Emotion Amplifier

Writers and friends,

Now that I’ve submitted my next book, Twice the Family, A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood to my publisher (Feb. 2025, She Writes Press), I plan to spend the coming months working on shorter pieces. Often, when I guest on podcasts or am in conversation with book clubs, I get asked questions about my writing process. So today I want to share a few details about how I get words on the page and how I massage them into compelling stories.

When I’m crafting a blog post, essay, or chapter for a book, one of the first resources I check is the thesaurus built into my writing software. Mostly I do this to find an alternative word choice or to verify the contextual meaning words. As I edit a document, besides word choice, I consider whether I have gotten the emotion of my characters onto the page, and if I have written about their feelings in a unique way. 

You’ve probably heard that characters need to be likeable for readers to care, and while this can be true, it isn’t absolute. More important than liking a character is relating to them in some way. Finding common ground comes in many forms – the emotions we experience, the problems we navigate, and even the failures we endure.  

One of the strongest sources of common ground is emotion, because every situation we encounter will awaken certain feelings, and over time, we experience all the emotions in the spectrum. This means when a character hits highs and lows in the story, readers relate. 

Emotion can be difficult to write.  

It’s human nature to mask our feelings when we feel vulnerable, judged, or exposed. To be true-to-life, characters hide what they feel, which makes it hard for readers to know how story events are impacting them. If readers can’t access a character’s emotions, they may not care about them enough to be invested in what happens in the story. 

So, when I’m writing a piece, besides my regular thesaurus, I often peruse another set of thesaurus tools: the Writers Helping Writers Series written by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. My all-time favorite is their Emotion Thesaurus. I had the privilege of receiving an advance copy of their recently released book called: The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Stress and Volatility.   

Emotion amplifiers address states and conditions that add pressure and strain, making it very hard for a character to control their emotions. Pain is an example of an amplifier, as is illness, competition, scrutiny, a hangover, and bereavement. When an amplifier is affecting the character, it becomes one extra thing they must deal with.

Here’s a Case Study: An Amplifier in Action

Consider Jake, a character who awakens to hot fingers of illness creeping through his body. On the cusp of a long-overdue promotion, he doesn’t dare call in sick, so he showers and heads to work. At the warehouse, he climbs into a forklift and begins his day of moving pallets and loading trucks in the pickup bay. Two guys on his crew haven’t shown up, making the shift even rougher. Everything requires more effort. Jake’s head buzzes. Noises bug him. He feels like he’s moving through molasses, but he’s got to work at double speed. As he rushes back and forth across the floor, he’s growing lightheaded. Where the heck is his foreman, who promised to pitch in?

Can you feel the strain Jake is under and how close his emotions are to the surface? How long until the weight of sickness causes him to snap at a co-worker, make a rash decision, or become so flustered he injures someone? 

Let’s say Jake’s dulled reflexes cause him to drop a pallet of product, ruining the inventory and creating a safety hazard. He’s reprimanded by his foreman, who never did come to help but has plenty of criticism to hand out. Hot with fever and frustration, Jake goes off about how he’s always the one who shows up, even when he’s sick, but never gets any appreciation. One outburst and a few ill-advised words later, Jake’s hopes for a promotion lie in ruins among the crushed cargo.

If you are curious about how The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus helped create tension in Jake’s story, the authors have provided a sample entry for you—a versatile amplifier that every character will encounter at some point in the story. Check it out! If you’d like to dive deeper into what this book covers, go here.

I’m getting comfortable with my copy of The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus and know it will help elevate my storytelling! (PS: I don’t get anything for sharing this resource with you. It’s just an act of literary citizenship or good will. Enjoy!)

Follow Me Here

On June 4, Julie will guest on the Trauma Survivorhood Podcast with Sarah Miley.

In September (1-16th) Julie will join Laura Davis (The Writer’s Journey) and other like-minded pilgrims to hike, write, and paint along the El Camino trail in northern Spain.

In October (18-20th), Julie will attend Florida WritersCon in Orlando, FL with colleagues from the Florida Writers Association (FWA).

This summer, Julie will be taking a well needed break from podcasts and events as she prepares for the launch of her third book, Twice the Family: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Sisterhood (She Writes Press) which hits bookstores in Feb. 2025. 

In the meantime, you can follow her monthly column, That Girl This Life at The Beacher Newspapers at the beginning of each month and read the bimonthly blog posts on her website.

To listen to previous podcast recordings featuring Julie McGue, go here.

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