The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Attributes (Writers Helping Writers Series) Paperback – October 3, 2013

If you need a great reference for creating your characters, these books are the perfect ones to have in your library for right at your fingertips info. I just bought the rest of the 10 book set. Best decision every. Get all 10. Definitely worth the price and has helped me so many times already.

Every writer needs both the Positive Trait Thesaurus and the Negative Trait Thesaurus. They go together. Add in the Emotion Thesaurus and the great downloads and extras these talented writers give you on their website (which add up to another fabulous book on their own) and you probably won't need too many other books on the craft of writing. A good dictionary and a Synonym finder and you are all set.I have bought all three "Thesauruses" and loved them so much I bought all three for my Kindle too so I can have them on the move and when travelling. These Thesauruses are exceptionally well organised and contain huge amounts of information in a concise and practical format.You could just leap in and pick a handful of traits to apply to your character(s) and they would still be better off than when you started. However, taking the time to read through the "users guide" chapters will add so much to your understanding of how to craft truly memorable characters that it is well worth the time invested to do this. Then use the listings to pick and choose traits and counter-traits and the ways in which they would possibly be exhibited to start building a team of people that will resonate with readers. Also use the listings to develop conflict between characters in a psychological way by giving each person traits that would "irritate" or "confuse" the other - much more subtle than the standard good guy VS bad guy.I can't rate these books highly enough. I know I'm going to be buying them again every couple of years as they become tatty and worn out with daily use!

This book has been a wonderful resource to have on hand! I expected just a list of character traits and some info about each of them, but this book provides so much more. The first section covers all kinds of information you'll find helpful in creating your characters, including how needs and morals influence character strengths, how attributes develop, how to overcome the fatal flaw, how to choose the right attributes for your character, etc. Very useful stuff! Then you get to the traits themselves, and you have dozens to choose from. For each trait, they give you a definition; similar attributes; things that could have caused that trait to develop; behaviors, thoughts, and emotions associated with that trait; positive and negative aspects; examples from literature; traits in your supporting characters that could cause conflict (and we all know how important conflict is!); and scenarios that might be challenging for characters with that particular trait. I've already purchased "The Negative Trait Thesaurus" and find it just as helpful, and I hope to acquire the whole series at some point.

This is the third book I have bought from seller. I also have the Emotional Thesaurus (second edition) which is a WONDERFUL tool for writers. I also have The Positive Trait thesaurus which is great too. As far as this book, I haven't used it yet, but skimmed through it and I think it will be just as helpful as the other two. I know some people say that some of the books are the same, which is why I read the description and looked inside preview and determined which one would be most helpful to me. Most of all, these books are simple to use and I love the layout which really makes it easy.

One thing must be put straight from the start. The Positive Trait Thesaurus is not just a collection of positive traits listed as in many character guides but much more. This guide goes much deeper into the subject. Any thesaurus can give you character traits and synonyms but very rarely do they give you what you actually are looking for: an explanation what these traits mean, what is their origin, what possibly causes them and what impact do they have on people. The Positive Trait Thesaurus gives you more or less a full package on each relevant trait and much more. You can use this book as a brainstorming guide, a writing partner who gives you new fresh ideas from a bottomless well. Positive traits are very difficult to handle without using the same old stereotypes and clichés time after time. The Positive Trait Thesaurus offers new ideas and perspectives to avoid just that. Examples from movies make this book easy to use and understand. Beginners may benefit most of this guide but it is resourceful idea book for seasoned writers as well.

The writing dynamic discussed in my book, The Moral Premise, require a mechanism with polar opposite values. Positive and Negative Traits are close cousins to values. In fact, Angela and Becca explain that the traits they index and detail in their thesaurus can be used four ways: (a) interactive, or action, (b) identity, essence, (c) achievement-based, or goal, and (d) moral attribute, or motivation. It is this last use that perfectly dovetails with The Moral Premise statement. Use their Positive Trait Thesaurus with their Negative Trait Thesaurus to write your Moral Premise statement. The Kindle version's index e-links to exhaustive describe page for each trait. These are great resources for writing, too, after the MP is figured out, because of the myriad examples the authors provide for the trait's cause, how they suggest character behavior, character thoughts, and at the end of each descriptive page a list of opposing traits that cause conflict...potential polar opposite values. These two books are the perfect working companion to The Moral Premise astute writer.