What makes an individual stand out in his/her craft? It’s learning from the mistakes and successes of others. In this blog post, I am not sharing biographies and the likes, but writing guides that are helping me in my writing journey.

SAVE THE CAT! WRITES A NOVEL BY JESSICA BRODY

The first novel-writing guide from the best-selling Save the Cat! story-structure series, which reveals the 15 essential plot points needed to make any novel a success.

Novelist Jessica Brody presents a comprehensive story-structure guide for novelists that applies the famed Save the Cat! screenwriting methodology to the world of novel writing. Revealing the 15 “beats” (plot points) that comprise a successful story–from the opening image to the finale–this book lays out the Ten Story Genres (Monster in the House; Whydunit; Dude with a Problem) alongside quirky, original insights (Save the Cat; Shard of Glass) to help novelists craft a plot that will captivate–and a novel that will sell.

THE EMOTION THESAURUS BY ANGELA ACKERMAN & BECCA PUGLIST

One of the biggest struggles for writers is how to convey emotion to readers in a unique and compelling way. When showing our characters’ feelings, we often use the first idea that comes to mind, and they end up smiling, nodding, and frowning too much. 

If you need inspiration for creating characters’ emotional responses that are personalized and evocative, this ultimate show-don’t-tell guide for emotion can help. It includes:

• Body language cues, thoughts, and visceral responses for 130 emotions that cover a range of intensity from mild to severe, providing innumerable options for individualizing a character’s reactions
• A breakdown of the biggest emotion-related writing problems and how to overcome them
• Advice on what should be done beforedrafting to make sure your characters’ emotions will be realistic and consistent 
• Instruction for how to show hidden feelings and emotional subtext through dialogue and nonverbal cues
• And much more!

The Emotion Thesaurus, in its easy-to-navigate list format, will inspire you to create stronger, fresher character expressions and engage readers from your first page to your last.

THE POSITIVE TRAIT THESAURUS BY ANGELA ACKERMAN & BECCA PUGLIST

Character creation can be hard, but it’s about to get a lot easier. Inside The Positive Trait Thesaurus, you’ll find:

• A large selection of attributes to choose from when building a personality profile. Each entry lists possible causes for why a trait might emerge, along with associated attitudes, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions.
• Real character examples from literature, film, or television to show how an attribute drives actions and decisions, influences goals, and steers relationships
• Advice on using positive traits to immediately hook readers while avoiding common personality pitfalls
• Insight on human needs and morality, and how each determines the strengths that emerge in heroes and villains alike
• Information on the key role positive attributes play within the character arc, and how they’re vital to overcoming fatal flaws and achieving success
• Downloadable tools for organizing a character’s attributes and providing a deeper understanding of his past, his needs, and the emotional wounds he must overcome

If you find character creation difficult or worry that your cast members all seem the same, The Positive Trait Thesaurus is brimming with ideas to help you develop one-of-a-kind, dynamic characters that readers will love. Extensively indexed, with entries written in a user-friendly list format, this brainstorming resource is perfect for any character creation project.

THE NEGATIVE TRAIT THESAURUS BY ANGELA ACKERMAN & BECCA PUGLIST

Crafting likable, interesting characters is a balancing act, and finding that perfect mix of strengths and weaknesses can be difficult. But the task has become easier thanks to The Negative Trait Thesaurus. Through its flaw-centric exploration of character arc, motivation, emotional wounds, and basic needs, writers will learn which flaws make the most sense for their heroes, villains, and other members of the story’s cast. This book’s vast collection of flaws will help writers to explore the possible causes, attitudes, behaviors, thoughts, and related emotions behind their characters’ weaknesses so they can be written effectively and realistically. Common characterization pitfalls and methods to avoid them are also included, along with invaluable downloadable tools to aid in character creation. Written in list format and fully indexed, this brainstorming resource is perfect for creating deep, flawed characters that readers will relate to.

THE FIRE IN FICTION BY DONALD MAASS

The book features:

   • Techniques for capturing a special time and place, creating characters whose lives matter, nailing multiple-impact plot turns, making the supernatural real, infusing issues into fiction, and more.
   • Story-enriching exercises at the end of every chapter to show you how to apply the practical tools just covered to your own work.
   • Rich examples drawn from contemporary novels as diverse as The Lake House, Water for Elephants, and Jennifer Government to illustrate how various techniques work in actual stories.

Plus, Maass introduces an original technique that any novelist can use any time, in any scene, in any novel, even on the most uninspired day…to take the most powerful experiences from your personal life and turn those experiences directly into powerful fiction.

Tap into The Fire in Fiction, and supercharge your story with originality and spark!

Thanks a lot for reading!

I hope you found them useful and they make your writing sparkle!as I want to help you reduce the stress of self-publishing your books, and help you make money while at it. Schedule a one-on-one consultation with me today and successfully launch your book.