Ann Hood's book serves as a guide for writers, journalists, and playwrights on how to capture and express in words even the most complex emotional states. Wow. I'm keeping this book in the reference section of my book shelves for easy reach. I have heard Ann Hood speak at writer's conferences and she is just as impressive in person as in this fine book at teaching the finer points of characterization. Thank you, thank you, for this labor of love. ( )

This book is very thorough, and very worth reading a second time, and then going back through each set of emotions with your Work In Progress, to edit scene by scene for the desired effects in each scene. So, that is exactly what I plan to do when I finish my first or second draft of my current WIP. ( )

A book for writers, with examples of bad ways and good ways to depict a wide variety of emotions. It was interesting, but when I read several of the examples, I found myself wondering if my son gets even more of his autism from me than I’d thought — I couldn’t see why a particular sample showed that particular emotion, or I got an entirely different emotion from the passage than she did. This one isn’t going to be terribly useful for me, so I’m glad I checked it out from the library. ( )

Posted here: http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue35/Book.htm ( )

My main problem with this book was the examples the author gives. Maybe it's just a case of personal taste, but what she rated as "good examples" just weren't. There were a few points I could take away from it...mainly how to avoid sterotypes and cliches. ( )