My Birthday Gifts

Tomorrow is my birthday. Since it's after sunset, I opened my birthday presents, a matched set of books:

The Positive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Attributes
by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Flaws
by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi


If you've been reading Polychrome Heroics, you've seen my character sheets which include positive Qualities and Powers (Good +2, Expert +4, Master +6) along with one Weakness (Poor -2). When I can't think of anything off the top of my head, I use a bunch of different references, most of which give just a word or phrase, some a few lines of description. These books devote an entire 2-page spread to each trait. \o/ There are front and back materials on how to write well-rounded characters by composing the right traits.

An entry in the positive book includes:
Definition
Categories
Similar attributes
Possible causes
Associated behaviors
Associated thoughts
Associated emotions
Positive aspects
Negative aspects
Example from film
Traits in supporting characters that may cause conflict
Challenging scenarios for the (trait) character

An entry in the negative book includes:
Definition
Similar flaws
Possible causes
Associated behaviors and attitudes
Associated thoughts
Associated emotions
Positive aspects
Negative aspects
Example from film
Overcoming this trait as a major flaw
Traits in supporting characters that may cause conflict

Obviously I haven't read them yet, but just looking at the traits covered and the subheadings under each entry is enough to tell me that these will be very useful books. :D