The Occupation Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Jobs, Vocations, and Careers (Writers Helping Writers Series)

What if there was a shortcut for helping readers get to know your characters? Would you take it?

Characters are as complex as people and revealing their inner layers without chunky blocks of pace-stopping description is a challenge. The Occupation Thesaurus can help you unlock one of the best tools in your show-don’t-tell writing kit: a character’s job.

Occupations are part of our everyday world, meaning they can be used to encourage readers to make associations between a type of work and the person doing it, shortening the “get to know the character” curve. Whether a person loves or hates what they do, a job can reveal many things, including their priorities, beliefs, desires, and needs. The Occupation Thesaurus will show you how a career choice can characterize, drive the plot, infuse scenes with conflict, and get readers on the character’s side through the relatable pressures, responsibilities, and stakes inherent with work.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX REGARDING CAREER OPTIONS

Select a job that packs a powerful punch. Inside The Occupation Thesaurus, you’ll find:

• Informative profiles on popular and unusual jobs to help you write them with authority
• Believable conflict scenarios for each occupation, giving you unlimited possibilities for adding tension at the story and scene level
• Advice for twisting the stereotypes often associated with these professions
• Instruction on how to use jobs to characterize, support story structure, reinforce theme, and more
• An in-depth study on how emotional wounds and basic human needs may influence a character’s choice of occupation
• A brainstorming tool to organize the various aspects of your character’s personality so you can come up with the best careers for them

Do more with your description and choose a profession for your character that showcases who they are, what they want, and what they believe in. With over 120 entries in a user-friendly format, The Occupation Thesaurus is an entire job fair for writers.