"Bad Beginnings"

• Waking Up: Starting your story with your character waking up (from a coma, from being knocked out, from being asleep, etc.) is not only cliche, but boring 
• Dreams: Like waking up, starting your story with a dream is another cliche and it cheats the the reader 
• Back Story: We don't care about your character yet! Get right to the action. Don't start with an info dump of background information on your character

"The Five Elements of Story"

1. Someone to Care About
• External
• Undeserved Misfortune
• Power and Humility
• Weaknes
• Internal
• Morality
• Desire
• Wil
2. Something to Want
• Story Goal
• Motivation
• Internal and External
• Stakes
• Ideal
3. Something to Dread
• Curiosity, Expectation, Fear
• Suspense
• Dread
• Dreadful Promises
• Progressively Worse Obstacles
• Dread Embodied, The Villain
4. Something to Suffer
• Suffering=Story Goal Value
• Building Suffering to Climax
• Hero's Ideal=Suffering
• Physical
• Inconvenience
• Discomfort
• Pain
• Loss
• Emotional
5. Something to Learn
• Theme
• Premise
• Ideals
• Meaning
• Character Change
• Revelation 

"Character Motivations"

• Basic Motivations
• Survival
• Failure
• Peer pressure
• Curiosity
• Guilt
• Desire
• Instability
• Noble Motivations 
• Love
• Loyalty
• Honor
• Obedience
• Vengeance
• Inequality
• Unfulfillment
• Evil Motivations
• Hatred 
• Dishonor
• Pride
• Greed
• Revenge
• Lust
• Jealousy 
• Fear Motivations
• Death
• Humiliation
• Pain
• Rejection
• Loss
• Regret
• Shame

"How to Write a Scene In 11 Steps"

1. What need to happen in this scene?
2. What's the worst that would happen if this scene were omitted?
3. Who needs to be in the scene?
4. Where could the scene take place?
5. What's the most surprising thing that could happen in the scene?
6. Is this a long scene or a short scene?
7. Brainstorm three different ways it could begin
8. Play it on the screen in your head
9. Write a scribble version
10. Write the full scene
11. Repeat 200 times

"9 Tips for Creating Conflict"

1. Introduction: Every novel needs conflict. Without it, your characters have nothing to disagree on and no arc to develop. Without it your plot will flatline.
2. Source of Conflict: Your protagonist should face conflict from lots of sources, but the main barriers should always come from your antagonist
3. Make the Conflict Specific: Don't be broad and start a war because your hero and villain dislike each other. Start a war because your villain killed your heroes wife
4. Target the Conflict: If you want your hero to invest in saving the world then give him a specific reason. Make the conflict personal to him.
5. Make It Emotional: Make the conflict mean something to your hero. If it means something to them it will mean something to your reader too
6. Realism=Believability: Make sure your conflict is plausible to your world/genre/plot. If it's plausible, it's realistic which makes it believable
7. Time Is Of The Essence: Add time pressure to your conflict raises the pace and tension in your novel
8. Go All In: Don't just raise the stakes once with your conflict. Add layers, keep raising the stakes and throwing barriers in your protagonists way until winning seems impossible. Only then does he become a hero to win
9. Torture Your Hero: Conflict is there to torture your hero. In order to win they have to suffer and lose something.

"16 Government Types"

1. Republic: A government whose authority is based on citizen's votes, which are represented by elected or nominated officials chosen in free elections
2. Democracy: Democracy means 'rule of the people' The term today refers to a political system in which the people or their elected representatives govern themselves
3. Theocracy: A government where priests rule in the name of God or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or consistent with the principles of a particular religion
4. Autocracy: A government controlled by absolute power, and in the hands of a single person with minimal restraints on the decisions and lack of any mechanisms of popular control
5. Technocracy: A government where scientists and technical experts are in control of the state and where rulers are selected on the basis of their knowledge/skill rather than wealth/power
6. Fascism: It is a way of ruling that advocates total control of the people and seeks to promote the ancestral and cultural values and eradicate foreign influences
7. Anarchy: Anarchy is a state of absence of law, a state of lawlessness and disorder (usually resulting from a failure of government)
8. Monarchy: A government where supreme authority is vested in a single and usually hereditary figure, such as a king and whose powers can vary from absolute to none at all
9. Oligarchy: Rule of the few. It is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a faction of persons or families
10. Plutocracy: Government ruled by the rich or power provided by wealth, often used to describe a wealthy class ruling a government, often from behind the scenes
11. Tyranny: Government or authority of an absolute ruler; arbitrary exercise of power over subjects not requisite for the purposes of government/approved by law and justice
12. Totalitarian: A totalitarian system is the one in which a single political authority regulates total control over state, that is centralized and dictatorial
13. Federation: A political organization characterized by union of small states, groups or parties, which are self-governed in internal affairs and are united under a central government 
14. Communism: As a system of government, communism is a system of government in which the state owns and operates industry on behalf of the people
15. Junta: Refers to a group or coalition that takes control of the state after overthrowing a government; usually this is done by a military group
16. Dictatorship: A form of government where the power rests entirely on one person or a group of persons; this rule could be acquired by inheritance or force and is usually oppressive