The Bookshelf Muse

Do you have trouble showing emotion for your characters? Do you sometimes wonder how to describe certain places or things? The Bookshelf Muse is a wonderful tool, and I have a link to it on my blog.

Here you will find an array of emotions and how to describe them. For example, suppose you want to show sarcasm. We've all used rolling the eyes, raising an eyebrow, smirking or perhaps waving a hand in the person's face to indicate dismissal of their words as unimportant. But have you thought of having your character raise her chin to create the idea of looking down on the other person, or uttering a belittling comment "under the breath" but still loud enough to be heard?
These a just a few examples of physical actions that will imply sarcasm or verbal disrespect which are found in the Bookshelf Muse.

If you aare looking for Settings, and how to describe them, there is a world of information about many common place settings at this web site. For each setting, there are the five senses listed, as well as helpful hints and examples. One setting that I used was a school office. Here are just a few of the ideas given for each sense: Sight: besides chairs, desks, carpet and secretarial paraphernalia, there are educational posters on walls, student artwork, sign-in books, visitor passes, trays for pens and pencils, lost and found jars full of cell phones, glasses, jewelry, and the ever-present kid waiting to see the principal. Sound: phones ringing, parents/students whispering, period bells ringing, etc. Smells: coffee left too long in the pot, arid scent of recently printed copies, fragrance of secretary's perfume, etc.

There are also items listed for taste and touch, such as the taste of an eraser or the feel of the hard metal chair that a kid is sitting in.

This is a very useful blog, with not only a Thesaurus of Emotions and Thesaurus of Settings, but it also has ideas for colors and shapes, and how to describe them.