The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles (Volume 1)

Becca Puglisi · Angela Ackerman

Oct 2021 · Writers Helping Writers Book 8 · JADD Publishing

About this ebook

Every story starts with a character who is motivated by a need and has a goal that can resolve it. Whether their objective is to find a life partner, bring a killer to justice, overthrow a cruel regime, or something else, conflict transforms a story premise into something fresh. Physical obstacles, adversaries, moral dilemmas, deep-seated doubts and personal struggles…these not only block a character’s external progress, they become a gateway for internal growth. The right conflict will build tension and high stakes, challenge characters as they traverse their arcs, and most importantly, keep readers emotionally invested from beginning to end. 

Inside Volume 1 of The Conflict Thesaurus, you’ll find:

* A myriad of conflict options in the form of relationship friction, failures and mistakes, moral dilemmas and temptations, pressure and ticking clocks, and no-win scenarios

* An analysis of each scenario that maps out possible complications and catastrophes, internal struggles, and the stressful impacts on a character’s basic human needs 

* Guidance on using conflict to influence your protagonist's character arc through opportunities for failure and success

* Master class instruction on internal conflict: what it is, why it's important, and how to incorporate it at the scene and story levels

* Information about the role conflict plays in generating high stakes that are personally significant to the character, upping the tension for readers

* A breakdown of the various adversaries your character might encounter along the way

Don't give your character a break. Keep the hits coming with a variety of obstacles that will force them to work harder to get what they want. With over 100 entries arranged in a user-friendly format, The Conflict Thesaurus is the guide you need to write intense and satisfying fiction readers won’t forget.

Ratings and reviews

This book and its siblings are way underpriced. If you don't have them now, you're wasting your time. It's like owning a light saber and only doing 3 days of training in order to become a Jedi. Go look elsewhere if you want, but you'll be back here and you'll hate yourself for waiting.

This is a fantastic addition to my library. I have all their Thesaurus' and can't live without them. This Conflict Thesaurus will help me build on my characters and their issues by giving me simple examples and situations to choose from. This, along with all their other books, is a writer's heaven, can't wait for volume 2 to come out.

I am so impressed with the effort, time, and research that went into the creation of THE CONFLICT THESAURUS! As an author, this is one of the KEEPER REFERENCES that will be in my personal Reference Library. Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi have done it again! They've built another resource that far exceeded my expectations. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone desiring to deepen and strengthen their work in progress to give the reader a rich and realistic story!

About the author

Becca Puglisi

As an author, Becca loves nothing more than coming up with new content for her Writers Helping Writers® descriptive thesaurus collection (including the best-selling Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression, now an expanded Second Edition), which has sold over half a million copies. She also is co-founder of One Stop For Writers®, a unique online resource containing many helpful tools, craft tutorials, and the entire hyperlinked and searchable thesaurus collection to help writers elevate their storytelling. Becca is an international speaker who enjoys teaching workshops and presenting various writerly topics. Her books are represented by foreign rights agent Marleen Seegers of 2 Seas Agency.

Angela Ackerman

The author of numerous bestselling resource books printed in 8 different languages, Angela enjoys sharing her passion for writing craft. She is a writing coach, international speaker, and a firm believer that writers succeed best together. The desire to help writers in new, innovative ways led to One Stop for Writers®, a unique site originally co-founded with Becca Puglisi and Lee Powell (the creator of Scrivener for Windows and Linux). This creative portal contains game-changing tools and resources that enable writers to craft powerful fiction.