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The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Flaws (Writers Helping Writers Series Book 2) by [Angela Ackerman, Becca Puglisi]

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Angela Ackerman

Becca Puglisi

The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Flaws (Writers Helping Writers Series Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Angela Ackerman (Author), Becca Puglisi (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

1,435 ratings

Book 2 of 8: Writers Helping Writers Series

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Crafting likable, interesting characters is a balancing act, and finding that perfect mix of strengths and weaknesses can be difficult. Not only does a well-drawn protagonist need positive attributes to help him succeed, he must also have flaws that humanize him and give him something to overcome. The same is true of villains and the rest of the story’s supporting cast. So how can writers figure out which flaws best fit their characters? Which negative traits will create personality clashes and conflict while making success difficult?

TAKE CHARACTER CREATION TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL

Nothing adds complexity like character flaws. Inside the Negative Trait Thesaurus you’ll find:
*A vast collection of flaws to explore when building a character’s personality.
*Each entry includes possible causes, attitudes, behaviors, thoughts, and related emotions
*Real examples from literature, film, or television to show how each flaw can create life challenges and relational friction
*Advice on building layered and memorable characters from the ground up
*An in-depth look at backstory, emotional wounds, and how pain twists a character’s view of himself and his world, influencing behavior and decision making
*A flaw-centric exploration of character arc, relationships, motivation, and basic needs
*Tips on how to best show a character’s flaws to readers while avoiding common pitfalls
*Downloadable tools to aid writers in character creation

The Negative Trait Thesaurus sheds light on your character’s dark side. Written in list format and fully indexed, this brainstorming resource is perfect for creating deep, flawed characters readers will relate to.

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272 pages
Language

English
Publication date

October 13, 2013
File size

3021 KB
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Editorial Reviews

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"In these brilliantly conceived, superbly organized and astonishingly thorough volumes, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi have created an invaluable resource for writers and storytellers. Whether you are searching for new and unique ways to add and define characters, or brainstorming methods for revealing those characters without resorting to clichés, it is hard to imagine two more powerful tools for adding depth and dimension to your screenplays, novels or plays."~ Michael Hauge, Hollywood script consultant and story expert, author of Writing Screenplays That Sell

About the Author

Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi are bestselling authors, writing coaches, and international speakers. Their books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. Angela and Becca also co-founded their popular Writers Helping Writers site, a hub where authors can hone their craft, as well as One Stop For Writers, an innovative online library built to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00FVZDZ6K
Publisher ‏ : ‎ JADD Publishing (October 13, 2013)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 13, 2013
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 3021 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #61,121 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #18 in Words & Language Reference
- #18 in Fiction Writing Reference (Kindle Store)
- #19 in Writing Skill Reference (Kindle Store)

Customer Reviews:
1,435 ratings

About the authors

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Angela Ackerman
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Angela Ackerman is a writing coach, international speaker, and co-author of eight bestselling books for writers, including The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression (now an expanded 2nd edition) and her latest volume, The Occupation Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Jobs, Vocations, and Careers. Her books are available in eight languages, are sourced by universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world.
Angela is also the co-founder of the popular site Writers Helping Writers®, as well as One Stop for Writers®, an innovative online library filled with powerful tools and resources built to help writers elevate their storytelling. If you're ready to take your fiction to the next level like thousands of other writers around the globe, give one stop for Writers' FREE TRAIL a try.
A strong believer in writers helping and supporting other writers, she tries to pay-it-forward however she is able to.
http://writershelpingwriters.net
http://onestopforwriters.com
See more on the author's page
Becca Puglisi
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Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.
Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and author of bestselling books for writers. Her books are available in multiple languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling. Her books are represented by foreign rights agent Marleen Seegers of 2 Seas Agency.
During her free time (ha), Becca enjoys playing video games, watching movies with her family, baking, and adding to her stash of emergency supplies. She has always enjoyed contemplating the What if? scenario, which serves her well during hurricane season in south Florida.
See more on the author's page

Customer reviews

5 star		88%
4 star		9%
3 star		2%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Fox Forrester

In a word- "Outstanding"

Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2019

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A highly useful book. While it says thesaurus.this is more like a character guide to using characters that have horrible traits. It lists various traits (in one word) description (so you don't get confused about what they mean by the one word), causes, associated behaviors, common thoughts, emotions, etc. etc.

I had already read the emotion thesaurus, and between that and this, I picked up the three other books from this series that had previously only given me a passing interest. Why? Because writing a good story, is often about writing good, character driven plots. The better the characters, the more power they can give to the plot itself. And unless you are some kind of storytelling, character-building grand-master, this book will have something for you. My favorite part of this book is exploring why a character would have the flaws they do, helping flesh them out and make them feel more alive and three-dimensional.

I can only hope the other three I've ordered are as useful as this one. If so, I'm going to be one very happy writer. :)

16 people found this helpful

Helpful

T.H.H.

If you want to create deep, realistic characters, look no further than the Writer’s Guide series.

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2019

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As with the rest of the books in this series, THE NEGATIVE TRAIT THESAURUS is a must-read for all fiction writers. A brief introduction covers how negative traits help develop well-rounded characters. No one has only positive traits, so weaving in negative traits allows us to create lifelike fictional beings that will take shape in believable ways, allowing readers to identify with them. After that, the book again provides a large number of negative traits, including a brief description and possible influences that could be responsible for them within your character. Each entry dives deeper with similar attributes, associated behaviors and thoughts, possible emotional responses, and what traits in supporting characters may cause conflict. Also included are example characters from literature to really drive the point home.

If you’re looking to develop in-depth characters who come across as authentic, add this to your arsenal, along with THE POSITIVE TRAIT THESAURUS.

Bottom Line
If you want to create deep, realistic characters, look no further than the Writer’s Guide series.

6 people found this helpful

Helpful

Excellent book for any level writer

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2020

Verified Purchase

A colleague recommended this book. When I went in to order, spotted this and three others. Ended up getting all four. Excellent for writers of any level. I’m a writer and media psychologist; I know having this information at my fingertips as I write helps enrich my characters. Even with my expertise I continually learn character traits and other psychological elements, which make a full, well rounded character. These books are written to help that process immensely. A good writer is continually learning how to write better characters and these books aid that process.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ann Shannon

Buy them both- nah Buy them all. You won't regret it

Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2018

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The Negative Trait Thesaurus talks about using traits to deepen your characterization to help your reader become emotionally invested in them. They use a similar format as the Emotion Thesaurus by defining the characteristic, listing similar attributes, possible causes and associated behaviors. I haven’t used these as thoroughly as I should, mostly because when I bought them I was in the middle of writing something I’d already developed characters for, but I’m in the beginning of a new project and I intend to make full use of it.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

ostarahw

MUST HAVE TOOL

Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2017

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I'm writing the same review for the book 'positive trait thesaurus' and 'negative trait thesaurus' as they are equal in quality and usefulness:
I don't believe there is any reason to write anything more until you have purchased these books!
Unless you have a masters in psychology maybe you won't need them. Even so, I believe it would be a good quick reference.
These books hand writers the tools they need to understand the complex nature of their characters psychology.
These books will give you a clear cause and effect to every personality trait your character has, giving you a more indepth understanding of your own character, which will in turn give your reader a more in depth understanding of your character and be more involved in your story.
Unless you enjoy torturing yourself and making life harder on yourself:
A must have.

9 people found this helpful

Helpful

This book is a life saver for writers

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2014

Verified Purchase

Both the Negative Trait and Positive Trait Thesauri are amazing. Probably one of the most useful writing resources I've ever purchased. I bought the Negative Trait one ages ago and then avoided it because it seemed like a lot of work to consider your characters this way. Then I bought the PT one and started working. It is a bit of hard work. But completely worth it. Once you know who your characters are, you can create scenes that are directed by their instincts and behavior and not just write a bunch of random stuff happening to them. How can you challenge a character that you don't understand?

These books saved my current WIP, which ground to a halt recently when I ran out of horrible random things to do to my characters. Now that I've read and used these books, I can let my characters screw things up on their own and if I need to come up with external torture for them, I now understand what will thoroughly wreck their day :)

I am so impressed with these books. I highly recommend them if you're a writer and you're willing to do the work to make your characters three-dimensional and engaging.

23 people found this helpful

Helpful

Donald HuntTop Contributor: Writing

Make Readers Respond To The Characters In Your Stories........

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2015

Verified Purchase

If you want your readers to interact with the characters in your
stories, or writings,they must feel like real people, good or bad.
Because, a reader wants to cheer for,or boo at the people, you
want them to spend their time with.
If a reader can not relate to your protagonist, or even your antagonist
for that matter, they will wonder, why are they even bothering finishing
your story.
Harsh?
Yes it is, but it is your job, to make characters as real as possible, by
showing, not listing, what makes them what and who they are.
Good guys and bad guys, all have traits that make them take the road that
they travel.
Show those traits to your readers.

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

Wynee Rodz(jnxt231)

Helpful content, font uneasy on the eyes.

Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2018

Verified Purchase

Great reference book. Rating 4 Starts as some of the writing isnt legible even though it is a brand new book. The font is somewhat faded in some pages.

10 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Amanda George

It's good, but...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

This is a really short book that has very few negative traits in it. Useful if you really can't think of any negative traits, but there are only a few and it's all back to front with most of it telling your granny how to suck eggs and very little useful information unfortunately.

The table of contents is at the back again and I went straight there this time and there were only maybe 3 or 4 pages of negative traits at the back and a load of padding over the first three quarters.

It's good to have it in one place, but there are more negative emotions than are in this book. The positive traits book had several pages of emotion compared to the handful in this one.

Useful at a stretch, but could be a lot better and more useful to writers if there was more negative trait names and less fluff at the start... would be good if the table of contents was in the right place too!

Sorry.

One person found this helpful

Wendy Jones

Outstanding

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 28, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is the second in a trio of books which are, I feel, an essential part of any publishers toolkit. Like the Positive Trait Thesaurus the first few chapters cover the negative traits which will help the writer to develop a realistic character. It discusses how, characters, no matter how good or evil they are, need to display opposite traits which make the seem believable. There is an overview of the types of characters which are so deplorable that no one can identify with them and how these can be changed by the way ins which they are portrayed.

Following helpful and useful introductory chapters, the book becomes even more useful when the Thesaurus is used. This is more than your average Thesaurus, providing an in depth exploration of a word and its use in writing fiction. It provides a definition of the word, similar flaws, possible causes, associated behaviours and attitudes, associated thoughts, associated emotions, positive aspects, negative aspects, examples from film, overcoming this trait as a major flaw, and traits in supporting characters that cause conflict.

As a tool for writers this book cannot be faulted, and is in fact outstanding. This is a not to be missed book for all writers, whether new or established. Buy it now you will not regret it.

20 people found this helpful

J.R. Barker

A great guide that helps you steer away from using the ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 22, 2014

Verified Purchase

A great guide that helps you steer away from using the same tired old phrases over and over again.
It lists all the negative traits with an explanation of internal and external reactions, the types of people that may exhibit these reactions, the downfalls of these traits and gives examples of films in which those types of characters have been portrayed successfully.

5 people found this helpful

Katie Tremlett

Fan-tast-ic!!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2014

Verified Purchase

i chose this rating because it is awesome and i shall explain why too. The book covers a whole range of negative traits and it helps you understand your characters in a depth of why they have developed a trait because of certain things that have happened to them. This is fantastic because the book explains the reasons as to why the character could be a nagger - or cynical - it will show assosiated thoughts and behaviours - and the best part is it will show the positive and negative traits of every single trait.
I didnt think of this before i picked up this book in this way. For example, an abrasive character - isnt very much liked and mostly people think when they are around him or her that they dont care if they hurt please or offend and people struggle to like them... so how can you find anything positive about this trait? But with an abrasive character you can form a kind of respect for them like you dont have to fluster yourself and seccond guess them, you know what they think or feel because they are telling you and showing you, and when you need someone to honnestly reveal a difficult truth - these are the characters to do it.
It will show you their assisiated thoughts that they will think like... i'd say just get the book. It is a book to sink your teeth into and you can get to explore around every character you ever choose to write - just get it - i cant express how much this book has helped me give my characters layers and how they respond to each other...

7 people found this helpful

Doyler

Great book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 12, 2014

Verified Purchase

Highly recommend this book. Insightful. Gives you gritty options to create realistic characters. Like the other two in the series, the opening chapters delve into the numerous negative aspects of human nature and potential causes. Great food for thought giving the writer interesting choices.
It is well worth reading the website, Writers helping Writers, the book muse. A great aid for all writers.
Can't thank the Authors enough.

5 people found this helpful

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