There can be few writers who haven't heard of 'The Emotion Thesaurus'.
It was my bible when I first started writing in 2012, and I still keep it by me whenever I write a new story. My guest today is Becca Puglisi, co-author of
this thesaurus and its sequels and, with the recent publication of her setting
thesauruses, I'm delighted she found time out of her busy schedule to have a
chat with me.
You’ve collaborated on several books with Angela Ackerman now. How long
have you known each other?
Angela and I met in 2004 when we both joined Critique Circle. We
happened to find each other, fell in love with each others’ work, and
immediately became critique partners. Four years later, we joined forces to
start our blog (then called The Bookshelf Muse), and the rest is history.
Who was it who came up with the idea for your first thesaurus, ‘The
Emotion Thesaurus’?
As with most of our efforts, we both
played a part in the The Emotion Thesaurus’s success. While editing
one day, I realized that my characters were constantly smiling and shuffling
their feet, but I didn’t know how else to show what they were feeling. I needed
more clues to show their emotions, so I began keeping lists of the cues associated
with various feelings. When I brought the information to our critique group, we
learned that every single person struggled with this. We all started working to
flesh out the lists, but interest dwindled over time until Angela and I were
the only die-hards left. When we began our blog and were trying to figure out
what content would help readers and keep them coming back for more, Angela had
the brilliant idea of highlighting one emotion each week. And The
Emotion Thesaurus was born.
How do you go about writing a book together? Does it ever lead to
arguments?
I can honestly say that Angela and I have never had an argument. Truly.
We don’t always agree, but we’re both open-minded and respectful, and we
recognize each others’ strengths. When there’s a strong difference of opinion,
we tend to defer to whoever is more experienced in that area.
When it comes to co-writing, we have a fairly simple process. Together,
we figure out what information would be useful for writers and come up with a
template. Then we split in half the text that needs to be written; Angela
drafts one half and I do the other. When it comes time to edit, we trade
content so I’m editing her work and she’s tidying up mine. Then we switch
again. By this point, the work has become a combination of both of our styles
and it’s difficult to tell who initially wrote what.
Which, out of your thesaurus set, is your favourite? Was one harder to
write than another?
You know, I love The Emotion Thesaurus because it’s
helped so many people. The number of authors who write to us and say that the
light bulb came on for them after reading our book…it has a soft place in my
heart for that reason. But my personal favourite is The Negative Trait
Thesaurus. The information in the front matter about character wounds and
the effects they have on personality was such an eye-opener for me. I feel like
writing that book gave me a good handle on character arc, which had never been
my strong suit. I believe the content in that book is a game-changer, and for
that reason, it’s my favourite.
As for difficulty, the character trait books were definitely the hardest
to write because so much of the content was based in psychology. Neither of us
being therapists, we had to do a lot of extra work on those—a ton of research,
testing of our information to make sure it was correct, and vetting by experts
in the field. The pressure to get everything right pushed us to work harder on
those books than on any of the others.
I’ve been following your fabulous blog, Writers Helping Writers, since
2012 when it was ‘The Bookshelf Muse’. What are you trying to achieve with this
blog?
Well, it started as a platform to build an audience for when we publish
our own fiction one day.
But the more writing advice and thesauruses we shared, the more we realized how
much our content was helping others. And that really excited us. So we shifted
gears and changed the name to better reflect what we wanted our blog to be:
Writers Helping Writers. And that’s really our purpose—to share what we’ve
learned with others.
Can you tell my readers a bit about your new initiative, ‘One Stop for
Writers’.
One Stop For Writers is an online resource that contains all of our
thesaurus content, along with many other tools and references, in one
convenient spot. We call it an online
library because so much of what writers need can be found in this one place.
The thesauruses are all cross-referenced and searchable. We have customizable
worksheets to help with character building, scene setting, symbolism, and much
more. We’ve also recently launched a story structure tool to help writers
structure their stories in a way that will resonate with readers. We love this
site because so much of what writers need is in one location, so it saves time
and helps them be more efficient and productive.
You and Angela are busy ladies. Do you have any time for your own
fiction?
Every six months or so, Angela and I will talk about our fiction—mostly
in a nostalgic and wistful tone, lol. Fiction writing is our passion; it’s how
we got started in this business, after all. But our nonfiction books are doing
so well, and writing them is always a learning experience for both of us. It’s
rewarding on a number of levels, and we’re aware of how fortunate we are to
have had a measure of success in this field. So we want to make the most of it
while we can. If we could do both, we would. For now, our focus is on
nonfiction, knowing that we’ll have time to get back to our fiction eventually.
What do you think is the biggest mistake new writers make?
Hmmm. I’d have to say that a lot of new writers fall into the trap of
thinking that they’re ready to publish before they truly are. I’ve benefited
greatly from the rise of self-publishing and have a lot of good to say about
it, but one thing we lost when the gatekeepers of traditional publishing became
optional rather than required was a sense of accountability. I would advise all
new writers to get into a critique group or find a partner. Reliable critiquers
committed to offering honest feedback can give new writers a better sense of
when they’re ready to take that big step.
What next for Becca and Angela? Any more thesauruses?
Well, after the launch of our Setting Thesarus books last month, we’re
taking it easy this summer. But in the fall, we hope to get started on our next
publication: The Emotional Wounds Thesaurus. This is the one we’re currently
highlighting at the blog and people have been clamouring for it to be turned
into a book, so that will be our next big project.
If you would like to buy one of Becca and Angela's thesauruses, they can
be found here (UK) and here (USA)
You can read Becca's previous guest blog on 'Show not Tell' here.
BIO:
Becca Puglisi is an
international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her
books are available in five 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. You can find Becca online
at both of these spots, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
