let the reader notice the writing. Overusing metaphors, similes, descriptive terms, and repeated body language can pull the reader out of the story.” p. 95

Overall, the Emotion Thesaurus is a valuable tool for any writer looking to craft emotion in their scenes. By using the provided resources, you can create characters that feel more authentic and engaging to readers. Exploring Synonyms and Antonyms Importance in Writing The Emotion Thesaurus is a valuable resource for writers looking to improve their craft. It provides over 130 emotions and their accompanying body language, thoughts, and sensations to help writers more accurately and vividly describe their character’s emotions. While doing revisions for my latest book, I lost my mother. I had to get revisions done, but it was hard when everything was colored by sadness. So I pulled out the first Emotion Thesaurus to give me ideas to keep writing a story where two people fall in love. I must admit I am guilty of not taking the time or attention to identify smells, I have been trying to remember to do it in different situations, but those who are a lot like me that do not smell as well as others do. Beyond all this, you also see sub-lists of “Mental Responses,” “Cues of Long-Term Hurt,” “Cues of Suppressed Hurt” and an additional writer's tip for each emotion chapter. These authors thought of everything you can do, think, feel, react and stubbornly hang-on to for every major emotion we humans experience.For example, if you want to convey the emotion of “fear,” you might look up that entry in the Emotion Thesaurus and find a list of physical responses like “clammy skin,”“trembling,” and “wide eyes.” You might also find internal responses like “heart racing” and “shortness of breath,” as well as mental responses like “fear of the unknown” and “fear of failure.” This expanded version is fabulous because now, should I ever need to, I can refer to this book for how to write Schadenfreude (malicious enjoyment from the suffering or unhappiness of others). Not a word used every day, is it? Each entry is followed by its definition, the physical signs and behaviours, the internal sensations, mental responses, acute or long-term responses for the emotion, signs the emotion is being suppressed, what the emotion may escalate to, what the emotion may de-escalate to, a list of associated power verbs, and-my personal favourite- a fantastic writer's tip.

But it’s not just 55 new emotions – this book really digs deep into writing those stories. Angela and Becca have done the tough research for us, making this one of the best writing guidebooks around. (Of course there are more great guidebooks in their Thesauri collection!)Use body language cues: Nonverbal cues can be just as important as dialogue when it comes to conveying emotion. The Emotion Thesaurus provides a list of body language cues for each emotion, such as “clenched fists” for agitation or “hugging oneself” for comfort. And here’s a tip – if you are writing memoir, run yourself through the Character Builder as it may help you remember yourself at the age you cover in your memoir, and explore the past events you wish to cover. 🙂 You can also find this full collection and many others at One Stop For Writers, our powerful new library for writers that you have to see to believe.