How Emotion Amplifiers Up the Tension in Your Story
The latest title in the Emotion Thesaurus series is not to be missed!
I have a shelf full of craft books in my office and yet the ones I go back to time and again are Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi’s Emotion Thesaurus series.
What is an emotion amplifier? Here’s a definition from the book’s jacket copy:
“Characters who are in control of their emotions rarely slip up, which makes for boring reading. To avoid that pitfall, channel your dark side and introduce stress that will make it harder for them to think clearly. Your weapon of choice? An amplifier. Pain, arousal, dehydration—conditions and states like these make it difficult for a character to emotionally self-regulate, setting them up for overreactions, misjudgments, and (hopefully) colossal mistakes they’ll have to fix and learn from.
Inside The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus, you’ll find:
A deep dive into cognitive and emotional dissonance and how psychological discomfort steers a character’s reasoning and impacts their ability to make decisions
Information on emotional stress as a trigger for self-awareness and personal growth, which makes amplifiers powerful levers to help steer story structure and character arc
Lists of body language cues, internal sensations, thoughts, and other descriptives to show the effects of more than 50 amplifiers
Brainstorming help on how to use each amplifier to generate tension and complication, apply everyday pressure, and make a character emotionally volatile
Fifty-two bonus writing tips to help you wield amplifiers with skill and precision, taking your scenes from good to great
Push your characters. Give them no quarter. Use physical, cognitive, and psychological strain to force them to face their mistakes, acknowledge their true feelings, and work through the contradictions at the heart of every inner struggle.”
The deep dive in the opening of the book is a masterclass in how to use a character’s emotions against them and to create additional interpersonal conflict and tension on the page. And of course, that’s just what we need to write something truly un-put-downable.
Win a Free Workshop!
Amplifiers can bring a character’s emotions to the surface for readers to see, which is exactly what we need to happen. But that’s not all they do. Becca and Angela can’t wait to dive into how they can power a story and are celebrating this release with a very special Zoom workshop.
100 Seats Are Up for Grabs!
If you’ve ever attended a workshop by Angela and Becca, you know you’ll learn a ton. Head over here to enter the giveaway, but hurry – the last day to enter is May 17th , 2024.
Good luck!