The thesaurus is part of the brilliant series by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. It’s a collection of 120 urban settings that lists:

• places in the city, such as the community center, construction site, hair salon, sewers

• types of restaurants and retail stores

• sports and entertainment venues

• places related to transportation

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The book stresses the importance of setting in a story - something that is often lacking in best-sellers where characters tend to walk in a vacuum and the reader is expected to fill in the details themselves. I personally am a huge opponent of this approach because it allows too many badly written books to slip into the market.

 

You’ll learn how to:

• go beyond the generic and create realistic settings in which characters can be as lifelike as possible

• add emotional value through setting-related sensory details, so that the reader can become immersed in the story

• characterize not only the protagonist but the whole cast by means of setting that triggers all kinds of conflict

• choose the best locations for your storyline to deliver the punch you want it to deliver

• avoid common setting issues, such as getting too technical or confusing the reader by inconsistent action or fighting scenes

 

Each described setting comes with a list of sights associated with the place, the sensory information one would pick up there, possible sources of conflict, people one would likely come across, and examples of other settings that may be connected, which makes it easier to maintain aesthetic continuity between the scenes.  

 

 ‘Have you ever read a book so well drawn you wished you could visit?’ ask the authors. With this thesaurus you can write one exactly like that.