The Emotional Wound Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Psychological Trauma (Paperback)

Authentic characters need a compelling past. And like you or me, part of their history should include painful experiences known as emotional wounds that generate fears, insecurities, and trust issues, making it hard for them to take necessary risks.

Part how-to, part brainstorming tool, this guide provides expert instruction on the role emotional trauma plays in a character's life (and story). Take a deep dive into 118 real-world painful events that could be part of your character's past. Then show how that pain steers their thought process, actions, and the desire to protect themselves from future hurt.

This book will help you:

• Create Authentic Characters with Depth. Painful experiences are part of life and generate lasting psychological effects. This thesaurus gives you the tools to discover and write the root cause of your character's vulnerability, and in doing so, build empathy with the reader.
  
• Build Meaningful Character Arcs. Emotional wounds leave marks, and each one has the potential to either cripple or motivate a character. Use this guide to develop and write powerful arcs wherein characters face their past, strive for inner growth, and plot their journey toward healing.
• Uncover Behavioral Nuances. Each entry delves into a specific trauma and the common fears, insecurities, and dysfunctional behaviors it spawns, allowing you to create characters whose actions, flaws, and reactions feel true to life.
• Reveal Backstory Without Info Dumps. Learn to seed hints about backstory trauma through dialogue, action, and reaction in a way that enhances (rather than disrupts) the narrative.
• Explore 118 Trauma Scenarios. With an extensive database of human experiences to choose from, you’ll find the perfect backstory wound for any character and be able to write the fears, struggles, dysfunctional behavior, and misbeliefs associated with each.
• Write Fearlessly. Writing about trauma requires courage and a skilled hand. This guide is your roadmap for crafting rich emotional moments and character journeys that ring true and will be remembered by readers beyond the final page.

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View the list of emotional wounds in this book
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Looking for the digital version? This book is also available as a PDF and ebook.