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The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma

The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma

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  • Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date：2021-04-03 15:01:06
  • Update Date：2025-09-06
  • Status：finish
  • Author：Angela Ackerman
  • ISBN：0989772594
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Summary

Readers connect to characters with depth， ones who have experienced life’s ups and downs。 To deliver key players that are both realistic and compelling， writers must know them intimately—not only who they are in the present story， but also what made them that way。 Of all the formative experiences in a character’s past， none are more destructive than emotional wounds。 The aftershocks of trauma can change who they are， alter what they believe， and sabotage their ability to achieve meaningful goals， all of which will affect the trajectory of your story。

Identifying the backstory wound is crucial to understanding how it will shape your character’s behavior， and The Emotional Wound Thesaurus can help。 Inside， you’ll find:

• A database of traumatic situations common to the human experience
• An in-depth study on a wound’s impact， including the fears， lies， personality shifts， and dysfunctional behaviors that can arise from different painful events
• An extensive analysis of character arc and how the wound and any resulting unmet needs fit into it
• Techniques on how to show the past experience to readers in a way that is both engaging and revelatory while avoiding the pitfalls of info dumps and telling
• A showcase of popular characters and how their traumatic experiences reshaped them， leading to very specific story goals
• A Backstory Wound Profile tool that will enable you to document your characters’ negative past experiences and the aftereffects

Root your characters in reality by giving them an authentic wound that causes difficulties and prompts them to strive for inner growth to overcome it。 With its easy-to-read format and over 100 entries packed with information， The Emotional Wound Thesaurus is a crash course in psychology for creating characters that feel incredibly real to readers。

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Reviews

Sven Camrath ，

In the front of The Emotional Wound Thesaurus， the aspiring writer will find an excellent overview of the use and practical applications of emotional wounds in their writing。 It is well worth the read and will help you understand why and how these wounds are so important for developing a character。 After that， the rest of the book is dedicated to a wide array of emotional wounds to reference when fleshing out characters and their backstories。 In the very back of the book are a few charts that mi In the front of The Emotional Wound Thesaurus， the aspiring writer will find an excellent overview of the use and practical applications of emotional wounds in their writing。 It is well worth the read and will help you understand why and how these wounds are so important for developing a character。 After that， the rest of the book is dedicated to a wide array of emotional wounds to reference when fleshing out characters and their backstories。 In the very back of the book are a few charts that might come in handy if this is how you like to work out things。I haven't applied it in a written work yet， but it already helped me work on a plot。 I intend to make regular use of the Thesaurus。 。。。more

Ed ，

A very helpful writer’s reference。

Sarah Lapalme ，

Wow does this hit you in the feels as you go through the entries but man has this really helped me to dig deep into the psyches of my characters to see what made them the way they are。 This book has really helped me to flesh out my characters and round them out more so than they were before。 This has been a great resource for me as I rewrite and edit my first novel。

☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ ，

An instructive edition for writers on how to get one's writing the emotions up to shape。 The approach is innovative （if jarring a bit）: we got all the bells and whistles borrowed from regular psychology， remade to fit our current discussion about fantasctical characters。 We got a lot on emotional sensitivities， tying up the character history and development， tha arc for the good guys and the villains， past influences， jadedness， embedding fancy triggers and twists， denied emotions， acting out de An instructive edition for writers on how to get one's writing the emotions up to shape。 The approach is innovative （if jarring a bit）: we got all the bells and whistles borrowed from regular psychology， remade to fit our current discussion about fantasctical characters。 We got a lot on emotional sensitivities， tying up the character history and development， tha arc for the good guys and the villains， past influences， jadedness， embedding fancy triggers and twists， denied emotions， acting out defensively。There's even a lot of canned fomulas for setting the emotional journey our: ie。， for instance， dysfunctional childhood can lead to marital issues in adults， growing up in a cult makes one be scared of one's kids being drawn into a cult， etc。 Lots of these formulaically staged prompts in there （quite a lot of what one sees around in lit and， sadly， in RL， occasionally）。 I say that emotional development of the characters is outlined in this one quite well。 。。。more

Manuel Palacios ，

A ver useful manual to browse for ideas for the wounding events of our characters。 Most of the process of wound-fear-shielding is easily explained and gives some ideas for the story。

Al Parker ，

Perhaps the most valuable part of any of the books in this series is the initial explanation。 The two on settings are particularly insightful。

Rayner Ye ，

This and the emotional thesaurus are both amazing books。 I use the emotional thesaurus （written by the same author） several times per scene！ What I do now， is dictate or type 'show gratitude/show anger/show terror/etc throughout the whole scene/chapter， then， during the second draft， I go through the beautiful and wonderful thesaurus （I have a couple more， written by different authors--though， for me， this writer's is best，） and pick various sentences for showing the emotion。 I'm a keen one for This and the emotional thesaurus are both amazing books。 I use the emotional thesaurus （written by the same author） several times per scene！ What I do now， is dictate or type 'show gratitude/show anger/show terror/etc throughout the whole scene/chapter， then， during the second draft， I go through the beautiful and wonderful thesaurus （I have a couple more， written by different authors--though， for me， this writer's is best，） and pick various sentences for showing the emotion。 I'm a keen one for motivation reaction units。 Anyway， sorry， I'm supposed to be reviewing this book， not the Emotional Thesaurus （written by the same author。） This book is absolutely full of amazing psychological information。 Oh my gosh！ It's easy to get cognitive overload， though， so I'm taking it a bit at a time。 I used it for my characters Lulu and Sonja who were both injured in terrorist attacks。 It's just amazing for getting deeper into the psyche of characters。It's a hard book if you are not used to analysing characters in this incredible depth， but， my gosh， it's a keeper， and like the emotional thesaurus， this is a book you'd need to keep coming back to。 Absolutely incredible。 。。。more

Nikki Kincaid ，

I own most of the Thesaurus books。 They're all worth their weight in gold。 I own most of the Thesaurus books。 They're all worth their weight in gold。 。。。more

Lisa Anne ，

An indispensable tool for developing characters。 Be sure to read the front matter before delving into the emotional wounds。

Linda ，

Gets a little traumaticThe writers warn that anyone reading this might start thinking of their own traumas from their pasts。 They were right so proceed with caution if there's anything you want to avoid thinking about。 Mainly， I will use this book if I need to figure out why a character might act a certain way。 It's hard to just sit down and read this for pleasure since it deals so much with trauma。 Gets a little traumaticThe writers warn that anyone reading this might start thinking of their own traumas from their pasts。 They were right so proceed with caution if there's anything you want to avoid thinking about。 Mainly， I will use this book if I need to figure out why a character might act a certain way。 It's hard to just sit down and read this for pleasure since it deals so much with trauma。 。。。more

Lynelle Clark ，

A great tool for an author who are looking for greater depth in a story。The practical guide is useful and a must have。

Echo ，

I hate not reading books all the way through， but there was no way I could make it all the way through this one。It wasn't bad as far as writing books go， and I could see how it could be useful to people with different writing processes than mine。 I didn't quite know what to expect with "thesaurus" in the title， but it makes sense now。 The beginning （about 20% of the book） discusses emotional wounds and how those things move your character and the plot forward。 That part was somewhat interesting I hate not reading books all the way through， but there was no way I could make it all the way through this one。It wasn't bad as far as writing books go， and I could see how it could be useful to people with different writing processes than mine。 I didn't quite know what to expect with "thesaurus" in the title， but it makes sense now。 The beginning （about 20% of the book） discusses emotional wounds and how those things move your character and the plot forward。 That part was somewhat interesting and useful to me。 The rest of the book was comprised of various traumas （e。g。， being abandoned as a child， head injuries， being mugged， etc，） with multiple lists of how those traumas might affect your characters （specific examples of scenarios， needs compromised， false beliefs that result， things the character might fear as a result， possible responses/results， positive and negative personality traits as a result， triggers， things that might make the character overcome the trauma）。Maybe it's because I'm a very character-driven writer and the plot flows from the characters and not the other way around， or maybe that's just not the way my brain works， but that sort of thing isn't helpful to me。I tried to read through all the lists but just couldn't do it。 I thought about maybe keeping the book around in case I need to refer to one of the lists in the future， but then I realized that， for me at least， it would be more helpful to research traumas myself rather than read 1-2 pages of bullet points about them。 So for writers who would find that sort of thing helpful， by all means， this is your book。 It's just not my thing， and now I know I won't be checking out any of the other "thesaurus" writing books。 。。。more

David Lamb ，

This book is aimed at writers who want to develop a firm basis for their character's motivations and actions， rooted in the psychology of mistaken beliefs （"Lies"） that arise from traumatic events （"Wounds"） in the character's past; I recently researched roughly 50 websites advocating variants of this approach。 This can guide the creation of meaningful and compelling character arcs， which I'm told most readers expect in most genres。 It seems more suited to planners （those who prepare extensively This book is aimed at writers who want to develop a firm basis for their character's motivations and actions， rooted in the psychology of mistaken beliefs （"Lies"） that arise from traumatic events （"Wounds"） in the character's past; I recently researched roughly 50 websites advocating variants of this approach。 This can guide the creation of meaningful and compelling character arcs， which I'm told most readers expect in most genres。 It seems more suited to planners （those who prepare extensively before writing） than to discovery writers， but can be used by both; discovery writers， or those who focus on plot over characters， can in principle work backwards from a story draft， but it is a more difficult approach。 From my computer-geek perspective， it occurred to me that working backwards could benefit from a reverse-lookup tool that， given a small set of personality traits， could list the wounds that could give rise to that combination or subsets of it。 Searching the electronic document is possible， but time-consuming。I rated it 4/5 because I'm one of those working-backwards writers。 A first pass at reading through every entry suggested about a dozen possibilities， none of which quite fit the sleuth I had in mind。 I suspect other writers might have more success， and thus rate it 5/5; at the moment it has a 4。73 rating overall。 I strongly recommend an electronic version; I'm finding it very helpful to be able to search the document and bookmark several pages。 。。。more

D。 Schock ，

I love every single of these writing thesaurus books。 A must have for any fiction writer！ Cant wait have the print version of the complete set on my bookshelf。

Jenny Ferguson ，

Useful， although sometimes it seems a little like they could have included research to back up their points。 Sometimes， especially in the significant author intros， I wanted more understanding of their research。

Daniel Moan ，

Extremely useful guide to developing characters at a deeper level。 As a writer I have found this an essential resource for helping me develop my characters that give them a sense of clear identity。 Additionally I found it useful for my own self development and psychological understanding where I understand how some of my past is dictating my present feelings and emotions。 Thank you Angela and Becca the writers。 I do recommend the rest of their series。

Helen Khan ，

A Must Read for Authors The authors have given a very thorough analysis and details of the wounded person。 They have covered a wide variety of traumas that can affect a person's character and behaviour。 I learned a lot from this book。 For all these reasons， I give it a 5 star rating。 With all this good information， I can now put my character profiles together knowing they will be well rounded and credible characters。I would recommend this book to aspire g fiction writers and to anyone who wants A Must Read for Authors The authors have given a very thorough analysis and details of the wounded person。 They have covered a wide variety of traumas that can affect a person's character and behaviour。 I learned a lot from this book。 For all these reasons， I give it a 5 star rating。 With all this good information， I can now put my character profiles together knowing they will be well rounded and credible characters。I would recommend this book to aspire g fiction writers and to anyone who wants to understand the human psyche better。 。。。more

Jon ，

If you're a writer and need to be told what an emotional wound is then perhaps you'd better buckle up pretty tight。 。 。 umm， but other than that， it's an interesting Thesaurus。 I wouldn't consider it more than that。 Which isn't a bad thing。 It's a reference guide that can come in handy if you need to mix things up for your character's backstories。 But writer beware！ This book will not write your story for you。 Nor will it make you all of a sudden a best-selling author。 You still need to puts som If you're a writer and need to be told what an emotional wound is then perhaps you'd better buckle up pretty tight。 。 。 umm， but other than that， it's an interesting Thesaurus。 I wouldn't consider it more than that。 Which isn't a bad thing。 It's a reference guide that can come in handy if you need to mix things up for your character's backstories。 But writer beware！ This book will not write your story for you。 Nor will it make you all of a sudden a best-selling author。 You still need to puts some work into things。 。。。more

Dan Pouliot ，

This is more a reference than a book to read。 An excellent reference for writers！

Liz Mistry ，

In the past I've used the other thesauruses （thesauri？） produced by this partnership and loved them。 They're really good for nipping into just to double check you're portraying the setting， the emotion or the character traits well。 The Emotional Wound Thesaurus， I think is a good aid for the crime writer。 Although it's not an exhaustive list， it is quite comprehensive， easy to navigate and looks at the emotional wound from a variety of standpoints。 Again， it's one of those books that you dip int In the past I've used the other thesauruses （thesauri？） produced by this partnership and loved them。 They're really good for nipping into just to double check you're portraying the setting， the emotion or the character traits well。 The Emotional Wound Thesaurus， I think is a good aid for the crime writer。 Although it's not an exhaustive list， it is quite comprehensive， easy to navigate and looks at the emotional wound from a variety of standpoints。 Again， it's one of those books that you dip into and stay for the long haul。 。。。more

Jane Nash ，

this is a brilliant resource for authors who are stumbling with writer's block - all of this series are a great brainstorming exercise done for you - now it's time for you to make the magic on the page with all these juicy tidbits。 this is a brilliant resource for authors who are stumbling with writer's block - all of this series are a great brainstorming exercise done for you - now it's time for you to make the magic on the page with all these juicy tidbits。 。。。more

Caitlin ，

Helpful reference book for sparking ideas。 I kind of wish I'd bought this in paperback for easier flick-through inspiration bumps。 Helpful reference book for sparking ideas。 I kind of wish I'd bought this in paperback for easier flick-through inspiration bumps。 。。。more

dawn ，

Really helpful book

Wesley ，

Amazing writing resource。 Always have this next to me when I'm working on character design。 Amazing writing resource。 Always have this next to me when I'm working on character design。 。。。more

Krystina Schuler ，

I paged through this when I had a few minutes to kill here and there， so it didn't really take the better part of a year to read through it。 As a writing aid， it's not exactly the sort of book you read from cover to cover anyway。 That said， like the other Ackerman/Puglisi Thersauri this is an excellent reference book to have on hand for any author。 Thankfully， none of us will experience all the examples of trauma listed in this book。 Luckily， this gives a great starting point so we as authors ca I paged through this when I had a few minutes to kill here and there， so it didn't really take the better part of a year to read through it。 As a writing aid， it's not exactly the sort of book you read from cover to cover anyway。 That said， like the other Ackerman/Puglisi Thersauri this is an excellent reference book to have on hand for any author。 Thankfully， none of us will experience all the examples of trauma listed in this book。 Luckily， this gives a great starting point so we as authors can write a diversity of characters who probably don't share the same life experiences as we do and make them seem real。This is going on my shelf with The Emotion Thesaurus。 And I just got the Positive Trait Thesaurus and the Urban Setting Thesaurus for Christmas that I'm looking forward to paging through。 。。。more

Shawn Bird ，

Incredibly valuable writing tool！

Jose ，

This is really a reference guide for writes seeking plausibility in the description of emotional drama 。 It is not meant to be therapy or a scientific treatise。 It is not meant to be read in full but just as a guide and -may be- inspiration for those writing scripts， novels， graphic novels， etc。。 that so many times fail to be consistent or ring true when developing characters。

Eila Jameson-Avey ，

Fantastic I struggle to write emotion。 And as a writer of psychological continent， this is the answer！ Highly recommend for all authors。

Elle ，

The Emotional Wound Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi is a fantastic edition to their growing series of help books for writers。 The Emotional Wound Thesaurus collects and categories 121 different emotional wounds or traumatic situations。 It analyses why people or characters might have these wounds， various ways they can manifest in actions/behaviour， both positive and negative personality traits that may form as a result， situations that could trigger someone who had suffered this tra The Emotional Wound Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi is a fantastic edition to their growing series of help books for writers。 The Emotional Wound Thesaurus collects and categories 121 different emotional wounds or traumatic situations。 It analyses why people or characters might have these wounds， various ways they can manifest in actions/behaviour， both positive and negative personality traits that may form as a result， situations that could trigger someone who had suffered this trauma， and potential ways to deal with the trauma and move beyond it。 Ackerman & Puglisi also list fictional characters who suffer these wounds， so readers can either obtain a brief understanding of the wound in play or research further on their own for fictional examples/behaviour。Useful on its own， but even more-so when paired with The Negative Trait Thesaurus and The Positive Trait Thesaurus。 By linking this book to others in their series， Ackerman & Puglisi are definitely building their brand and maximising sales， but also providing a source （their own） of more information to better round out characters。Of most interest is the fact that this isn't an easy 'copy and paste' list from their books to your character profile。 So many potential options are listed that writers still need to apply critical thought and planning to building their characters -- which of the possible 20+ behaviours from one wound might your character display？ Which personality traits are most likely to be adopted， given their base personality from before the trauma occurred？ There's still plenty of room for personalisation。I think this is the most useful of all the writer help guides/thesauruses by Ackerman & Puglisi， but also works great in tandem with the Negative and Positive Trait Thesauruses。 If you buy only one， buy this one。 If you've got the money for three， this and the two Trait Thesauruses （because their definition of the traits aren't always what I associate with the trait/name， so is worth checking if you're selecting some traits based off the wound suggestions）。 。。。more

Annie ，

I come back to this again and again。

Reference

google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma

hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft

The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Psychological Trauma&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0