Publisher: Writers Helping Writers

ISBN: 978-0-9992963-7-0

In 2012, Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi, co-founders of Writers Helping Writers and One Stop for Writers, released the first edition of The Emotion Thesaurus, a reference guide that has become invaluable to writers. Much like a standard thesaurus, the book offers alternative ways to express various feelings. Since then, Ackerman and Puglisi have gone on to publish several other thesauruses, including those for personal traits and settings.

The latest resource to land on writers’ desks is The Occupation Thesaurus, and it takes the concept of a traditional thesaurus and elevates it. At first glance, providing a thesaurus for occupations may not make sense. Ackerman and Puglisi, however, keep their goal of helping writings in the forefront as they proceed with this book.

Opening the thesaurus to a particular occupation—Pharmacist, for example—will give writers, first, the basic overview of that occupation and a description of what a person in that field does. A pharmacist, according to the thesaurus, fills medical prescriptions and documents the medications a physician might order. The regard for a pharmacist is high, Ackerman and Puglisi point out, because of the immense trust customers place in the field in general. The entry then goes on to list the training needed to become a pharmacist and any skills or talents that a person would be able to apply to the job. 

Then comes the goldmine of information that has become the touchstone of Ackerman and Puglisi’s reputations.

The entry lists character traits of people who enter that profession. For a pharmacist, the entry says that, among other things, pharmacists are “discreet” and “observant.” Next comes a list of possible sources of friction a character in a particular profession might encounter: dealing with a customer who has dependency issues, for example. In an effort to offer writers every avenue of information possible, entries also include ways to challenge the stereotype of a given profession and why characters might choose the job they do. 

The entry is rounded off with how the occupation would impact the character’s needs, a reference to the work done by psychologist Abraham Maslow and his deduction that a person has five basic needs to be met before they feel fulfilled. Early in the thesaurus, Ackerman and Puglisi reprint Maslow’s pyramid and offer a quick explanation of the diagram as well as how these needs are tied directly to a person’s work.

The enormity of the work put into this book is obvious in every single entry. While at first glance a character’s choice of career or vocation may not seem to impact a story’s conflict or plot, Ackerman and Puglisi emphasize just the opposite. Every aspect of a character’s life, they say, impacts that character and how s/he interacts with other characters. When done well, a character’s occupation can play into the conflict, whether directly or indirectly, and add layers to a story that enrich it and make it stand out.

The biggest bonus comes in one of the appendices where the authors give writers a template to follow in order to help them determine what career or vocation a particular character might pursue. The flow chart leads writers through, essentially, an analysis of their characters and makes all of the information come together to create a solid three-dimensional character that will shine.

Ackerman and Puglisi also go above and beyond in offering writers possibilities of vocations and careers. “Pharmacist” and “flight attendant” are on the list of occupations to explore, but so are “model” and “air traffic controller.” The only things missing from this outstanding book are a writer’s imagination and dedication to writing the best story possible.

Another winner that should be on the shelf of every writer, Ackerman and Puglisi have outdone themselves with The Occupation Thesaurus.