Writing Book Reviews

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Creating Character Emotions by Ann Hood
Story Press, Feb., 1998.
Trade Paperback, 170 pages.
ISBN: 1884910335
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.

Creating Character Emotions
by Ann Hood

This specialty guide on effectively creating emotions in your characters provides instruction, examples and exercises on a variety of different emotions. The book is divided into sections for 36 different emotions, including desire, forgiveness, grief, hope, hostility, love, passion, revenge, sadness, shame and worry. Each section includes an explanation and introduction to the emotion, examples of characters from well-known stories that have exhibited the emotion, good and bad examples of use of the emotion in writing and exercises that allow the developing writer to practice using the particular emotion in their own writing. As an example, the section on the emotion "excitement" includes an introduction to the emotion, including how excitement was addressed in the musical play Singin' in the Rain, both good and bad examples of the use of excitement in writing and exercises including an assignment to make a list of clichéed physical descriptions of excitement, as well as a list of novel ways to describe excitement physically.

Creating Character Emotions offers a fresh look at teaching writers how to bring about real feelings in their characters. The book also acts to motivate the beginning writer to write with its numerous examples and exercises.

Roget's Super Thesaurus by Marc McCutcheon
Writer's Digest Books, May 1998.
Trade Paperback, 663 pages.
ISBN: 0898797756
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.

Roget's Super Thesaurus
by Marc McCutcheon

The Roget's Super Thesaurus is an updated and comprehensive reference book that allows you to reference words to find definitions, pronunciations, antonyms and synonyms. Lists of antonyms and synonyms also include slang terms which are marked with an asterix. In total, the book includes over 40,000 synonyms and antonyms. The cross-referencing notes that refer you to related word listings are especially helpful when you are not exactly sure of the word you need. Also invaluable is the "reverse-dictionary" feature where, under certain word listings, there is a list of short (one or two word) definitions and the correct word that goes with each definition. For example, under the listing for "rock", you will find a list of short definitions with the defining word(s) including "conglomeration: breccia, conglomerate; molten: magma, lava; study of: petrology" and others -- so that you can easily find out related words and word meanings.

An excellent thesaurus which students and professional writers will find invaluable.

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Writing Book Reviews

Creating Character Emotions by Ann Hood

Roget's Super Thesaurus by Marc McCutcheon