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Where is that noise coming from?

I’m pretty sure he’s not gonna show. Yet here you sit. I’ll give him ten more minutes. If there’s someplace else you have to be… Not tonight, Watson. Not tonight.

→ Elementary - 1x09 You Do It To Yourself

NEGOTIATION AND DEAL MAKING

Negotiation and Deal Making is a wonderful and useful course that helps you to deal with businessman, entrepreneurs and negotiators. In order to put in perspective the “great deal” about the course, we need to compare the past (without any course) and the present (with the course) in my personal experience as negotiator. I still remember when I founded an Expo in Mexico, and most of 30 businesses got together around my business because they found a mutual benefit. I should say they did get a more beneficial interest than me, except for the fact that I was on the spotlight, which brought me a lot of social presence that I used it in the future. However, to gather those businesses together meant to give away concessions against my own interests.

I negotiated with no goal in mind except than putting them together at all costs. I did not know anything about role-playing, deal-structuring skills, critiquing role playing scenarios, negotiation skills development, and self-awareness (except bringing those business together at all costs). With the knowledge of this course, everything would have changed, and mutual benefits would have existed for both parties in the negotiation process.

 Nowadays, the expectations for the future in business negotiations look very promising with this course taken. Someday the student will become a businessman with knowledge on how to deal with people in different environment and scenarios. The road to success is filled with little bumps along the road as Fisher, Ury and Patton (2011) stated in his book Getting to Say Yes “This may require experimentation and a period of adjustment that is not so comfortable” but they highlighted that the negotiation power would be amplified if you believe in you.

 How does the negotiation start in real world? Human beings and their emotions are the main topic in Negotiation and Deal Making. Even though we are rational, there are always emotions involved in any negotiation process that could get the deal in hold, go forward or in an impasse. It would be endless to talk about all of the different kinds of emotions, but Fisher and Shapiro (2005) in his book “Beyond Reason” express that we have five core concerns: Appreciation, Affiliation, Autonomy, Status and Role.  These emotions and their knowledge will play an important role in business negotiation. The outcome of the deal will be successful depending on what perspective we apply towards those feelings: if we recognize, deny, block, or forget those emotions. If we want a successful deal, we need to be proactive and acknowledge all these emotions with our negotiators if we want a successful negotiation.

Do not forget our BATNA that is the most important piece of equipment. Our Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement is the key in case we do not have a beneficial agreement, and we should consider the other negotiator and his BATNA to be more successful.

 What have I learned from this course? I have learned to valuate the other people’s interest because there is a lot of information in them that we can use towards the negotiation process. When there is an obstacle, I try to scrutinize what kind of emotion and where in those 5 categories might fall, or as the author stated, “use the core concern as both a lens and a lever”. Also, I try to acknowledge what is the driving force in that individual whom we are negotiating with. Additionally, I will always review the kind of communication we have with our negotiator (good o bad terms), our communication process (do we listen to each other?), our interests (do we have mutual interest?), our options (What options do we have?), our commitments (what commitments we both can agree with), and finally our BATNA (His BATNA and mine).  It is only then when we could say we are prepared to face the challenge to get a deal done.

       REFERENCES

  Roger, Fisher,, Shapiro, Daniel. (2005). Beyond Reason: Using Emotions as You Negotiate. Penguin Books, VitalBook file.

  Roger, Fisher,, Ury, L.. (2011). Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Penguin Books, VitalBook file.

Como diria, en una noche estrellada En un camino solitario... Las palabras A aquel amor Que le hace suspirar Con un sello propio Muy de suyo Para denotar esos sentimientos Que surgen Entre la noche bella y oscura

Por que, Juan, por qué? -preguntaba su madre- Por qué te resulta tan difícilmente ser como el resto de la Bandada, Juan. Por qué no dejas los vuelos rasantes a los pelícanos y a los albatros...

Mira Juan -dijo su padre con cierta ternura- El invierno está cerca. Habrá pocos barcos, y los peces de superficie se habrán ido a las profundidades. Si quieres estudiar, estudia sobre la comida y cómo conseguirla. Esto de volar es muy bonito, pero no puedes comerte un planeo, sabes? No olvides que la razón de volar es comer.

Juan Salvador Gaviota. Richard Bach.

Let me fly 🌅🪽 !.

I have a few stories on the back burner but one that I'm trying to wrap my head around is about two characters who find themselves as leaders of their kingdoms. Both characters are juxtaposed with conflicting worldviews, and personality traits which has them hating each other. The issue I'm having is finding their purpose. Stuff that they believe in. I'm a little worried that these two characters will just end up being 2-dimensional.

Opposing Leaders Still Need a Conflict

You have a good start to the story, but there needs to be a conflict. The conflict can't just be that they hate each other. What is the problem that needs to be solved in their external world and/or their internal worlds? That's the conflict.

These characters have conflicting worldviews, but what does that actually mean in your story? What are the issues in these kingdoms or in the story world where these characters stand in moral opposition? A good example would be in A Song of Ice and Fire, when Daenerys Targaryen came into power, she was opposed to slavery, which put her in opposition with the many leaders in Essos who upheld it. Another example would be the members of the rebellion in The Hunger Games, who were opposed to the brutal and oppressive regimes of the Capitol, which put the rebels in opposition with the current President Snow and his regime.

Without a conflict, you don't have a story. But the conflict doesn't have to be a problem in the character's exterior world. It could be a problem within the characters themselves. For example, you could do an exploration of the internal conflicts at the heart of their worldviews (or perhaps as a result of them), and then do a change arc with each character where they change for the better or worse as a result of the story events. And you could have these arcs happen in parallel, where they're both going through similar arcs for different reasons, or they can be opposing, where they still end up in opposite places.

By making sure your story has a conflict, you can ensure that there's a purpose to the story, and that purpose gives your characters purpose and gives your story a foundation to build upon. :)

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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Failures

Your past failures have brought you closer to what you are now, even making you a more interesting person.

How to create “complex” characters

– Introduction

I wanted to make a post about creating complex and multifaceted characters, since character creation is something I'm very passionate about from both a craft and storytelling perspective. Specifically, I remember I had this tendency to apply flaws as an afterthought to my characters in hopes of making them balanced and seem more complex, and this could often make the characters feel a bit artificial to me. I'm obviously not any sort of authority figure on the subject, but I do have one tip that really simplified the process of making characters more intricate, and I wanted to share it! This is probably more helpful for people who might still be at the very beginning of their writing journey, but hopefully others can get something out of this as well! It's a bit lengthy, but I hope it's somewhat enjoyable to read ^^; Enjoy!

For a bit of background, back in the early internet days, there was this trend of judging various OCs on youtube, deviant art, etc. where people would essentially evaluate your character and determine whether or not a character was well written. During this time, the term "Mary Sue" would get thrown around a lot (which is a whole can of worms I won't be touching on here). For simplicity though, Mary Sue generally means a character who's "perfect" (again, heavy oversimplification here). To counter this, people began creating these lists of character traits where they'd list off a character's good and bad traits, and people who didn't have equal amounts in each category would often be scrutinised for it.

And I see this advice all the time. If you want complex characters, people will usually tell you to just throw on a bunch of flaws, but I think this can be a bit misleading, because most traits exist on a spectrum, and aren't a perfect dichotomy of good and bad.

Thinking of character traits as neutral

My biggest advice is honestly to just think of all character traits as neutral. Because what really is a character flaw? A flaw is a very ambiguous and subjective term after all. What might be considered a flaw in one character could be considered another character's greatest attribute, and vice versa. Functionally, a character flaw should be a trait that creates conflict within the context of the story. Any trait a person has could be good or bad, it just depends on how it shows up in practice and how it's applied in daily life. It might be tempting to think that certain traits are inherently good or bad, but again, flaws aren't really about good or bad. They're about conflict and tension, and just about any trait can work to a character's detriment or in their favour.

I'm going to list off two examples of hypothetical characters below; one who most would consider to have a lot of "good" character traits, and one that would be considered to have "bad" character traits. Then I'll show you how you can easily flip those traits to create nuance. (And again, I really don't think good or bad are relevant terms here, but it's just to exemplify what I mean more easily!)

The "Good" Character

This character is empathetic, creative and incredibly supportive of others. They always do the right thing, and are a very responsible individual. They're approachable and friendly, funny, and generally enjoyable to be around.

The "Bad" Character

This character is cunning, manipulative, and don't care if their words hurt other people's feelings. They're largely apathetic and unreceptive, don't care about rules, and don't go out of their way to get to know people.

Their flaws & how it can affect the story

For the "good" character, you can look at what the downsides of empathy can be; very reactive emotionally, perhaps even a bit emotionally impulsive. Maybe they have a difficult time recognising their own needs, especially since supportive is also a trait listed above. Maybe they even use this empathy to figure out other people's needs and use it to their own benefit. Someone who's creative can often have a difficult time committing to their passions and ideas because there's always something new. Maybe they feel out of place or easily stifled by rules, but because they always want to do the right thing, they're hesitant in outright breaking rules and social norms. If they use their empathy and approachability to manipulate, perhaps this is their way of subtly regaining a sense of control because they're too afraid to explicitly go after what they want in life. Maybe they care a lot about how they're perceived, etc. Or maybe they really are a compassionate and kind person, but they're often a doormat to others because they don't know how to set boundaries or even how to recognise what they want. Maybe they don't trust their own judgment because they're so used to doing the right thing "just because it's the right thing to do", and don't actually reflect on their actions beyond that. There's a lot you can do with these traits!

For the "bad" character, which might seem a bit more tricky at first, the easiest way to figure out what the nuance of "bad" traits can be is to break down the why. Maybe this character became cunning because they've had to think long term a lot. They're good at waging the odds, they're good at reading the room, they're good at putting things together and seeing how the dominos will fall. Maybe they're even the person responsible for setting up the dominos, because they don't trust anyone else to make sure that there's a desirable outcome. If they're manipulative then it likely means that they're good at reading people, and they must know how to appeal to other people to some degree, otherwise they wouldn't really be able to manipulate anyone. They're likely used to having to look out for themselves, and they might even be good at spotting their own kind and knowing just when to avoid them. They don't care much for rules so they might not be as harsh in judging others, maybe they even have an easier time getting along with people who dare to defy social norms. Maybe they're even supportive of other people breaking the rules, because why the hell not?

Creating nuance

If you look at the two characters above, you'll quickly realise that they could hypothetical be the same character, because... They are. The "good" character is the "bad" character when they were younger. The "bad" character is the "good" character's future. An empathetic character can easily turn that empathy and their social skills into cunning manipulation. A character who previously felt stifled by the rules might choose to defy them. A character who got sick of caring how others perceive and judge them might choose to stop caring about what others think, and might even go out of their way to seem off-putting and un-approachable, because they refuse to ever allow themselves to care about others and be treated like a doormat again.

Or you can treat them as two separate characters that function as foils to one another. They both overlap in a lot of traits despite it not seeming so at first glance. My point is, I find that if you treat all traits as neutral, you don't really have to manually "add" flaws. Most traits have both upsides and downsides, and which side of those traits create conflict in the story is often what determines whether something is a flaw or not.

– Outro

Sorry for the lengthy and possibly rambly post, I just thought it might be advice worth sharing as it's something that really helped me flesh out my own characters more when I was still very new! Plus, as mentioned before, character creation and analysis is one of my favourite aspects of storytelling, and I'm also very passionate about psychology and philosophy and such. And again, this is all in good fun and 100% not a rule on how to write characters! There's exceptions to everything and everyone's process is different, and while this advice might be helpful to some, it might not be helpful whatsoever to others, and that's completely fine!

I'd love to make more posts on topics like this in the future if people enjoy it, or if anyone has any specific requests on anything! :,)

can you give tips on how to change up character dialogue? all of my characters end up sounding the same and i'm not sure how to fix it

How to Write Unique Voices for Characters in Fiction

When it comes to writing fiction, creating unique and believable characters is absolutely essential. One important aspect of character development is crafting unique voices that reflect each character’s personality and background.

Understand your characters

Before you can write distinct voices for your characters, it’s important to understand who they are. Building out a solid foundation and developing compelling backstories is one of the best ways to ensure they always have unique voices. Here are some tips for getting to know your characters:

Write character sketches that detail their backgrounds, personalities, goals, and motivations.

Conduct interviews with your characters as if they were real people, asking them about their likes and dislikes, fears, goals, and more (the Proust questionnaire is a popular way to do this).

Imagine how your characters’ past experiences will change how they speak in different situations and when experiencing varied emotions.

Use description to enhance your characters’ voices

Descriptions can be just as important as dialogue when it comes to creating character voices. Here are some tips for using descriptions to enhance your characters’ personalities:

Use specific details to create vivid descriptions of each character’s body language, mannerisms, and behaviour.

Consider how each character’s mannerisms might influence their speech patterns. For example, a character who is shy might be hesitant to speak or repeat themselves frequently.

Pay attention to how your characters interact with their environment. Do they use their hands a lot when they speak? Do they pace around the room or sit still?

Use sensory details to create immersion. For example, a character who is nervous might sweat profusely or fidget with their jewellery.

Avoid stereotypes and clichés

When writing unique voices for characters, it’s important to avoid falling back on stereotypes or clichés. Here are some tips for creating characters that feel fresh and authentic:

Avoid using dialects or accents. Not only do these often rely on stereotypes, but they also break reader immersion unless authenticity is absolutely essential to the type of book you are writing.

Consider how each character’s background and experiences might influence their beliefs and values. One-dimensional characters built on clichés won’t have unique voices.

Think outside of the box when it comes to creating distinct voices. Instead of relying on traditional archetypes, consider combining traits from multiple sources to create something new.

How to craft unique dialogue

With the basics in place, how do we convert unique character voices into dialogue? Here are some tips for writing dialogue that feels authentic and unique to each character:

Read your dialogue out loud to hear how it sounds, and make sure it’s true to how you imagine your character to be.

Give your characters a unique conversational quirk that feels natural. An example could be that they call everyone “love.”

Vary the length and complexity of sentences to reflect each character’s personality and background.

Consider how each character’s education and experiences might influence their vocabulary and sentence structure.

Use dialogue tags sparingly to avoid detracting from the actual words being spoken.

Avoid using too much exposition or explaining too much in dialogue. Instead, let the characters speak when it serves your story.

By understanding your characters, crafting unique dialogue, using descriptions to enhance character voices, and avoiding stereotypes and clichés, you can create vibrant, engaging characters that will keep readers hooked from start to finish.