The Development of Societies

The Growth of Societies

In the event you want to complete a degree background or sociology internship which may provide you with a greater comprehension of historical events and social events, then then it is a fantastic concept to research sociology classes in a college. These lessons cover a lot greater than just social problems such as crime and poverty.

A level history coursework typically covers the roots of societies from the hunter-gatherer era during the industrial revolution. phd thesis It is the research of the development of the study of background along with the cultures, cultures, along with societies which were formerly unknown for the common individual. Sociology courses protect the historic development of social theories, associations, and also those communities which form and develop.

Sociological study of this evolution of the culture typically begins with all the Stone Age. The human race has existed because the early periods of ancient period and has been already divided in to classes. Modern society was exceptionally structured and in one point even had a government approach. But immediately after a few thousand years, the evolution of the theories of social science, morality, and society gradually started and societies became increasingly less rigid and also the structure of the modern society vanished.

Society has stayed unchanged and has been slowly changed in its own customs, faith, and religion. Distinct types of societies existed across the plan of individual existence, but nonetheless they’re usually categorized because society by simply analyzing the truth about the society. Society is formed from the simple fact that numerous peoples have dwelt in different times.

Sociology coursework focuses upon the origins of the society, which include prehistory, prehistoric, and modern occasions. As civilizations are based on human culture, the most modern part of the society would be the modern era and the very ancient age is called the ancient period.

Sociology educates different economic concepts, politics, and social doctrines that are used in modern societies. Society is composed of the type of individuals and also the culture isshaped by the group of individuals. Society could be classified as nation, empire, political country, trade unions, and enterprise venture.

A level history coursework regularly copes with cultures that are significant from the Stone Age to modern situations. That isn’t only one interval of history that is a single era. Modern societies developed over time, and this progression was actually an evolution.

Many sociologists feel that we’re living in a historic time, and the last history really isn’t first of the upcoming historical past. The most important part of heritage can be a continuous progress of individual civilization, which will eventually create a worldwide modern society.

It is because of development that societies evolve. Evolution is also the usual denominator that most cultures reveal.

Culture is also growing through history. In case the very same individuals live in various pieces of earth, they are going to not ever be combined. To generate a single society is not necessarily easy; however, the progression is never impossible. The progress of humanity is found in every society, and this can be seen in various societal circles and also the interior contradictions.

The development of societies and civilizations are found in their own infancy, the way they develop, and what exactly will eventually result in their own development. By observing how cultures and societies have been evolving, it is possible to observe that the life spans of their society and by what method the society is going to soon be transformed in to a much superior. After the evolution of modern society has been detected carefully, you can create a educated decision on which kind of society that you want to have.


2.1 Philosophical positions

Any formal foundation system for mathematics is necessarily connected more or less intimately with some philosophical position upon the nature of mathematics.

The three principal 'schools' of philosophy of mathematics in the twentieth century have been logicism, intuitionism, and formalism.

Logicism, of which Bertrand Russell was one of the principal proponents, is the thesis that the whole of mathematics is ultimately reducible to symbolic logic. In "The Principles of Mathematics" [Rus03] (the manuscript of which was completed on the last day of the 19th century), Russell states that: "The fact that all Mathematics is Symbolic Logic is one of the greatest discoveries of our age; and when this fact has been established, the remainder of the principles of mathematics consists in the analysis of Symbolic Logic itself."

Intuitionism, a school of thought most prominently associated with Brouwer rejects classical mathematics in favour of the more spartan constructive mathematics. According to Bishop [Bis67] an important element of the intuitionist position is that: "every mathematical statement ultimately expresses the fact that if we perform certain computations within the set of positive integers, we shall get certain results". Intuitionists reject some of the principles of classical logic, notably the law of the excluded middle.

Formalism, a doctrine and a programme due to Hilbert, is characterised by the view that classical mathematics may be established by formal derivation from plausible axioms, provided that the consistency of the formal axiomatisation is established by "finitary" or "constructive" means.

Of these positions only the intuitionist position has survived intact to the present day, though it remains a position which the majority of working mathematicians find unacceptable.

The logicist position failed to be established primarily because two of the principles (axioms) necessary for the development of classical mathematics are difficult to establish as principles of logic. Neither the axiom of infinity nor the axiom of choice can be convincingly shown to be logically necessary propositions.

The formalist programme was shown to be unachievable by Kurt Gödel, he demonstrated that classical mathematics is not completely formalisable, and that no formalisation of arithmetic can be proven consistent by finitary means [God31].

2.2 Ontology

Associated with each of the philosophical positions outlined above are underlying ideas on the population of the universe of mathematics, on what, as far as mathematics is concerned, "exists". Logicism and formalism share similar ontologies, since they both aim to provide a foundation for "classical" mathematics. They differ to some degree in the formal system in which mathematics is derived, and differ widely in how the formalisation is to be philosophically justified, but ontologically they are broadly similar.

The underlying ontology is that of a hierarchy of sets, built up in stages from a (possibly empty) collection of individuals. Hatcher describes this in [Hat82] (speaking with reference to the Zermelo- Fraenkel axiomatisation of set theory) " ... the hierarchy of sets we envisage consists of all the sets we can obtain by starting with the null set and iterating, in the indicated manner, our power set and union operations any transfinite number of times."

This process rehabilitates Cantor's informal set theory, after Russell's paradox had shown Frege's formalisation of it to be inconsistent, by restricting abstraction so that no set can be formed until after the formation of all the sets which it contains, (this is not the same as requiring that a description of a set may not mention any sets not formed before it). This may be restated as the requirement that the transitive closure of the membership relation is anti-reflexive (and hence its reflexive closure is a partial ordering on the universe of sets). Though this last condition is not fully adhered to by all the formal foundation systems for classical mathematics, (Quine's New Foundations [Qui63] being one counter- example), one of its consequences, that functions may not be members of their own domains, is present in all classical foundation systems of which I am aware.

The intuition behind this ontological position is probably attributable to Bertrand Russell. The first attempt to articulate the idea is in [Rus03], and results from Russell's attempts to identify the logical errors which give rise to the paradoxes. When the idea is elaborated in Russell's Theory of Types [Rus08], it is easily confused with the proscription of impredicative definitions, but seems still to be a part of the underlying intuition. Although "first-order" axiomatisations of set theory began without such a clear commitment to a hierarchy [Zer08], in the later axiomatisations known now as ZF and NBG (see [Hat82]), the hierarchy is cleaned up by the inclusion of an axiom of regularity,

Russell's intuition cuts across the intuitions which are encouraged by an acquaintance with digital computers (for which he can hardly be blamed). In considering the behaviour of computers it is perhaps more natural to consider types as ways of interpreting objects, We can consider an object stored in a computer memory, at one moment as a data value, and at the next as a program, rule or function,

In computing we can accept a single countable domain and interpret the members of this domain in terms of types. There appears to be no clear intuitive reason to proscribe applying a rule to itself, and this is practically very useful.

The significance of the problem of self application of functions has been argued by Dana Scott in [Sco70] and elsewhere. The theoretical underpinning of denotational semantics has required and resulted in resolution of these difficulties within a classical framework. This is done by slimming down function spaces until they are small enough to be isomorphic to the domains over which the functions range. Self- application then requires a non-standard account of the result of applying a function to an argument, (One which doesn't require a set directly or indirectly to be a member of itself, as proscribed by the axiom of regularity).

This solution carries rather too much baggage with it to be entirely satisfactory as a foundation system. If we take it to be founded on a first order axiomatisation of set theory, then we have first implicitly accept the need for a hierarchy of types. Next, by chosing "first- order" logic, we determine to do mathematics in just the first level of this hierarchy, the individuals, Then we construct a set theoretic hierarchy within this domain of "individuals", and finally collapse this hierarchy by slimming down function spaces until they become homeomorphic with their domains. Having twice accepted a system almost designed to prevent self-application, it is not surprising that some mathematical sophistication is required to construct yet again a type free notion of function application within this framework,

Even where the formalisation of classical mathematics is not required, as in the work of Martin-Lof [Mar75,82] in formalising constructive mathematics, and that of Constable in constructing formal systems for the verification of programs [Con80], constraining the ontology to be hierarchic seems to have proven necessary to avoid inconsistency.

We choose to start from the beginning with a type free system. The difficulty here is in giving any "mathematical" respectability to the system. The term "mathematical" is now so strongly associated with classical set theory, that an account of semantics which does not ultimately result in denotations in classical set theory is in danger of being considered not mathematical.

In constructing a foundation system, our ontological intuitions are crucial, and the indications are that the richness of classical ontologies is incompatible with a natural account of self application. In determining on a foundation we will first identify our domain of discourse, which we consider an important step in ensuring consistency in the foundation, Before we do this we will examine more closely the idea of logical truth, since this provides additional motivation for our selected ontology.

2.3 Logical pluralism and Conventionalism

Concern for single foundation systems has largely been displaced by a pluralistic attitude to foundations. Logicians and Philosophers study different foundation systems on their technical merits without feeling bound to choose between them, Mathematicians are mostly able to work in a way that can reasonably be interpreted in any of the classical systems, and Computer Scientists feel free to adopt or invent any formal system which suits their purposes.

These pluralistic attitudes have a philosphical counterpart in the linguistic-conventionalist account of the status of logical principles. This principle states (roughly) that a logical truth is true in virtue of the meanings of the terms it contains, i.e. in virtue of accepted linguistic conventions. Pluralism and conventionalism have in common that they seem to support the view that logical truths are not absolute, but are arbitrary.

If logical truth were entirely arbitraryg, then it would likely be of limited utility. However, we know there to be, underlying the plurality of informal and formal logics, some common principles which we can claim to be absolute logical principles.

These principles are about conformance to rules. Either informally or formally, we suggest, that the idea of logical truth depends upon proof, that in the essence of the idea of proof is the view that proofs are checkable, and that the method of checking proofs be effective. There may be doubt about whether a statement has a proof, but given a putative proof of a statement there must be an "effective procedure" for testing whether it is indeed a proof.

We now know many languages within which effective procedures may be described, (lambda calculus, combinatory logic, Turing machines, recursive functions, Post productions...) and the fact that these have been shown to be equivalent in expressive power gives us a basis for claiming that the notion of effective computability is an absolute one, It is from this that our notion of absolute logical truth derives. The claim that a sentence is a theorem of a formal system is just the claim that a particular effectively computable partial function over sentences yields a token representative of "true" when evaluated on the given sentence.

The primitive formalism which we describe below, and hence the various languages which we construct from it, are capable of expressing and proving just those propositions which indicate the result of applying some effective procedure to some value,

2.4 Neo-constructive ontology

We now identify a domain of discourse and the properties we wish to express over this domain.

Since we are concerned to reason about the properties of computers and their programs we choose a more or less arbitrary denumerable domain, which we may consider as the collection of values storable in the memory of some ideal computing device, Functions are to be represented by conventions whereby the values in the domain may be interpreted as rules describing some computational procedure. Properties or predicates are identified with partial computable functions over the values in the domain into some subdomain designated as representing the truth values.

As an example, we select as a domain of discourse the free combinatory algebra generated from the constants K and S under the binary operation of application. By the use of an embedding of this domain into itself and a reduction process over the terms of the domain we are able to represent all partial computable functions over the domain using elements in the domain.

The reduction process is effected by the rules:

U                => U
( (K u) v)       => U
(((S U) v) W)    => ((U W)(v W))
(U v)            => (X Y)                if u => x and v => y
Where U,V,W,X,Y are arbitrary values in our intended interpretation, and (u v) is the application of u to v.

=>* is defined as the transitive closure of =>.

Elements may be encoded into the domain using the rules shown below in section 3.6.

An element u of our domain is considered to satisfy the predicate represented by an element v if the application of v to the encoding of u, (which we write 'u') is reducible to K. i.e. if

                    (v 'u') =>* K
The true propositions, are those elements of our domain which are reducible to K under the above reduction system.
up home © RBJ dated 1986/7/15 HTML 1996/6/6 modified 1997/12/1


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Elon Musk says Tesla cars will connect to Starlink’s new cellular-broadcasting satellites

Elon Musk just announced that the upcoming second-generation Starlink internet satellites include cellular antennas for connections with phones from T-Mobile in the US and potentially other operators as well.

Following the event, he responded to tweets asking whether the connections will work with Tesla’s electric cars, which currently connect to AT&T’s LTE network. According to Musk, the answer is yes.

He didn’t go into detail about how it will all work or how much data owners could expect to access from the connections when they’re somewhere out of reach by terrestrial cellphone towers. Musk said during the event that the satellite-to-cellular coverage from Starlink will be capable of providing a 2–4Mbps link, which is shared by everyone in the satellite’s coverage area. That likely won’t be enough for some Premium Connectivity features, like livestreaming video from your car’s cameras. Still, a connection that works at all, “anywhere you have a view of the sky,” is better than no connection, potentially.

LightShed Partners analyst Walter Piecyk pointed out that enabling access could work similarly to an MVNO like Google Fi, which uses multiple carriers as its backbone, or that Musk could change the carrier deal away from AT&T in the future.

Over the years, Tesla has scaled back the connectivity packages that come standard with its electric vehicles. As explained here, cars purchased before the end of June 2018 include Premium Connectivity at no extra charge, while cars purchased before July 20th, 2022, all include at least the Standard Connectivity package with in-car maps and navigation. Those connections are available for the lifetime of the vehicle, “excluding retrofits or upgrades required for any features or services externally supplied to the vehicle.” Adding the Premium Connectivity subscription to a Tesla that doesn’t have it currently costs $9.99 per month or $99 annually.

The recent shutdown of AT&T’s 3G network showed how that can come into play, as older vehicles built prior to mid-2015 without an LTE-capable modem may have required a $200 upgrade to stay connected.

New or used electric cars purchased today from Tesla “will have Standard Connectivity for the remainder of the eight years from the first day your vehicle was delivered as new by Tesla, or the first day it is put into service (for example used as a demonstrator or service vehicle), whichever comes first.”


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The Daily Scrum

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Facilitating Purposeful Agile Meetings
Scrum Roles
Scrum Events

The course is part of this learning path

Scrum Roles

Course Description

This module looks at the different scrum events and scrum roles, before focusing on best practice for the daily scrum.

Learning Objectives

  • What the scrum events are
  • What the roles in scrum are
  • How to run a daily scrum
  • Best practice for the daily scrum

Intended Audience

This course is aimed at Scrum Masters who want to improve their individual knowledge of facilitating scrum events in service to their Scrum team and their wider organization

There are no specific pre-requisites to study this course

So scrum is a framework to work in an agile way. Scrum teams are self-organising and cross-functional. They decide who will do the work and how it will be done. But how do they organise themselves? It's actually pretty simple. The key thing is that work in a scrum environment is divided between three roles and each role has its own responsibilities. The three roles are: product owner, scrum master and the development team. In this video I want to discuss each of these roles and talk a little bit about their responsibilities. I need to talk about some scrum artifacts and events to do this properly. So don't worry if that sounds like jargon right now, I'll explain everything as we go along.

So let's start with the product owner. This is a single person, not a committee or some kind of group. They are in charge of managing the product backlog. The product backlog is a scrum artifact. And it's basically a list of work that needs to be done. Now it's the product owner's job to understand and engage with the stakeholders to understand what needs to be done and create that backlog, which is then used and pulled into the sprint planning. They also need to prioritise that backlog. This is just making sure that the most important work is at the top of the backlog with the work that's least important at the bottom. And maybe the least important stuff will get done at some point but because it is the least important, it will sit at the bottom of the backlog until the team can around to it.

During the sprint planning the scrum team will pull as much of the product backlog as they can get done into the sprint backlog, which is just the list of work they're looking to get done by the end of that sprint. So the product backlog has to be well organised and managed by the product owner. To do this, the product owner has to be empowered by the business. It's really important that there is a commitment within the business or the organisation that empowers the product owner to take control of the product backlog and make sure that their team is able to self-organise in the way that they need to.

Next up I want to talk about the scrum master. So this is a servant-leader who is there to help the entire team achieve the scrum goals and work within scrum. Being a servant-leader means that they lead the team by putting the team first and helping them to adopt the values of scrum. Being a servant-leader means that the main goal of the scrum master is to serve the scrum team and help guide them to be the most effective and efficient team possible. Because of this, it's really important that the scrum master really understand scrum and can help guide the team. The scrum master will also support the product owner with their responsibilities in terms of managing the backlog as well as, supporting the development team. You can think of them as a kind of support for the entire team. And they'll often do this by facilitating scrum events like the daily scrum or the sprint review and retrospective.

Last up we've got the development team. Their responsibilities may seem pretty obvious, I mean, it's in the name. It's worth noting though, that people in the development team aren't necessarily coders or technical people. They could be designers or writers or any role that contributes to the development of the product or service. Development team is just the term we use to describe the role of the people who actually make the things within scrum. The development team are the people who are creating the product or service and delivering done increments at the end of each sprint. Now what done looks like is really up to the scrum team as a whole to decide, but it should essential be a usable piece of software or product or service.

So how do they create this increment? There are two main ways. The first is that they're self-organising, so they choose how they want to work. It's up to them to decide how they'll deliver the increments. So they'll need to have discussions and come to a consensus as a team. So when they take an item from the backlog, they have to look at it, understand it and then be able to really quickly and easily turn that into some kind of workable increment. This brings me to the second way they're able to deliver the increment and that is, the development team needs to be a cross-functional team. Basically this means that within the team there are all the skills that are required to deliver that increment. Now this is a really tricky thing because teams which are too large might have loads of different skills but then they'll really struggle to work in a scrum environment because communication channels will become too complex. But teams which are really, really small won't have all those cross-functional skills.

So the key thing really, is to have smaller teams with people who can do multiple different things. Essentially what you really want to aim for is people who are specialists in a number of areas, often referred to as generalists, rather than owing a single area, because otherwise you're going to have to hire more people and the team will grow too large. Scrum teams are ideally made of six, plus or minus three people, and any more or less, they become ineffective. So just to summarise the three roles in scrum then. Product owners manage the work to be done. They engage with the stakeholders and they make sure that the product backlog is really well organised. The scrum master supports the entire scrum team and working within the scrum framework and acts as a coach and servant-leader to the entire scrum team. The development team self-organises in a cross-functional way to create and deliver increments for each sprint.

About the Author
Learning Paths

Tony has over 20 years’ experience in Business Development, Business Change, Consulting, and Project/Program Management working with public, private, and third sector organizations.

He has helped organizations to design and create processes and procedures to align ways of working with corporate strategy. A highly motivated and detailed solution provider, utilizing a wide range of methods and frameworks to provide structure whilst promoting creativity and innovation.

As a confident and self-motivated professional with excellent communication skills, Tony is able to bring people together and get them working as a team quickly.

Tony is an Agile and Scrum trainer with a vast knowledge spanning IT Systems, Business Change, Program and Project Management. With excellent presentation skills and a solid background, he ensures that all clients gain maximum benefit from his training. He has successfully guided those new to the industry through their initial training, helped experienced staff as they progress in their careers, and worked at the director level advising on best use and practice, as well as tailoring courses to fulfil the exact needs of clients.


Maltese Traditions – Il-Quccija

Malta is a small island, and yet its multi-cultural history cannot be denied, since throughout the years it was conquered and influenced by so many civilizations. The Normans, the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Turks, the Aragonese (Spanish), the French, and the English, all left their footprints in Maltese culture and traditions, and this mix makes up the unique Maltese habits and customs we know at present.

Il-Quċċija, which could be roughly translated as ‘the choosing’ or ‘the choice’ is one of the ancient old traditions dating back to the 18th century, which is still predominantly popular today. A year after a baby is born, its parents organize a party and invite all the family members and close friends for the gathering. After having eaten traditional Maltese party food, drunk a drink or two and chatted to their heart’s content, the parents prepare a table, basket, or section of the room for the Quċċija. The aim of the Quċċija is to determine or try to prophesy which profession or career the child would have later on in life, depending on which object he or she would pick up from all those offered in the pile.

This entails collecting and setting out many different items, all reflecting or relating to a particular profession, career or aspect of life. For example, a calculator denotes that the child will become a mathematician, a rosary that he would become a priest, a pen that he would be a writer and a book that he would be learned and wise.

(photo: Clare Galea-Warrington –

In the past, different items would be set forth for the child to pick up, depending on his or her gender. If the child was a girl, most often the parents prepared a dish or table containing a pair of scissors, meaning that the girl would become a seamstress, cooking items, a ribbon, which if picked, would mean that the girl would be a beauty, corn which denoted fertility, or an egg which used to signify that the girl would have a big and prosperous home. If the child was a boy, the items would reflect totally different professions. A stethoscope would definitely be one of the items, in the hope that the boy would grow up to be a doctor, if he grabbed an inkstand it would mean that he was going to sit for the bar and become either a lawyer or a magistrate, while if he touched a geometry instrument it would mean that he would become an architect or engineer.

Today, the tradition has changed to reflect the society we are currently living in. Careers and professions are no longer subject to one’s gender, therefore usually the same items are offered to the child at the ceremony, be they male or female. The items themselves too have evolved, in reflection of today’s technological aspect. A baby might therefore grab a computer mouse, pointing at a career in I.T, or a credit card, pointing either towards a banking career or at the promise of future wealth.

(photo: Clare Galea-Warrington –

In the end, there is really no strict list of items which must be presented, and parents tend to let the baby crawl around everyday things which are to be normally found around the household. The object the child touches first, tradition holds, will be a dominant aspect in his or her life.

This small ceremony, apart from being held in the Maltese islands, is also believed to be something of a custom in some remote parts of Sicily, Italy, and Greece.

This article was published on – to read the whole article please go here

Book Review – Coraline – Neil Gaiman

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from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trastevere (from Latin trans Tiberim "across the Tiber") is the XIII. Rione (district) of Rome . It stretches from the southern knee of the Tiber to the Gianicolo hill on the right, western bank of the Tiber and is considered the most pristine and authentic district of the city. The correct emphasis of the name is on the second syllable in Latin and Italian: Trans berim, Tras vere.

Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere
Coat of arms of the district ( Rione ). In the case of colored images, the lion's head is shown in gold and the background in red.

A disproportionately large number of old residential buildings and narrow streets make this old part of the city, which is opposite most of the quarters of the historic city center of Rome on the right bank of the Tiber, a picturesque magnet for tourists and photographers. Old church buildings such as Sant'Egidio in Trastevere , Santa Maria in Trastevere , San Pietro in Montorio , Santa Cecilia in Trastevere and San Francesco a Ripa can be found there. In Trastevere there is also a high density of restaurants and cultural offerings.

Well known and a popular destination for locals and tourists at the same time is the Porta Portese flea market , which takes its name from its starting point, Porta Portese, which still belongs to Trastevere. It takes place every Sunday from the early morning hours until 2 p.m. Various departments of the Roman Curia have their seat in Trastevere , such as B. the Pontifical Council for the Laity . The church of Santa Maria in Trastevere has been a Roman titular church since the 12th century .

View from the Aventine over Trastevere to St. Peter's Basilica
Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere at night

Trastevere was one of the working-class neighborhoods in ancient Rome. It was the quarter of foreigners and marginalized groups. At first, many Jews lived there , which was reflected in the fact that there were once ten synagogues here. The first Christians of Rome also settled here. Some of the most important early Christian basilicas are in Trastevere.

Throughout history, Trastevere has remained the international district of Rome. Immigrants came to this area because it was cheaper than other parts of the city. Some also call Trastevere the village within the city . During the revolt in Rome against the papacy in 1849 , Trastevere was the stronghold of the rebels, of which the long-established residents are still proud today. Trastevere has been severely affected by gentrification since the 1970s and has been increasingly developed as an “insider tip” for tourists.

The actor Alberto Sordi was born here.

Web links

Commons : Trastevere  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Carlo Pietrangeli, Insegne e Stemmi dei rioni di Roma (PDF) in: Capitol. Rassegna di attività municipali , anno XXVIII, n.6, Roma, Tumminelli. Istituto Romano di Arti Grafiche 1953.

Coordinates: 41 ° 53 '  N , 12 ° 28'  E


Monthly Archives: May 2022

How to Find the Conflict in a Story: Conflict Mapping and Other Writing Tips

One of the greatest challenges of writing better stories is knowing exactly which scenes to write. The best scenes focus on the core elements of conflict — which means before you can write amazing scenes, you have to find the central conflict in a story.

You may have a great story idea in your head. But the specifics of it — which moments to capture — are unclear. The result is often writer’s block, or a story that feels “off,” meaning it isn’t focused on the right stuff.

That’s where Conflict Mapping can make your writing even better!

Strong scenes come from strong plans. And visualizing the types of conflict between your characters is a great way to do just that.

When Conflict in a Story Is Unclear

Conflict is essential to a strong story.

To give zest to your plot and move it forward, you need to integrate a type of conflict in every scene.

This can be seen as a moral conflict that sparks an internal struggle, or a force of external conflicts that threaten a character in a physical or  other way.

Rarely does a story’s conflict magically appear in our minds. That’s because inspiration frequently comes from other sources: beauty, music, or situations. Rarely are we inspired by a focused sequence of events built around pursuing a goal (which is what a story is), because this tends to happen too quickly to note.

So when we sit down to write, we’re really just translating the image or idea we had into a word-picture.

Except those aren’t major conflicts.

I experienced this in 2012 when I decided to write a murder mystery about a family in New Orleans. My wife and I even went on vacation there, staying just outside the French Quarter.

And while we saw a lot of beautiful things, heard some amazing music, and came up with many interesting situations, strong story conflict did not come to us as we sweated our way through the city.

The beauty, music, and situations that inspire you to write are wonderful—but these alone are not the core conflicts of your story.

How can we translate inspiration and ideas into clear conflict in a story?

Simple: Start by drawing two circles.

Conflict Map: Drawing a Relationship

To begin your Conflict Map, draw two empty circles. Then, connect them with arcing arrows, like this:

Now, decide which two people are in a relationship in your story. You don’t need names. Just people. Mom and daughter? Boyfriend and girlfriend? Owner and dog? You decide. Just put something in there.

The point is that you are intentionally developing multiple characters in a a story, which gives you an opportunity to create conflict between people, particularly between one character and your protagonist.

Once you’ve done this, on the arrow extending from a character’s bubble, write what they want from the other character. It can be physical (preferable) or non-physical (okay — but add something physical to go with it, like “affection = hug”).

Then, consider what the other character might want from the first. Write it on their arrow.

As you do this, consider traits that might be essential to each character. Jot them in the circles. This is the time to create without any fear or reservations.

And to keep it fear-free, do it in pencil so you can erase and alter to your heart’s delight!

Create 4 Relationships

According to Robert McKee, there are four character types that nearly every protagonist has a relationship with in most stories. Whenever I’m building a new story in a new world, I find this to be a fantastic starting place, and it’s what I did as I built the world of my New Orleans play.

The four character types to fill first, as you plan, are:

  1. Friend: What one might want from a friend? What does the exchange of goals look like in friendship?
  2. Authority: How does this relationship create benevolent and/or negative energy?
  3. Love: How does the protagonist think of, and possibly plan to, pursue their love interest?
  4. Enemy: Who opposes the protagonist? Is it direct opposition (contradicting the protagonist’s goal), or competitive (pursing the same or a similar goal)?

Once you’ve established what the protagonist wants from each of these characters, draw arrows connecting the characters to each other. What might the Authority want from the Friend? The Friend from the Love? And so on.

Not only does this give you more characters to work with, but it plants the seeds for plenty of conflict that will blossom into strong scenes. When characters are engaged in authentic relationships, the conflict between them occurs more naturally. It doesn’t feel unclear, nor does it come out of nowhere.

So plan out two (or more) characters who want things from one another that cannot easily be given.

When you have characters in conflict, you have the makings of a strong story.

You can see my protagonist, Isabel’s, relationship with two of these characters below: the Friend (her adopted brother) and her Authority (her mother, Natasha). Note that I hadn’t figured out Andre’s goal, yet. This truly is a way to discover your protagonist’s “world!”

Add Goals and Go

When I was done with my Conflict Map, it was so big that my play couldn’t possibly contain all the characters and relationships. So I cut five of them!

Yet the map was invaluable for planning the relationships and conflict I would need to make the story work. It gave me the seeds of great, dramatic scenes.

And the result was a fun, thrilling play that surprised everyone with its authentic conflict.

There is one thing I didn’t do, though, that I highly recommend you do: Add action verbs to each character’s goal. There’s a big difference between an Enemy who chooses to “annihilate” to get their goal, versus one who “humiliates.”

My protagonist, a bride-to-be, chose to “soothe” her overbearing mother in order to get her goal of “genuine love and approval. The play would have been much different if she chose to blame, lie, or ignore. Verbs matter, and they can help you as you craft these crucial scenes.

You can check out a large view of my final map here. It’s a mess—four pieces of paper taped together and scanned into the computer in three batches.

Every Story Needs Conflict

Conflict is crucial in a plot and between characters and other forces, like the environment, that challenge the protagonist.

To help you come up with conflict, turn to your planning process. Remember, this is supposed to be messy, not a perfect, finished product. A well-executed plan can lead to a wonderful final product.

Whether or not the main conflict in your scene is internal conflict or minor characters blocking your protagonist and their pursuit of their scene goals, or other external obstacles standing in their way, engaging conflicts will advance a plot and keep your readers engaged.

To plan and implement conflict into your story, give Character Mapping a try. And watch as your story get stronger right away!

How do you find the conflict in a story? Let us know in the comments.

BY David Safford

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Fear Thesaurus Entry: Responsibility for Others

Being Responsible for Others

While some people crave being in charge of others, many shy away from it. The pressure of being responsible for someone else’s well-being, success, happiness, etc. can be so great that a character will actively avoid being put in this position.

A fear in this area could realistically develop out of a wounding event—whether the character failed when they were put in charge of someone or they were the one who was let down by the person responsible for them. Their reluctance can also stem from other fears, such as a fear of failure or letting others down.

What It Looks Like
Not having children
The character avoiding situations where they’re put in charge of children
Difficulty building deep relationships with others
Taking jobs that allow the character to work alone
Shifting responsibility for others onto someone else
Acting irresponsibly (to keep others from considering the character when someone needs care)
Avoiding leadership roles
Being neutral or apathetic about social and political issues (because if the character expresses concern or notices injustice, they’ll feel compelled to take action for those being mistreated)
Claiming that social problems aren’t real or are someone else’s problem
Claiming that people needing help are responsible for their own misfortune (so the character can avoid taking responsibility)
Selfishness (real or perceived)—because the character’s priority always seems to be themselves, their own needs and desires, etc.
Reluctance to get involved in a friend’s personal problems
Throwing money at problems (because it allows the character to help without getting personally involved and being responsible for individuals)
Staying busy with work, hobbies, personal pursuits, etc.

Common Internal Struggles
Seeing injustice and wanting it to end but being too afraid to take action
Wanting deeper connections but knowing that a certain level of responsibility for the other parties comes with it
Wishing to be less selfish but feeling powerless to change (because it has become an ingrained defense mechanism)
The character recognizing that they’re becoming irresponsible, self-serving, or superficial but also feeling that those traits are protecting them from harm
Being mired in feelings of inadequacy, incapability, and insecurity (because they believe they’re unable to responsibly care for others)
The character recognizing they’re being limited (professionally, socially, etc.) by this fear but not knowing how to change course
Wanting to eradicate the fear but being unable to get to the root of it—because they’re unwilling to face the past or the reasons behind the fear are complicated and hard to unravel

Flaws That May Emerge
Abrasive, Antisocial, Apathetic, Callous, Childish, Cynical, Disloyal, Evasive, Flaky, Frivolous, Inattentive, Irresponsible, Lazy, Self-Indulgent, Stingy, Suspicious, Uncooperative, Withdrawn, Workaholic

Hindrances and Disruptions to the Character’s Life
Being unable to pursue a dream career that requires being responsible for others
Having few deep relationships or many shallow ones
Not being able to have children (if this something the character would want)
Friction with friends and family members who don’t understand why the character won’t engage on a deeper level
Missing out on growth opportunities because the character is too scared to act
Having to avoid people who will ask more of the character than they’re willing to give

Scenarios That Might Awaken This Fear
Seeing firsthand injustice that requires a response
An emergency situation that requires the character to temporarily take charge of a friend’s child
A niece or nephew being orphaned, and the character being the only relative who can save them from foster care
Being offered a desirable professional opportunity that would put the character in charge of others
The character’s concerns about their inabilities being confirmed by a negative influence in their life
A family member needing long-term care for a physical or mental health issue.

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Writing Sprints: A Simple Exercise That Benefits Every Writer

How do you defeat procrastination, write more in less time, and do it with less struggle? Two words: writing sprints.

Word sprints are an amazing writing tool that you can use to improve your writing. Sprinting pushes you to write more words fast, by forcing you to start writing and ignore your inner editor.

They also get you to concentrate on one of the most important ways to improve your writing life: consistent practice.

With continuous practice, word sprints can even help you develop a writing habit that will empower you to write and actually finish a novel or a screenplay—and maybe even develop a career as a writer.

But what are writing sprints? And how can you use them effectively?

Writing Sprints Combat a Writer’s Fatal Enemy: Procrastination

I’ve taught thousands of people how to develop a writing practice that works, to use that practice to write more in less time, and to finish their best novels and memoirs. And recently, I developed a three-part series to help you write more (and better), too.

But out of the thousands of writers I’ve trained over the last ten plus years, most of them have struggled in their writing in some very predictable ways: things like procrastination, writer’s block, perfectionism, lack of ideas, and other things that make their writing a miserable experience, and ultimately keep them from finishing their projects.

And if I’m being completely honest, I also struggle with these writing pitfalls. I’m a professional writer, but writing has never come easy for me. Just ask my teachers growing up.

Over the last couple of decades, I’ve also figured out a set of really simple tricks, writing routines, and practices that have enabled me—possibly the worst procrastinator you know—to write fifteen books, dozens of stories, and hundreds of articles.

One of these writing tips is writing sprints. Why?

Because sprints work. They’ll change your writing life—and impact your writing craft in immeasurable ways. If you do them right.

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Before a Sprint, Set An Intention

Before joining a writing buddy or your fellow sprinters for a writing sprint, pause for a second. Ask yourself, “Am I entering this sprint with a focus? Do I know what I’m going to write today?”

Even if you’re a pantser, you’ll have a more positive experience in a writing sprint if you set an intention for each sprint.

What  is an intention?

Studies on productivity and goal setting have consistently shown that when you set an intention, when you visualize what you’re going to do, when you’re going to do it, and where you’re going to do it, you’re much more likely to actually accomplish your goal.

Think about that for your daily writing. What if you started each writing session not by just pulling out a blank page and starting to write, but instead by setting a clear intention on what you’re going to accomplish that day? How much could that change your writing?

Intentions could be as simple as:

  • A word count
  • A page count
  • A scene count
  • A certain amount of time writing
  • A sprint word count (amount of words in a sprint you want to meet)

To learn more about how to set an intention, sign up for my free writing practice.

But for now, just consider how participating in a writing sprint will feel even more rewarding if you set and meet your writing intention.

The thought feels good, doesn’t it?

Write Fast and Imperfectly

Most of your writing problems, whether it’s procrastination, writer’s block, or just not having fun with writing, come from perfectionism. Which sounds like a relief, right? Because then all you have to do is beat perfectionism, and you’ll be a productive writer!

Not quite. First, because perfectionism is incredibly tough to overcome.

After all, you want to write something great, something that will connect with millions of people, something that will inspire people like the books and stories you’ve loved have inspired you.

And so, perfectionism takes hold.

Writing sprints will help you reach your writing goals—and write better books. This post teaches you all about writing sprints and how to add them to your daily practice.

You write a sentence that doesn’t quite measure up to your standards, and then spend a few minutes fixing it. You finally move on to the next sentence, but that isn’t right either. And then, oh by the way, is your book idea itself right? Is it original? Is it inspired? Is it working at all?

Before you know it, you’ve been staring into the distance for an hour, or worse, scrolling through social media, and all you have to show for your writing time is two lousy sentences and a couple of a handful of likes that you gave on Instagram.

There has to be a better way, right?

Most writers have to overcome procrastination at some point in their career. They can be first time writers working on a first draft, or they can be seasoned writers with multiple bestsellers on the New York Times bestseller list. They could rank high in Amazon for certain genre. It doesn’t matter.

Almost every writer, at some point, will have a moment where they’d rather do anything than write their book. Even it that itch is only temporary.

Luckily, there are writing tools to help you get around it.

The best way to do that is to write fast. Really fast. Like, as fast as you’re able, with no editing. This way your perfectionist brain never gets a chance to judge your writing bad.

That’s why writing sprints are so great. They don’t give you time to procrastinate. You have to focus.

You have to write. Now.

What is a Writing Sprint?

A sprint is when you set a timer and write as much as you can for that period of time without editing or doing anything else.

You can enter a sprint with a very specific focus, like a writing prompt. Or, you can use a sprint to add pages to your current WIP (work-in-progress).

You might join a sprinting group only for certain times of the year, like November for NaNoWriMo. Or you might find a tight-niche writing community that you meet each day on your lunch break. By the way, sprints are an amazing way to get you to write each day, even while working a full-time job.

And here’s the beauty of it—you choose how long you want your sprint to be. It could be twenty minutes, or even just a minute sprint. The point of the sprint is to get you to write: fast, and consistently.

Say, for instance, a writer wants to sprint for thirty minutes.

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This is how to use the spreadsheet:

  1. Set a timer. By the way, don’t use the timer on your phone, since this might distract you. Turn your phone notifications off. Use a timer on the microwave or oven—something not directly next to you. Or use a free timer on your computer like this.
  2. Get writing. Try to stay focused and not do anything else during that period. See how using a timer not on your phone will help with this?
  3. Stop when the timer goes off.
  4. Count how many words or pages you wrote. Don’t skip this step!

Let’s say I wrote three pages. I would write that down, and it’s great. Let’s say this means that I finished my word count goal that day. It’s rewarding and encouraging.

At the same time, if you want, you can keep going and see if you can write even more during your daily writing time.

How Long Should You Set Your Timer For?

There’s no perfect amount of time a writing sprint should last. It depends on how you’re feeling.

If you’re feeling really focused, you might choose to set your timer for thirty minutes or ten minutes or five minutes. Or take a note from the pomodoro method and set it for twenty-five minutes.

If you’re feeling really distracted or like you don’t want to write, you might set it for a shorter period.

For me, I often like to set my timer for just three minutes, because sometimes I’m so busy and so distracted that I only have three minutes of focus in me.

On top of that, I don’t always have much will-power, but I know that I always have three minutes of will power in me. So I set my timer for three minutes and write as quickly as I can.

What Happens When the Timer Goes Off?

Ding, ding! That’s it. Your timer goes off—but are you done? What should you do next?

This is my routine:

  • I stop.
  • I count my words or pages to see how I did.

Why do I track this? Because measuring your output is so important. What you measure gets managed.

Don’t forget to track your output after a writing sprint. This is important.

What you can measure, you can manage.

Notice that I didn’t suggest that you measure how good your writing is, or how your writing made you feel.

Instead, measure how many words you can write in a certain amount of time. This will allow you to track your progress.

Which only gets better the more sprints you complete—the more you practice your writing.

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What Should You Do After a Sprint?

You have two options: you can either decide to take a break or schedule the next time for your next sprint.

What you can’t do is go back and edit. That’s because we want to stay in our creative, productive, fast writing side of the brain. And editing will get us into our perfectionist, slow writing side of the brain.

Resist the urge to go back and edit until later.

Instead, if you feel like you’ve used up all the focus and willpower you have, take a break. You’ve earned it!

But chances are, now that you’ve started, you will probably want to write a little more. So then you can set the timer again, and it’s off to the races.

Once you finish two sprints, here’s where this gets really fun, because you can compare your score.

And so on.

Use Sprints to Prove Your Progress

After a few sprints, compare the worksheets you used to track your progress.

Say you write fifty words in the first sprint and 100 words in the next sprint. Well, maybe you can write 125 in the one after.

The focus can continuously be on beating your score, writing as much as you can as quickly as you can on the topic or chapter or story event that you’re working on for that day.

The benefit of this is that it brings the focus to tracking your words, not how good your writing is, which actually encourages you to write more—and the more you write, the better of a writer you’ll become.

The more you write, the better writer you’ll become. Writing sprints will push you to write more, write faster, and eventually, become a stronger writer.

Believe it or not, it’s the people who don’t write much, who get stuck in perfectionism, that never become better writers. And it makes sense, because they’re not practicing writing.

But by focusing on quantity over quality, you actually can improve the quality of your writing faster than if you only focused on quality.

That’s why sprints are one of the best daily practices you can use in your writing, you might even call them the write practice. (Good one, right?)

So give that a try today!

Set your timer, write as fast as you can, count your words, and then, if you’re up for it, set your timer again. See if you can beat your previous score.

Do this alone or with your writing group. Regardless, get going with it and watch as you become a more productive and stronger writer.

Sprint away.

By doing this, you will not only accomplish your word count goals, you’ll be on your way to finishing your writing project—all while having more fun doing it.

Have you ever participated in a writing sprint? What did you like about it? Let us know in the comments.

By Joe Bunting

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Subterfuge in Dialogue

Dialogue—good dialogue—is tricky. Mechanics can be learned; the rules are readily available and are hammered into us by teachers, editors, critique partners, and countless Facebook memes. The hard part of writing good dialogue is nailing the back-and-forth, the natural ebb and flow that turns dialogue into convincing conversation.

This is the part that will make or break you with readers. They’re intimately familiar with conversation; it’s how they communicate, how they connect with others. So when a bit of dialogue falls flat or doesn’t ring true, it’s like an off-pitch violin sawing away in an otherwise harmonious orchestra.

So how do we make our characters’ discussions authentic? One way is to showcase what they’re hiding

In the real world, we’re rarely 100% honest in our communications with others.  It may not be conscious, but we’re always withholding something—hiding how we feel about a subject, suppressing information, agreeing with someone when in actuality we don’t agree with them at all…Much of the time, we’re only telling part of the truth.

This will be true of your character, too, and for their dialogue to resonate with readers, you need to be able to show what’s being repressed. To discover this, you first need to know what the character is hoping to get out of the discussion.

When a person engages in conversation, they do so with a certain objective in mind (even if it’s subconscious). When you identify that goal for your character, you’ll know what they’ll be likely to hold back. So ask yourself: Which of the following outcomes is my character trying to achieve with this conversation?

  • Connecting with others
  • Getting information
  • Giving information
  • Persuading someone to their way of thinking
  • Being affirmed or agreed with
  • Gaining an advantage
  • Being proven right
  • Getting attention
  • Gaining an ally or advantageous contact

Once you know what your character wants, it’s a matter of figuring out what they might be holding back during that exchange. Consider the usual suspects:

Feelings are largely what make us human. We connect emotionally with others, so being able to accurately communicate our feelings is important. But emotions also make us vulnerable, so in many scenarios, your character may think it’s in her best interest to mask what she’s feeling. If she’s attracted to someone, she may downplay that until she can see how the other person feels. Sadness is often perceived as weakness, so she might not be willing to put that on display. The same is true with fear. Personality also plays a part in how your character conveys emotion, so there’s a lot to consider when figuring out which feelings your character is likely to hide.

COOL TOOL TIP: One tool to simplify this process is the One Stop for Writers’ Character Builder. This tool helps you explore all the important aspects of your character so you can be sure all their pieces fit together.

When it comes to hidden emotion, the Emotional Range section in the Behavior tab allows you to play with some vital pieces of information: Is your character reserved or demonstrative to begin with? What emotions are they uncomfortable expressing? What is the character in denial about (and is therefore unwilling or unable to access their true emotions)? What situation might cause them to overreact (possibly because it hits too close to home and touches on emotions they’d rather not share)?

Questions like these provide insight into your character’s emotional range. They can help you determine which feelings your character is comfortable with and which ones she’s likely to whitewash.

We all have opinions about stuff, and we like to share them. But we’re also social creatures, wanting to be accepted by others. Sometimes, those two desires are at cross purposes, meaning we can’t both share our opinions and connect with people. This is why your character might not be entirely forthcoming about his true beliefs at a job interview, on a first date, when he’s meeting his future in-laws, at church, or in any other situation where doing so could undermine his goal in that moment.

COOL TOOL TIP: The Character Builder’s Family and General Life section (part of the Daily Life tab) contains tons of questions that could flush out their opinions—ones the character feels really strongly about and those they’d rather other people didn’t know:

  • How does the character feel about their job/school?
  • Who does the character despise?
  • What are they passionate about?
  • Are they religious?
  • What topics of conversation will get them riled up?
  • How does the character spend their free time?

Personality Traits

Strengths and weaknesses commingle to form our individual personalities: we’re patient but selfish, generous but impulsive, irresponsible but encouraging. Our strengths are easy to show off because they make us look good.

But weaknesses? While everyone has them, we don’t want people to know what they are. So we hide the traits we deem as being less valuable, the ones that could hurt our standing with others. Maybe it’s a flaw that isn’t appreciated in society, like cruelty or intolerance. Perhaps it’s something an important person in our life doesn’t value, like a father who can’t stand indecisiveness or a grandparent who thought generous people were suckers. It may not be a conscious decision, but we all highlight our admirable traits and hide the ones that make us look bad. The same should be true of our characters.

COOL TOOL TIP: Figuring out your character’s flaws and attributes (and which ones they may want to downplay) is super easy with the Character Builder. Brainstorm the reasons behind their traits by examining past influences that may have caused them to form.

Then explore various traits to see how they’ll manifest and what emotions might be tied to them.

Rarely do we reveal everything we know. Communication very often is about the give and take of information, so unlike some of the other things we might hide, this one is usually more purposeful. Our characters should play their cards close to the vest, not sharing information that could hurt them, make them feel uncomfortable, or impede their goals. They may choose to hold an important tidbit back until they have a better feel for how the conversation is going or where the other person stands. Information is always currency; in dialogue, it should be doled out carefully and thoughtfully.

Knowing what your character wants out of a conversation and what he’s going to hide while engaging in it will help you write dialogue that rings true, because readers will see themselves in those ambiguous moments. Granted, there’s a knack to writing the inconsistency between your character’s words and what they really think or feel. That’s a post in and of itself. For now, this tip sheet has some great advice on how to write subterfuge in dialogue. (You can see all our tip sheets about various aspects of storytelling on the OSFW Tip Sheets page.)

What else might your characters hold back in their conversations?

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How to Prepare for Writing a Book: 4 Simple Steps You Can Do Now

You’ve been thinking about it for months, promising yourself that when it arrives you are finally going to knuckle down and write your manuscript. Then you realize, you have no idea how to prepare to write a book.

It doesn’t matter if you visit your favorite coffee shop or have the best book ideas in the world. If you don’t figure out your ideal writing process, it’s unlikely that you’ll actually finish your entire book.

If you want to be a successful writer, start your book writing process by evaluating your creative process and when and how you produce the best work.

This may seem overwhelming. Here’s the good news: You don’t have to just jump into it feet first.

There are things you can start doing right now to set yourself up for a solid writing routine and good actual writing that will do your rough draft (or final draft) justice

How to Prepare for Writing a Book: 4 Steps to Get You to the Finish Line

It’s near impossible to walk up to the start line of a marathon and run the race successfully. Doing something that difficult takes preparation.

Writing a novel in a hundred days is like running a marathon. If you want to do it successfully and not completely destroy yourself, you need to prepare for it.

Wondering how to prepare for writing a book? Here are four things you can do to get yourself ready for writing your novel:

1. Think Through Your Beginning, Middle, and End

I know many of us hate the idea of plotting out our books before we start writing. We like being free to go wherever the Muse takes us. We don’t want to spend a period of time on a mind map or chapter outline.

If I could offer a piece of advice:

If we give ourselves a hard deadline, we need to know how much distance we have to cover by that date. Understanding the direction and basic plot of our novel is a MUST before we start trying to write it in a tight time period.

Take some time think through your book. You don’t need to outline it in detail or use a special formula. You just need to get the basic ideas down.

Take a page out of many a bestselling author and other professional writers who plan before they write: A book plan can help them stay on track, which many writers need when writing on a deadline.

To help you get started with this plan, consider these questions:

  • What is your book genre? Are there any fresh ideas you can build on it that genre?
  • What is the big idea for your book? Can it withstand the length of an entire manuscript?
  • How does your book start?
  • What is the problem the characters have to solve?
  • What do you characters want? What’s stopping them?
  • How will you raise the stakes in the book?
  • What happens next? How will things escalate?
  • How does your story end?

Having a basic outline in your head will help give some direction to your writing so you can hit your deadline.

At the very least, I would encourage your to write a brief summary, or back cover copy for your book idea, if you don’t want to develop a detailed outline. And this goes for nonfiction books as well as fiction books.

2. Starting Writing a Little Now

Writing is like working out. The more we do it, the easier it is. And, just like working out, if we haven’t done it for a while and then jump right back into it, we are going to be sore and we might even hurt ourselves.

You don’t need to start writing at your 100 Day Book pace, but it wouldn’t hurt to get your writing muscles warmed up a little.

Try writing for a few hours two or three nights a week. That way when you sit down on the first day of 100 Day Book, or another deadline that you’ve set for your book draft, it isn’t the first time you’ve tried to run in months.

Here are some actionable steps you can take now to practice writing before you start your book:

  • Pick a time of day that you can write for fifteen minutes and tackle on of our writing prompts.
  • Pull out your favorite book title, or think of a temporary title for your book idea. Now, write a scene that speaks to that title in some way.
  • Write a reaction paragraph to this story event: A person comes home to their house and finds the lock broken, the house trashed, and everything preserved but their treasured family heirloom.
  • Find a writing space that makes you feel energized. Clean it up if it is a disheveled environment, maybe even place two or three of your favorite books that have a powerful book cover design on your desk for inspiration. Then, put on some energizing music (preferably lyric-less music, if you’re like me) and spend ten minutes to write about what you’re grateful for today.
  • Find an accountability partner. Spend a bit of time one or two days a week to write together in a writing sprint.
  • Write a book review for the last book you read and loved. Concentrate on what really caught your attention.

3. Write a Few Short Stories With the Main Characters

The hardest thing for me to get right in a novel is each character’s voice. When I’m comfortable with a character’s voice, writing the character is like putting on an old sweatshirt. The character fits comfortably.

If I don’t spend time getting to know my characters, they all come out sounding the same.

One way to get comfortable with your characters is to write a few short stories with them as the protagonists. The stories don’t have to have anything to do with your novel.

Put your character in a coffee house and force him or her to deal with an angry barista. Have a cop give your character a parking ticket. Take your character on a terrible date.

Putting your character in a difficult situation will help you get to know your character’s voice so when it is time to start the book, you don’t need to spend time writing characters you are uncomfortable with.

4. Dream About Some Scenes

Before a novel really starts to flow, I need to get a few critical scenes in my head.

As I’m preparing to work on a book, for several weeks right before I fall asleep at night, I’ll intentionally try to imagine a scene from the book.

Ideally, I’ll spend the night dreaming about the scene, and then when I wake up in the morning I’m ready to write it. It doesn’t always work that way, but more often than not imaging scenes in this way makes them easier to write.

Before you jump into writing your novel, try journalling out some of the scenes you think you might want to include. Focus on the emotional flow of the scenes and character reactions.

You don’t need to write the scenes in full. Just let them start to play in your mind. Try watching the scenes like you are watching a movie. Then play the scenes out through different characters’ eyes.

If you have a few good scenes in your head, your writing will go faster.

Prepare to Write

Yes, you might not start writing your book until the 100 days begin in the 100 Day Book program begins, or whenever you’ve decided to start writing your book.

But you don’t have to show up to the 100 Day Book program unprepared.

Set yourself up for success by getting ready for the difficult task of writing a novel. When you have a writing method and strategy that works for you, you’re far more likely to reach your book writing goals.

This could be developing a chapter by chapter book outline, or just getting the bare bones down on a piece of paper.

And when you start, we’ll be here cheering for you!

Do you have tricks for how to prepare for writing a book? Share them in the comments.

By Jeff Elkins

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Fear Thesaurus Entry: A Secret Being Revealed

A Secret Being Revealed

You better believe your character has something to hide. Small indiscretions—cheating on a diet, lying to a loved one—are one thing, but big secrets have the ability to completely destroy your character. If they’re hiding a shame-based secret, one that is tied to who they are at their core, or something they believe could train-wreck their life (or someone else’s), the fear of it coming to light can push them to rearrange their existence around keeping it hidden, resulting in massive fallout in many areas of the character’s life.

What It Looks Like
Being evasive
Withdrawing from others
Claiming that events from the past happened differently than they actually did
Living in denial about what happened
Changing the subject when certain topics are broached
Deflecting—turning the attention off of themselves and onto someone else
Picking a fight about something else if someone is getting too close to the truth
Having relationships that only go to a certain depth, limiting their intimacy with others
Signs of nervousness or agitation in specific situations
Physical ailments, such as insomnia, incontinence, acid reflux, acne breakouts, etc.
Seeking treatment for anxiety, panic attacks, and emotional volatility
Staying busy (to avoid thinking about the secret)
Self-medicating with alcohol or drugs
Engaging in risky behaviors
Discomfort and weirdness around people who know about the secret or were involved in it

Common Internal Struggles
Feeling guilty for not being honest with others
Knowing the secret should be shared but being too afraid of other people finding out
Obsessing over interactions with others to see if they might suspect the character of hiding something
Fighting to avoid thoughts about the secret; doing anything to keep from facing it
Engaging in unhealthy behaviors to cope, then feeling ashamed
Struggling with anxiety
Feeling unworthy or unlovable
Burying the secret so deep that the layers of coping mechanisms and lies the character has constructed make it difficult to address

Flaws That May Emerge
Addictive, Confrontational, Dishonest, Evasive, Flaky, Inflexible, Inhibited, Insecure, Irrational, Nervous, Oversensitive, Paranoid, Reckless, Self-Destructive, Timid, Uncommunicative, Volatile, Worrywart

Hindrances and Disruptions to the Character’s Life
Being seen by others as dishonest, flaky, or evasive
Sabotaging relationships with people who get too close to the truth
Having to avoid certain people (because they share the secret, they’re nosy, etc.)
The character having to remember all the lies they’ve told and to whom
Difficulty remember past events clearly because the character has lied about them in different ways to different people
Suffering from a mental health condition brought on by the stress and anxiety
Being unable to pursue a hobby or occupation the character is passionate about (because the secret is tied to the character’s identity or it’s too close to the source of their secret)

Scenarios That Might Awaken This Fear
Someone saying something that makes the character think they might know what’s being hidden
The character being given an ultimatum by a spouse or partner that requires them to come clean
Encountering someone who knows about the secret or played a part in its genesis
Being blackmailed by someone threatening to go public with the secret
New evidence being found and the case being reopened (if the secret is related to a crime)
Attending therapy for an unrelated issue and the secret being unearthed in the character’s memory.

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4 Ways Your Protagonist Is Sabotaging You (And How to Fight Back)

By Marissa Graff

We love our protagonists. We spend a ridiculous amount of time, blood, sweat, and tears championing their stories. But what if they’re undermining us by behaving in ways that drive readers away? What if they’re not-so-secretly sabotaging us despite all our efforts to advocate for them? Let’s discuss four ways your protagonist is working against you and, more importantly, how you can fight back.

1. They’ve got a case of “chatty narrator syndrome”

Whether a book is in first-person point-of-view or third, narrators who talk at the reader beyond what is needed threaten to wreck your reader’s experience. With every word the character says to the reader, they’re stopping the flow of an active scene. They’re stealing work from your reader. They’re doing the analysis or overly controlling what your reader thinks or feels. They’re hovering like a helicopter parent and not allowing the reader the freedom to engage with the scenes and draw their own conclusions. And oftentimes, they’re pointing out the obvious and giving us way too much information.

Solution: Scrutinize each and every line of narration/interiority. Is what your character/narrator says to the reader something the reader can see through action and dialogue instead? Is it crucial information your reader needs for the scene to make sense? Is the line revealing something the character is hiding from other characters and something we might otherwise not know? If the line is needed, is it done as briefly as possible? When you look at any given scene, are these stops done sparingly so as to not hit the “scene brakes” too frequently?

2. They’ve booked a tour and your secondary characters are their guide

The protagonist is allowing other characters to show them around new settings–new towns, new planets, new schools, and so on. Your beloved character is along for the ride instead of driving the action. They go into the scene with no identifiable goal and follow the path that the other character(s) set before them. Don’t get me wrong. Mentor characters are a great way to world build and orient your character (and reader) with new settings and experiences. But be careful not to let these “tour” scenes effectively stop the plot. All “tour sites” need a purpose, whether it’s to glimpse a place your character will need to utilize later. Or to introduce a plot point that deepens the way the character understands the conflict or other characters or themselves. Or perhaps the new setting contains some sort of purpose. A need or a want the character is pursuing.

Solution: If another character is mentoring or guiding your protagonist, particularly in the first half of your story, craft tour stops that yield plot development or emotional development. Maybe a stop gives rise to a flashback we need to see, or introduces a character we need to meet, or hints at a location that will be relevant later. But as much as possible, find ways to let your protagonist hand-craft their tour. Where do they want to go and more importantly why? How does that setting or new character represent a need the protagonist has? Do they hold information or an object your character needs to keep working on their novel-length goal? Do they face an obstacle on that stop, one that has them pushing through and earning a win? Or one that thwarts them and forces them to reconfigure their plan? Be sure your protagonist is planning their own tour as much as possible.

3. They’re too good of a listener

One of the common concerns I see in client manuscripts is crafting the protagonist’s lines of dialogue in a way that allows other characters to teach them and pass along exposition. The lines are of the tell-me-more variety or even the wow-that’s-cool variety. These types of hollow lines allow the other characters to fill them in with how the world works, its history, and more. We may think this counts as an active scene because this exposition is hiding inside lines of dialogue, but it’s not. The reader can see this information dumping for what it is.

Solution: In any given scene, read your protagonist’s lines out loud and test them for conveying intent. Do their lines reflect a specific need they have? Their scene goal? Do the lines evoke an emotion beyond curiosity? Are their lines hiding how they really feel or what they think? Are the things they ask necessary to formulate a plan for their next action? If you’re feeling extra brave, have someone else read your dialogue to you. Nothing reveals weak dialogue like having to hear it yourself.

4. They’re swimming in a pool of self-pity

Your protagonist tells us how bad they have it. How messed up their situation is. They make sure we know all that they lack or they point out how someone else has it better. They are a victim and they know it. But research shows readers are turned off by self-pity. If the character is all-too-aware that they are a victim, the reader doesn’t want to identify with the character. They don’t want to see themselves in that self-pitying state. They don’t want to identify with them, which reduces the efficacy of the reading experience and the potential for emotional growth in the reader.

Solution: Allow the reader to see the protagonist’s situation for what it is or for who they are. Show their situation honestly through action and dialogue (scenes), but don’t let the narrator/protagonist point to pity. Instead, let their reactions to their circumstances hint at how they feel, how their situation is leading to a lack of what they need, and giving rise to reader empathy.

Comb through your work-in-progress and see if your protagonist might be guilty of these four efforts that undermine your efforts. Consider how you might revise in ways that have you regaining control of your story and the way your reader experiences it.

Can you think of other primary ways a protagonist might sabotage a story? Chime in!

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When You Feel Like a Hack

By Christina Delay

Recently I’ve been reading Marcus Sakey’s BRILLIANCE trilogy. Yes, I know I’m behind the times, but OMG have you read these books yet?

I’m enjoying them immensely, both from a reader and a writer perspective. Mr. Sakey’s use of descriptors is like none other, and while I revel in his genius, it also makes me wonder what I’m doing writing.

Because I know I’ll never be able to write like him.

Has this ever happened to you? You think you’re doing great, then BAM an amazing book or author comes and slaps you upside the head with their talent or story or characters and suddenly, you’re not doing so great.

This isn’t the first time I’ve felt like a hack. It won’t be the last. And after the appropriate amount of self-pity and eating my feelings, I turn toward the tactics I know will help me regain some confidence.

Remember Your Brand

First, it helps to remember who you are as an author. What kind of stories do you write? Do they even fit in the genre of who you’re fanpersoning over? In Marcus Sakey’s BRILLIANCE case, the trilogy is a police procedural with a sci-fi twist. And yeah. I don’t write that.

Second, consider your authorial voice. Is it a close match to the author who is unintentionally making you feel inferior? More than likely, not so. In fact, you may be enjoying the writing because it is so different from your voice.

Third, list your strengths. What are the things you really excel at in your stories? What are the things that readers or critique partners or contest judges call out again and again about your writing and your characters?

Pro tip: It really is okay to print these accolades and place them where you can see them. Writing is hard and sometimes, we need the reminder.

Take A Class

Feeling better yet?

If so, gently analyze what it is about the writing style that you so admire. For me, Mr. Sakey has a very natural way of dropping phrase twists that live within the character’s voice that are so well done that I have to go back and reread the little miracle I just read.

I’ve taken plenty of writing classes before, but perhaps I could use a refresher in cliche twists or character voice. Even if I’ve heard it all before, hearing the information again when I’m at a different point in my writing journey could reveal fresh insights.

What elements do you find yourself admiring in recent reads? I can almost guarantee that there’s a class or book for improving that skill.

Surround Yourself With Other Authors

The best cure I’ve found for the I’m-A-Hack feeling is to get around other authors. It’s one of the reasons I founded Cruising Writers. And it’s one of the reasons I’ve planned a new writing cruise next spring. Being with other authors not only gets the creative juices flowing, it also allows for your craft to grow by an exponential leap. (Also, this particular writing cruise will have Becca Syme teaching about Strengths for Writers and Kirsten Oliphant of Create If Writing teaching about marketing, so you know, it’s a good place to be.)

Sharing struggles and triumphs with authors who understand is one of the best ways to remember that you’re not a hack. Every creative goes through this cycle, and most authors feel that their craft isn’t good enough…yet. That’s important to keep in mind. The yet. It keeps us striving for the next level, and when we reach it, oh man, it’s brilliant.

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Fear Thesaurus Entry: Change

Fear of Change

What It Looks Like
Dismissing new ideas without considering them
Reacting emotionally rather than logically
Using outdated sources or ineffective arguments to make a point
Becoming emotionally activated when new ideas are being considered
Repairing and fixing material objects rather than replacing them
Sticking close to home; not traveling far or taking long trips
Resenting others for moving on and leaving the character behind
Being more interested in the past than the future

Common Internal Struggles
Feeling obsolete
Struggling with anxiety or depression
Feeling stuck in a situation but being unwilling to make changes

Flaws That May Emerge

Hindrances and Disruptions to the Character’s Life
Difficulty making even small changes to a daily routine
Becoming isolated from others
Always having to make excuses for turning down an opportunity

Scenarios That Might Awaken This Fear
New technology or processes at work that must be learned and used
The culture shifting to embrace ideas the character disagrees with
The character’s children wanting to deviate from a long-held tradition

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One Quick Reason Readers Cheer For Unlikable Characters

By Lisa Hall Wilson

How do we get readers to cheer for unlikable characters? We cheer for anti-heroes and characters who are surly, have anger issues, and even questionable morals. Why? They all have one thing in common but it means we have go right back to the basics.

I came across this post from Writers Helping Writers on 10 Ways To Make Your Character Likable. You could do some of your own research into any of the methods mentioned there to strengthen your writing.

Locate The Main Story Thread

Sometimes we make things more complicated than they need to be, don’t we? I am prone to creating complicated plots with huge casts and then I get tangled up in my own fictional web. Most of the time, what I need to do is simplify. Get back to the basics and find the main story thread and pull on that. Which other story threads are unaffected by this central thread? Those unconnected threads have to go.

Creating a likable character is directly tied to this main story thread. When I read the above post, I agreed with everything there, but those techniques must be employed with a lot of art and subtlety. I like to go back to the basics first, and in the editing phase, add in some of those other techniques if I feel they’re needed.

So let’s get back to the basics.

What’s The One Quick Way To Create A Likable Character?

Some of the characters I have found hard to like would be: Katniss Everdeen (Hunger Games), Scarlett O’Hara (Gone With The Wind), Clary Fairchild (Immortal Instruments), Jack Reacher, James Bond, Ross Poldark, Wolverine, Walter White (Breaking Bad), Bella Swan (Twilight)… I could go on.

Now, you may have loved some of those characters. There’s a lot of personal taste involved in this. I found these characters hard to like, but have wholeheartedly cheered for them at the same time (OK – maybe I didn’t cheer for Scarlett… Mostly I just wanted to smack her). How could I cheer on and root for characters I don’t actually like all that much?

They were the underdogs.

These are all characters who face what seem like insurmountable obstacles. They could turn tail and run and live happily ever after — take the easy road, but they chose the hard thing. They put their lives and hearts on the line because of something they believed to be right. I can cheer for that.

Think of the school-yard bully. This could be the most attractive, smartest, best-dressed kid in school, but you’re probably going to root for the little nerd who has no power, no influence, and no voice but stands up to the bully anyway because somebody has to. Because enough is enough. Because it’s the right thing to do.

“Turns out likability, or niceness, is often the least important factor in convincing a reader your character is worth his time…characters who ooze nothing but niceness are often saccharine, exasperating, and anything but charismatic. Think of a handful of the most memorable characters you’ve encountered in literature and film. I’m willing to bet a good-sized chunk of money that the characteristic that stands out most is not niceness. Rather, we connect with the characters who are interesting…Dichotomies drive fiction. When we write characters who are fighting both their circumstances and their own natures, we create characters who are instantly real. And, thus, instantly interesting.” K.M. Weiland.

Some Examples…

Katniss is a loner, at times irrational, romantically-stunted (in my opinion), and is often the author of her own misery. However, she steps up for her sister. She takes on President Snow and the Capitol because it’s the right thing to do even though she doesn’t seem to have much chance at all of succeeding. She goes out of her comfort zone and puts herself on the line for the good of others. I can cheer for that.

Wolverine is surly, has anger issues, is a loner, and you can’t count on him to stick around. However, against his better judgement he goes back and stands in for others. He can’t stand to see kids in danger or bullied. He takes the skills and gifts he has and he uses them for good. I can cheer for that even though I think he’d make a pretty lousy friend day to day.

James Bond. *shakes head* Where do I start? He’s an adrenaline junkie, a womanizer, takes irrational risks, is an alcoholic (probably), and likely has some kind of mental health issue (depression, manic — there’s something there). But he does whatever is necessary, even at great personal physical and emotional risk, to take down the bad guy. He’s often alone and because of that faces impossible odds. I can overlook a lot of traits I don’t like because I can cheer for what he chooses to stand up for.

Did the writers who crafted the above characters use any of the above-mentioned ten tips for creating likeable characters? Of course, they did. Wolverine, Clary, Katniss (and probably a few others too) have tragic backstories. They all have a save the cat (or pet the dog) moment at some point early in their stories and they all struggle with their own personal demons. But when you boil everything down to the basics (when you pull on the main story thread — the obstacle they face in the climax), they chose to stand up to the bully. They take on impossible odds to see right done.

Find the basic story thread and give it a tug — what is your character up against? Is it impossible? Put your character up against a situation, an obstacle, a villain, they have no realistic hope of overcoming. Your reader doesn’t have to like your character to cheer for them to win. Sometimes getting down to the basics is the easiest way to get unstuck!

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Que Ainda Alguém Nos Invente [That Someone Might Yet Invent Us]

Que Ainda Alguém Nos Invente [That Someone Might Yet Invent Us] is an unpublished play written by Ricardo P. Silva for Teatro GRIOT and inspired by the life of Queen Njinga Mbandi of Angola (1582-1663).

The play unfolds as a ritual that fluctuates between a sense of pride and sense of remorse. Roles of queen and woman merge in conflict and in trust. It becomes no longer possible to distinguish who is who in the glory and arrogance of conquest because boldness itself is needed to conquer others. Njinga Mbandi invokes her dead as she talks to herself of what has been and what could never have been. The stories she tells in a trance won’t be bound to her own time, something she constantly and cunningly resists. She sometimes torments or then pursues men and desires whether her own or those of ones entrusted to her, warriors, slaves and traitors. Daughter, sister and lover, Njinga gives her own account of history and rejects a false, deified and immaculate past.

Text Ricardo P. Silva

Director Paula Diogo

Cast Daniel Martinho, Gio Lourenço,

Matamba Joaquim, Zia Soares

Movement Vânia Gala

Prop designer Francisco Vidal

Set and costume designer Mariana Monteiro

Light designer Pedro Correia

Original music DJ Marfox and DJ N.K.

Sound designer soundslikenuno

Director’s assistant Carlos Alves

Translation into Kimbundo Galiano Neto

Photography Sofia Berberan

Executive producer Urshi Cardoso

A Teatro GRIOT/Teatro Municipal do Porto

Duration approx. 1h30

Ricardo P. Silva, playwright

Que Ainda Alguém Nos Invente [That Someone Might Yet Invent Us] is a text inspired by the life of Queen Njinga Mbandi, queen of the Kingdom of Ndongo and Matamba. It results from an intense process of filtering narratives left behind by people conditioned by their own political agenda, religious ends or mere commercial affairs over three centuries ago. The play puts forward a few clues, presentiments and signs of what could have happened. It is well known today - as it also was at the time – that by deliberately distorting narratives to influence how different ways of life are understood, it becomes impossible to separate with any certainty what is fact, myth or manipulation of facts. Academic discussion has so far been based on documents produced by the Capuchin priest, Cavazzi de Montecúccolo, and by the Portuguese historian and soldier, António de Oliveira de Cadornega, who were contemporaries of Njinga Mbandi, as well as more recent studies by historians such as John Thornton and Joseph C. Miller, together with a great many research articles by contemporary authors. It has become clear that there is no consensus about many of the renowned events that were recorded and have solidified with time as facts. However, something still reaches out and remains independent beyond all fantasy, apology and censorship. In this case, it’s Njinga Mbandi’s extraordinarily strong, skilful and impulsive nature. And because of this, the play evolves in a constant game of insinuation and speculation, conflict and trust, between four characters all of whom are both alive and dead: Njinga and Ngola Kiluanji, her father, and Ngola Mbandi, her brother, who are both of Mbundu origin, and Kaza, her husband and ally, of Imbangala origin. Njinga is a warrior herself and clairvoyant, a despot and heroine, defender of her own people and a slave trader, learned and vain, cruel, proud and unpredictable. Njinga was terrifying – pursued as well as the pursuer of others, she resisted and never surrendered.


How are beautiful and well-built houses and the world different?

Produce a simile for the “self” by completing the sentence “A ‘self’ is like ________.” Vocabulary Note: Metaphors use one thing to mean another (and usually use “is”) while similes make a comparison (and usually use “as” or “like”).

This week you will experiment with the type of knowing and communication used by Borges. Borges uses parables, which are short (usually one page long or less) works of fiction designed to illustrate philosophic insights. Borges’ parables tend to be analogic in structure. Analogies use metaphors or similes and take the structure A is to B as C is to D (formally represented as A:B :: C:D).

Some example of analogies:

“I can’t make Thanksgiving dinner, I’m a fish out of water!”
I : cooking :: fish : being outside of water

“Don’t worry, there are plenty of fish in the sea.”
The likelihood of finding a potential mate : this environment :: the likelihood of finding a fish : the sea

Many well-known philosophic arguments use analogies to draw their conclusions. For example,

The Argument from Design

Simile: The world is like a beautiful and well-built house.

Analogy: Beautiful and well-built houses : Designers and Builders :: The world : God

Conclusion: God exists.

Questions to ask when evaluating arguments that use analogies:

Is the relationship implied by A : B true? (e.g., Are beautiful and well-built houses caused by designers and builders?)
Are A and C similar, in relevant respects? (e.g., How are beautiful and well-built houses and the world similar?)
Are there relevant differences between A and C? (e.g., How are beautiful and well-built houses and the world different?)
Instructions for Producing an Analogic Parable of the Self

Your assignment is to take your simile for the “self” and turn it into an analogic parable. Some of you already started to do this in your explanation of your simile. For example, family is to the self as roots are to a tree. The final product should be a short (about one page long) work of fiction, like those produced by Borges, that communicates some insight into the “self” by using a simile to make an analogy, and an analogy to make an argument. For example, the tree analogy could be used to make the argument that just as a tree dies when its roots are cut, a “self” cannot flourish without the support of its family.

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