Tea for Creatives: Angela Ackerman’s Unexpected Creative Journey
Angela Ackerman, Writing Coach
Angela Ackerman is a writing coach and co-author of three bestselling resources for writers:
The Emotion Thesaurus: a Writer’s Guide to Character Expression
The Positive Trait Thesaurus: a Writer’s Guide to Character Attributes
The Negative Trait Thesaurus: a Writer’s Guide to Character Flaws.
Her witty advise and writing wisdom can be found at the popular site, Writers Helping Writers, which specializes in building innovative tools for writers that cannot be found elsewhere. A proud indie author, her books are sourced by U.S. universities and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors and psychologists around the world.
Angela’s home base is Calgary, Alberta, which is nestled close enough to the Rockies to go on a day jaunt, but not so close as to be pummeled by snow and excruciating cold temperatures in the winter months. Despite being Canadian, she lives in a house, not an igloo, and she generally travels by truck, rather than moose or ATV or whatever other things the outside world suspects. When she isn’t creating (with her co-author Becca Puglisi) new resources to help writers succeed, she’s conjuring up some dark and strange story—we don’t advise asking her what might happen if you pour orange juice instead of milk into your breakfast cereal.
Angela’s creative journey holds lessons about following your dream and the importance of allowing creativity to lead you in directions other than the one you might have set out on or hoped for. She also has great (character) advice for writers pounding out pages for National Novel Writing Month. And we just love that she “must invite” Stephen King to her next tea party!
Oh, hey, don’t miss the two free gifts from Angela, linked near the end of the interview!
What unexpected direction has creativity taken you and your work?
I always hoped to write fiction for kids, but never expected my creative path would also lead to three bestselling books for writers, and immeasurable joy from teaching others how to hone their craft!
What is the biggest creative obstacle you’ve faced? How did you work through it?
For me, it was the weight of rejection. I felt like I reached a point where it didn’t matter how carefully I tried to work within the system, I could only get so far. I’ve had two agents, been to acquisitions multiple times, and still have not secured a traditional publishing deal for fiction. I decided to stop letting things I had no say in get me down, and instead focus on what I could control: honing my craft, building my platform, and finding other areas to be successful in.
The "Thesaurus Trio"
What inspired you to create The Emotion Thesaurus and the work you do, through the blog Writers Helping Writers?
Becca (my co-author) and I belonged to an online critique group where members felt that their characters did nothing but roll their eyes, frown and shrug. We felt the same, but knew there had to be a way to break out of these boring emotional gestures. Becca came up with the idea of building lists, and we were off to the races! The Emotion Thesaurus started on our blog, but so many wanted to see it become a book that we decided to go for it.
Do you have any rituals that sustain your creative process?
I love my coffee in the morning, and I have a Chocolate Boyfriend of The Week (a new chocolate bar I try & share a picture of on Facebook.) Often I will also write to RainyMood.com – love the sound of rain!
It’s National Novel Writing Month. What’s the most important thing you’d advise those aspiring authors to do with their characters?
Know your characters deeply BEFORE you start writing. By understanding what motivates the them, what they need most and what pain from the past they are running from, you’ll see each’s true shape, and be able to write their actions authentically. This will save you much hair pulling as you revise!
We hear you love “all things strange.” What’s the strangest thing you’ve written about?
Hmmm, tough one! Probably a story where a boy pours orange juice into his cereal instead of milk, and creates a gigantic cannibalistic Cereal Monster. Fun!
Angela's favorite teacup.
You’re hosting a tea party and may invite three guests, living or deceased. Who will you invite and why?
Stephen King, because his mind is so twisted, and he’s never afraid to “go there.” Robert Jordan, because the scope of his world building is unparalleled. And finally, I’d invite Becca, so she could share the experience with me.
What are you working on now?
Becca and I are turning The Setting Thesaurus into two volumes, profiling over 200 fictional contemporary locations and cataloging the sights, smells, tastes, sounds and textures a character might experience in each. Our hope is to encourage writers to get more sensory with their description, pulling readers into the POV character’s world.
Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
Don’t be in a rush to publish! Understanding (and accepting) that strong writing takes time will put you in a “learning” mindset. Read, practice and experiment. You’ll find your writing style and grow your craft at the same time. Half the joy is in the journey, but it’s easy to forget that when we focus only on the goal of having our book in our hands.
Get your free copy of the Ultimate Character Profile Questionnaire and Kill Your Crutch Words courtesy of Angela Ackermann!
Follow Possibiliteas on Facebook and Twitter for more creative wit and wisdom.
Your Turn:
Has there been a time when you allowed creativity to guide you on an unexpected journey, rather than trying to control the course?
Tags: advise for writers, Angela Ackerman, coaching, creative process, creative writer, Creativitea, creativity, creativity coach, Creativity Coaching, inspiration, National Novel Writing Month, photography creative process, Possibiliteas, publishing, tea for creatives, writer, writer's resources, writers helping writers, writing coach, writing tips
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Angela Ackerman
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Thanks so much for inviting me. *raises tea mug*
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Lisanne Cooper
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I highly recommend The Emotion Thesaurus as well as the Positive and Negative Traits books. I use them myself, and always tell my editing clients about them. I CAN NOT WAIT for the two settings books to come out!
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Angela Ackerman
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You are the sweetest Sweet Lisanne! We are excited for the setting books too!
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becca puglisi
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Dude, we should TOTALLY do tea with Stephen King. Seriously, you’ve chosen the PERFECT person to interview for this topic. Angela’s idea box is constantly overflowing with big and audacious ideas that she isn’t afraid to try. Thank you for interviewing her :).
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Angela Ackerman
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It is true. I scare Becca on a weekly basis. LOL
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R.w.Foster
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Lovely interview. I love reading Angela’s words about her work. I learn something new each time. I have a question: How did the boy react to his cereal monster eating all the other cereal in the house?
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Angela Ackerman
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Haha, it didn’t want cereal for breakfast…it wanted the boy! 🙂 (Rob, so sorry for the late reply! I see all these comments came in on the 7th, and I know you told me you commented on FB, yet I checked the post for days after it went live and never saw any responses. I am not sure why…maybe a browser issue?)
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Feather Stone
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Great advice. Time has taught me to keep my eye on the goal. I visualize what I wish to achieve, how it would feel to accomplish that reward. I leave the plotting of the journey to something ‘higher’. As long as I keep my ego under control, pay attention to signals along the route, keep a positive attitude and willingness to learn – I simply can’t lose.
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Possibiliteas
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Feather Stone… enjoy the journey!
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Angela Ackerman
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What a great attitude and outlook. You have it nailed, I think. A willingness to always learn and stretch ourselves is so important to success of any kind, not to mention finding happiness!
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Cheryl Reifsnyder
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Wow, I hear you on the weight of rejection as a creative obstacle. It’s important for writers to “put ourselves out there” (eg, by submitting!), but at the same time, it’s difficult to divorce our creativity from the ups and downs of the acquisition process. Or, as the case may be, the NON-acquisition process. Sometimes I have to take a break to focus on what I love about being a writer–the writing!
Thanks for a great interview!
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Possibiliteas
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Writers, and artists in general, have such a soul connection to what they creatively produce, one would need super-powers to not feel the weight of rejection. (This morning on GMA, Stephen King told Matt Lauer he still “fears rejection.” No one is invincible!)
In the current market, there’s another kind of weight on creatives…choosing the path to production of one’s work. So many ways to bring a work “to life”, so many costs involved but not nearly enough resources to afford mistakes in how to independently put one’s work “out there”. We thank Angela for her time, talent and resources for writers. Thank you, Cheryl for sharing your thoughts!
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Angela Ackerman
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I have seen many strong writers give up because of that weight, and it is heartbreaking. I hate that our industry requires such a thick skin, but it does. I think the more we focus on what we can control, and let go of what we can’t, the better our attitude and overall happiness level will be.
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Sara L.
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Really enjoyed this interview! I have copies of all three of Angela and Becca’s thesauri, and they’ve been incredibly helpful with character development and emotional cues for my WIP. I like her final bit of advice, that we should never be in a rush to get our work out there. Polish it, make sure it’s the best it can be, then go for it. 🙂
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Possibiliteas
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Sara L. We also agree about “not rushing the work.” And, it’s seems incredibly hard to slow down in the face of the “publish now” mentality.
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Angela Ackerman
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I think because publishing is such a hard road, there is a temptation sometimes to settle for “good enough.” But, if our name is on something, we should give it our all! It will feel so much more satisfying when we go from pre-published to published!
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Angela Ackerman
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Thank you all for the comments everyone! I am sorry for the late responses–as I mentioned in another comment earlier, I checked this post all week when it went up, and never saw any comments. Possibly my browser wasn’t refreshing or something else–unfortunately I am not tech savvy enough to know why, but I apologize!
Wishing you all success and many words on the page!
Angela
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Possibiliteas
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Angela, We just launched a new site design so the comments might have been caught in the ‘between space’ while we were preparing for the launch. We are thrilled about the response to your post! Best wishes for future success. The Possibiliteas Team.
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Angela Ackerman
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Ah, yes that could be it–I have had something similar happen when i was redesigning too. No worries, just glad you sent me that message so I was able to respond! The design looks great, BTW. 🙂
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دانلود فیلم
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دانلود فیلم
Very interesting,thank you
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