The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Flaws (Writers Helping Writers Series)

A highly useful book. While it says thesaurus.this is more like a character guide to using characters that have horrible traits. It lists various traits (in one word) description (so you don't get confused about what they mean by the one word), causes, associated behaviors, common thoughts, emotions, etc. etc.I had already read the emotion thesaurus, and between that and this, I picked up the three other books from this series that had previously only given me a passing interest. Why? Because writing a good story, is often about writing good, character driven plots. The better the characters, the more power they can give to the plot itself. And unless you are some kind of storytelling, character-building grand-master, this book will have something for you. My favorite part of this book is exploring why a character would have the flaws they do, helping flesh them out and make them feel more alive and three-dimensional.I can only hope the other three I've ordered are as useful as this one. If so, I'm going to be one very happy writer. :)

As with the rest of the books in this series, THE NEGATIVE TRAIT THESAURUS is a must-read for all fiction writers. A brief introduction covers how negative traits help develop well-rounded characters. No one has only positive traits, so weaving in negative traits allows us to create lifelike fictional beings that will take shape in believable ways, allowing readers to identify with them. After that, the book again provides a large number of negative traits, including a brief description and possible influences that could be responsible for them within your character. Each entry dives deeper with similar attributes, associated behaviors and thoughts, possible emotional responses, and what traits in supporting characters may cause conflict. Also included are example characters from literature to really drive the point home.If you’re looking to develop in-depth characters who come across as authentic, add this to your arsenal, along with THE POSITIVE TRAIT THESAURUS.Bottom LineIf you want to create deep, realistic characters, look no further than the Writer’s Guide series.

The Negative Trait Thesaurus talks about using traits to deepen your characterization to help your reader become emotionally invested in them. They use a similar format as the Emotion Thesaurus by defining the characteristic, listing similar attributes, possible causes and associated behaviors. I haven’t used these as thoroughly as I should, mostly because when I bought them I was in the middle of writing something I’d already developed characters for, but I’m in the beginning of a new project and I intend to make full use of it.

A colleague recommended this book. When I went in to order, spotted this and three others. Ended up getting all four. Excellent for writers of any level. I’m a writer and media psychologist; I know having this information at my fingertips as I write helps enrich my characters. Even with my expertise I continually learn character traits and other psychological elements, which make a full, well rounded character. These books are written to help that process immensely. A good writer is continually learning how to write better characters and these books aid that process.

I'm writing the same review for the book 'positive trait thesaurus' and 'negative trait thesaurus' as they are equal in quality and usefulness:I don't believe there is any reason to write anything more until you have purchased these books!Unless you have a masters in psychology maybe you won't need them. Even so, I believe it would be a good quick reference.These books hand writers the tools they need to understand the complex nature of their characters psychology.These books will give you a clear cause and effect to every personality trait your character has, giving you a more indepth understanding of your own character, which will in turn give your reader a more in depth understanding of your character and be more involved in your story.Unless you enjoy torturing yourself and making life harder on yourself:A must have.

Both the Negative Trait and Positive Trait Thesauri are amazing. Probably one of the most useful writing resources I've ever purchased. I bought the Negative Trait one ages ago and then avoided it because it seemed like a lot of work to consider your characters this way. Then I bought the PT one and started working. It is a bit of hard work. But completely worth it. Once you know who your characters are, you can create scenes that are directed by their instincts and behavior and not just write a bunch of random stuff happening to them. How can you challenge a character that you don't understand?These books saved my current WIP, which ground to a halt recently when I ran out of horrible random things to do to my characters. Now that I've read and used these books, I can let my characters screw things up on their own and if I need to come up with external torture for them, I now understand what will thoroughly wreck their day :)I am so impressed with these books. I highly recommend them if you're a writer and you're willing to do the work to make your characters three-dimensional and engaging.

If you want your readers to interact with the characters in yourstories, or writings,they must feel like real people, good or bad.Because, a reader wants to cheer for,or boo at the people, youwant them to spend their time with.If a reader can not relate to your protagonist, or even your antagonistfor that matter, they will wonder, why are they even bothering finishingyour story.Harsh?Yes it is, but it is your job, to make characters as real as possible, byshowing, not listing, what makes them what and who they are.Good guys and bad guys, all have traits that make them take the road thatthey travel.Show those traits to your readers.

Great reference book. Rating 4 Starts as some of the writing isnt legible even though it is a brand new book. The font is somewhat faded in some pages.

This is the second in a trio of books which are, I feel, an essential part of any publishers toolkit. Like the Positive Trait Thesaurus the first few chapters cover the negative traits which will help the writer to develop a realistic character. It discusses how, characters, no matter how good or evil they are, need to display opposite traits which make the seem believable. There is an overview of the types of characters which are so deplorable that no one can identify with them and how these can be changed by the way ins which they are portrayed.Following helpful and useful introductory chapters, the book becomes even more useful when the Thesaurus is used. This is more than your average Thesaurus, providing an in depth exploration of a word and its use in writing fiction. It provides a definition of the word, similar flaws, possible causes, associated behaviours and attitudes, associated thoughts, associated emotions, positive aspects, negative aspects, examples from film, overcoming this trait as a major flaw, and traits in supporting characters that cause conflict.As a tool for writers this book cannot be faulted, and is in fact outstanding. This is a not to be missed book for all writers, whether new or established. Buy it now you will not regret it.

This is a really short book that has very few negative traits in it. Useful if you really can't think of any negative traits, but there are only a few and it's all back to front with most of it telling your granny how to suck eggs and very little useful information unfortunately.The table of contents is at the back again and I went straight there this time and there were only maybe 3 or 4 pages of negative traits at the back and a load of padding over the first three quarters.It's good to have it in one place, but there are more negative emotions than are in this book. The positive traits book had several pages of emotion compared to the handful in this one.Useful at a stretch, but could be a lot better and more useful to writers if there was more negative trait names and less fluff at the start... would be good if the table of contents was in the right place too!Sorry.

A great guide that helps you steer away from using the same tired old phrases over and over again.It lists all the negative traits with an explanation of internal and external reactions, the types of people that may exhibit these reactions, the downfalls of these traits and gives examples of films in which those types of characters have been portrayed successfully.

Highly recommend this book. Insightful. Gives you gritty options to create realistic characters. Like the other two in the series, the opening chapters delve into the numerous negative aspects of human nature and potential causes. Great food for thought giving the writer interesting choices.It is well worth reading the website, Writers helping Writers, the book muse. A great aid for all writers.Can't thank the Authors enough.

i chose this rating because it is awesome and i shall explain why too. The book covers a whole range of negative traits and it helps you understand your characters in a depth of why they have developed a trait because of certain things that have happened to them. This is fantastic because the book explains the reasons as to why the character could be a nagger - or cynical - it will show assosiated thoughts and behaviours - and the best part is it will show the positive and negative traits of every single trait.I didnt think of this before i picked up this book in this way. For example, an abrasive character - isnt very much liked and mostly people think when they are around him or her that they dont care if they hurt please or offend and people struggle to like them... so how can you find anything positive about this trait? But with an abrasive character you can form a kind of respect for them like you dont have to fluster yourself and seccond guess them, you know what they think or feel because they are telling you and showing you, and when you need someone to honnestly reveal a difficult truth - these are the characters to do it.It will show you their assisiated thoughts that they will think like... i'd say just get the book. It is a book to sink your teeth into and you can get to explore around every character you ever choose to write - just get it - i cant express how much this book has helped me give my characters layers and how they respond to each other...