Ethics, Genetics and Reproduction Philosophy Essay

Ethics, Genetics and Reproduction Philosophy - Essay Example Had the things been that simple, any type of intellectual debate would have become a mere travesty that would have predominantly remained confined to evaluating the emerging social and ethical issues by the established yardsticks. However, this was never to happen. Luckily, such a travesty of intellectual and ethical catechism is infact next to impossible in the contemporary technology driven society where the emergence of latest scientific discoveries and novel possibilities infact more then ever impinges upon the collective human consciousness to see and analyze the emerging issues in a multifaceted context. In such a mature and liberal social scenario, issues related to fertility, reproduction and surrogate motherhood assume special significance in an ethical, legal, theological and philosophical context that attract the attention and interest of thinkers and intellectuals from all the spheres of social life. In her work 'The Case against the Legalization of Contract Motherhood', Christine Overall defines surrogate motherhood as, "a reproductive practice in which a women agrees before becoming pregnant, to surrender the baby she gestates to a man who has commissioned the pregnancy, usually in return for a set fee (112)." As is evident to any thinking individual, the issue is doubtlessly open to a variety of conflicting opinions and is fraught with contention, so far as its ethical and legal ramifications are concerned. It not only invites a debate on the issue of the 'right to reproduce', but also implores whether the criminalization of commercial surrogacy contracts infringe upon the right to reproduce. A whole spectrum of opinions exists on the issue under consideration that vary from being outright endorsing or reprehensive to those somewhat being mild, liberal and situation based. The case of Mary Beth v/s William Stern litigated in the Supreme Court of New Jersey infact raised more issues that are relevant to the given topic then coming out with ample i nalienable and irrefutable conclusions and guidelines. Many of the outspoken feminists hold that commercial surrogacy amounts to trivializing the whole concept of labor and motherhood. The very fact that such activities are coordinated and conducted by astute brokers makes the whole thing sound more of an industrial activity then the scared and sensitive experience of becoming a mother. This issue is fraught with grave possibilities, so far as the status of the women and the children in the society is concerned. It can not only thwart the society's onward march to achieving sexual equality, but has the potential to infringe upon the rights of the children. The problem is that most of the heard of opinions till now, pertaining to this issue were forwarded by theologians and conservatives. This temporarily obfuscated the logical and rational moorings of the whole issue and made it seem anti-science and recidivist. Still, there is no dearth of critics who are outright modern and contemporary in their perspective and who denounce the idea o f contractual surrogacy on the more understandable grounds of human exploitation and the blatant commercialization of the ability to reproduce. There exists a school of opinion makers of

European society Essay Example for Free

European society Essay The eighteenth century saw a revolution sweeping Western philosophy and a simultaneous upheaval and transformation in Western social life. In this period, the west, particularly the European society and state seemed cold and heartless. The dislocations of industrialization and urbanization exposed the weaknesses of the old system and stimulated a need for more innovative political institutions adaptable to the new socio-economic conditions. This desire for change was accompanied by strong nationalist sentiments. Initial Western nationalism was lauded as a liberal form of mass political engagement and allegiance to the secular power of emerging states, consistent with popular rule. Accordingly, its birth was announced with the representation, rights, and toleration of Englands constitutional monarchy and its banner the â€Å"liberty, equality and fraternity† of the French Revolution against absolutism. Many scholars estimate the birth of the American nation from 1750-1775 (see for example, Weeks, 1994). In the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century, social, political, and economic turmoil and instability transformed many Western countries into the world’s most chaotic amphitheater of disruption. People who thought that their cultural and political borders were violated waged a series of insurrections and rebellions. This strong feeling and desire to fight violations of inalienable natural rights came to be known as nationalism. Nationalist feelings became a decisive power in the Romantic Era. In nationalism, the individual is â€Å"the very center, the arbiter, the sovereign of the universe† (Kedourie, 1993, p.17). The political implication of this was that self-determination constituted the supreme good. Later political philosophers building upon Kantian ideas proposed that: humanity is naturally divided into nations; each nation has its peculiar character; the source of all political power is the nation; for freedom and self-realization, people must identify with a nation; loyalty to the nation-states overrides other loyalties; and the primary condition of global freedom and harmony is the strengthening of the nation-state (Smith, 1983). In the early years of the twentieth century, the striking similarity displayed by the nationalist movements throughout Southeast Asia derived from their common inspiration in Western ideology and their largely identical economic bases – the former guiding the intellectuals who lead the movements in their respective countries; the latter supplying the driving power from the masses. However, it must be pointed out that nationalist movements in this region did not have the support of more than a very small fraction of the native peoples, who for the most part are not aware that the question of autonomy even exists, and whose major concern is simply survival (Emmerson, Mills, and Thompson, 1942). In Southeast Asia, native nationalism has been the forced growth of a transplanted Western seed. In spite of the centrifugal forces of a plural society artificially bound together solely by the profit motive, nationalism has taken root among the indigenous peoples. It has penetrated most deeply among the native peoples who are united by a common language, pride of race and glorious historical traditions (Emmerson, Mills, and Thompson, 1942). Thus, â€Å"Within each group, nationalism has proved to be a cohesive force, welding people who were until its advent hardly conscious of the existence of compatriots beyond their own village, absorbing disparate religious and regional loyalties, and nationalizing such international influences as they experienced. However, from the perspectives of Southeast Asian countries as individual units, nationalism has proved a disruptive force. It has made each racial group more self-conscious, more prone to assert itself at the expense of other groups, and either tends toward a disastrous break-up of the present mosaic by some vigilant outsider playing upon this grave weakness in the body politic and social, or leads toward the forced assimilation of the weaker minorities by the most powerfully placed group. † (Emmerson, Mills, and Thompson, 1942, p. 144) The establishment of national unity through was essential ingredient in the emergence of democracy. According to Marx (2003), nationalism is an essential prerequisite to democracy, since â€Å"it establishes the boundaries of the community to which citizenship and rights are then accorded, without which democracy is impossible† (p. 31). And the birth of nationalism was related to the political baptism of the lower classes whose empowerment helped bring democracy, with both nationalism and democracy thereby relatively and impressively inclusive (Marx, 2003). While many have witnessed nationalism and democracy going together, for the past few years, nationalism has been largely considered a disruptive force on the prospects for democratization. For one, national unity gives rise to the question of the state and its boundaries, which is believed to be more fundamental than that of regime type and that can disrupt debate about appropriate political forms. Nationalism in this sense is a disruptive force because it gives rise to issues regarding religious beliefs, language, and customs. Moreover, nationalism is largely seen as being potentially disruptive to achieving democratic outcomes since it stimulates mass mobilization which frightens authoritarian rulers, causing them to suppress activities that may stop the progress of the whole process of political change. The argument that nationalism is a disruptive force is validated by the experiences of southern Europe and Latin America. The disintegration of all of the federal Communist states along republican lines adds force to this argument; however, it is not as clear-cut as this in the post-Soviet experience. According to McFaul (2002), ten years after the collapse of communism, only Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are democracies, while the other republics are under regimes that are either facade democracies or nondemocratic. Nationalism was also seen as a disruptive force on the eve of the First World War. It played an important role in the rivalries between superpowers: Germany vs. France (revenge for 1871), Russia, vs. Austria-Hungary (expansion into Balkans), and Germany vs. Great Britain (control of seas, arms race). Nationalism was also a disruptive force regarding the emergence of unsatisfied nationalities: Poles, Irish, Serbs, Czechs, and many others In Poland, following the 1830 uprising, conservatives began to drift away from nationalism. By the 1850s, only few on the right were interested in talking about nationalism, which came to be seen as a dangerous term signifying disruption, disorder, and even revolution (Porter, 2000). Within Poland itself many nobles may have shared the hopes of the Czartoryski circle, but since they could do little to further such a cause, they retreated to apolitical lives (Porter, 2000). Not only were the conservatives uncomfortable with the politics of the patriotic activists, but they found it difficult to speak the language of national romanticism. â€Å"They might appreciate some of the poetry of Mickiewicz or Slowacki, but they soon discovered the disruptive force of the progressive historiosophies to which the concept of the nation had been so firmly linked. † (Porter, 2000, p. 31) References Emerson, R. , Mills, L. A. , and Thompson, V. (1942). Government and Nationalism in Southeast Asia. New York: Institute of Pacific Relations. Kedourie, E. (1993). Nationalism, 4th expanded ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Marx, A. W. (2003). Faith in Nation: Exclusionary Origins of Nationalism. New York: Oxford University Press. McFaul, M. (2002). The Fourth Wave of Democracy and Dictatorship: Noncooperative Transitions in the Postcommunist World. World Politics 54(1), 212-44. Porter, B. (2000). When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Modern Politics in Nineteenth Century Poland. New York: Oxford University Press. Weeks, W. E. (1994). American Nationalism, American Imperialism: An Interpretation of United States Political Economy, 1789-1861. Journal of the Early Republic, 14, 485-495.

A Film Analysis Of An Inconvenient Truth Politics Essay

A Film Analysis Of An Inconvenient Truth Politics Essay The film chosen for the analysis is An Inconvenient Truth. This is a documentary film made in 2006, directed by Davis Guggenheim and presented by Al Gore, the former Vice-President of USA and a US presidential Candidate. The film deals about global warming and climate change and it presents and explains to the public a crisis that impacts and will impact us all. This film, although not a Canadian production, was chosen for several reasons. First climate change and global warming is a global issue, affecting all people on Earth, regardless of their nationality, religion or social status. It is also a Canadian issue because Canada is a part of this global community but it also a Canadian issue because of very specific environment in the north of this country. Also, Canada is one of the biggest polluters in the world and is ranked amongst the dirty dozen: the twelve biggest producers of greenhouse gases. Second, climate change has in the last couple of years become a very important poli tical issue. The issue of global warming and other environmental issues have been widely discussed in the Canadian press while the politicians have been increasingly debating this topic. Since the public awareness about the climate change has grown (partly because of this film!), Canadian voters have made the environment a very important, if not the most important issue in deciding which party to vote for. Third, climate change and global warming have been in the center of media attention because of Canadas recent withdrawal from the Kyoto protocol. Also the Conservative governments decision to develop a national plan for the reduction of the greenhouse emissions (instead of joining the international effort) additionally raised public attention Stephen Harpers government claims that the Kyoto commitment would be too disruptive to Canadas economy, and hence the change. Finally, the global warming theorists have responded to the documentary with their counter argument; some are good, and others are weak. The proposal of this essay is to attempt to present both sides; what is presented in the film documentary, how it is debunked by supporters of the global warming theory, and what information presented in the documentary and in the response can be debunked; and what is left after the debunking. What science remains after applying science to both arguments? The film follows Al Gores lectures to mass audiences on global warming and climate change. As Mr. Gore states himself, he has given the lecture a thousand times in cities all over the world. To an average person a retired politician giving a lecture on a complex science issue may seem like something that one would probably sleep through. Yet, Gore is very passionate on the subject; the lecture is very well conceived, prepared and presented. In the film the lecture is combined with dramatic images and facts thus giving it a feeling like a good action movie. Gore is eloquent, funny and entertaining. The facts are presented in a very simple yet extraordinarily effective manner. The lecture as well as the film is most likely aimed at people who know little about this issue. However, even those who believe to know a lot may still be in for several surprises. For example, I was shocked to find out that US cars couldnt be sold in China since they do not meet the Chinese environmental standa rds! In fact, Chinese mileage standards are better than the mileage standards in Canada. An Inconvenient Truth is an excellent film, primarily because it manages to get its message across. For the first time, global warming has become a mainstream issue and everybody is talking about it. Even those who criticize the film and call it a lie are nevertheless thinking about it and acting on it. The issues of global warming, climate change and their relationship with the increase of greenhouse gases are not new. In fact as Mr. Gore states in the film, the evidence that there is an increase in CO2 levels in the global atmosphere has been around since the early 1960s. Despite this fact a controversy around this issue arose in past decades. Some sources claimed that the increase in the concentration of green house gases is not a product of human activity at all but is rather a natural process. However, this controversy was not created by the scientific community. There is no doubt amongst scientists that the current global warming is caused by human activities. They have also pr esented a range of effects that we can expect to occur. The controversy is a political creation perpetrated by popular press. As Mr. Gore eloquently tells us, there is no controversy about these facts. Out of 925 recent articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals about global warming, 0% said that that the causes of global warming are uncertain. The success and the impact of the film can be attributed to many dramatic images that are used to show the effects of global warming and which the creators use to punctuate the facts they are presenting. A good example is a photograph of Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya, Africa. The film begins and ends with image of the Earth, landscapes, seas, lakes and sunsets. The first photo is from the 1970 and then several follow up until 2005. Each show an increasing and alarming reduction of snow and ice at the peak of the mountain with the progression of time. On the last photograph there is hardly any snow. The emotional impact is heightened with dramatic images of New Orleans after the hurricane Katrina. The hurricane was directly linked to climate change and global warming because one of the effects of global warming are more severe storms. Another segment which was chosen to touch US viewers was the one in which Mr. Gore discusses the fate of certain low-lying regions in the worst-case event of melted icecaps raising the sea-level by twenty some feet. The film does a nice job also of giving some perspective to Mr. Gores passion. He talks openly and emotionally about his son being hit by a car at the age of six, and how thinking he was going to lose his beloved child made him reconsider his priorities and what he was doing with his life. The emotion of two other events in Mr. Gores life and how they inspired his environmental activism also come across in the film: his defeat in Florida to Bush, the death of his sister, a lifelong smoker, from lung cancer and the fact that his family farmed tobacco and didnt stop until after her death. However, these are very briefly covered but still are an important piece of the story. Furthermore, Mr. Gores presentation is very straightforward, simple and precise. He gives it flavour by adding jokes, literary quotes and by using a sleek, savvy and sophisticated power-point slide show. These details make up for the lack of literally any other person addressing the audience. Al Gore and the makers of this film go to great lengths to emphasize that the problem of global warming and the issues related to climate change as well as the urgency of the need to do something about it should not be political issues. To Mr. Gore this issue is so important and the potential consequences so dire that it is necessary to put aside all political differences and to go beyond politics. Yet in the film, the authors cannot help but criticize the Republican Party for their attitude towards the environment. The scenes in New Orleans after Katrina link the consequences of the current US Administrations lack of action against global warming with the Administrations failure to act and help the people of New Orleans after the hurricane. There is a scene in which two Republican Presidents are commenting on global warming as a non-issue, an attitude that seems ridiculous at best. To Mr. Gore global warming and its consequence go beyond politics and borders: it is a moral issue. If we do not do something to stop it we will be acting unethically. Nevertheless, he does not steer clear of politics. He compares our current attitude of doing almost nothing against global warming to the attitude of world powers in the 1930s while the Nazi were rising to power in Germany. Although it should not be a political issue because global warming is a fact and not an opinion or one partly or the other, nevertheless it is clear that it is now exactly a political issue. People are divided amongst two groups. In the first group are those who agree that global warming is taking place, that it is caused by human activities, particularly fossil fuel burning and that it is causing dire consequences. In the second group are those who believe that the current global warming is a natural occurrence and that it is not caused by human activity and that therefore nothing needs to be done about it. The first group are usually liberal, environmentalists; the second group are people in the oil and automobile industry, conservatives, Republicans. Hence, in this way global warming and problems surrounding it actually become a political issue. Mr. Gore states in the documentary that he wants to reach as many people as possible one city at a time. However it is more likely that p eople who share views with him will be the ones that will watch the film. Those who oppose them, will not want to see it. Yet the film will also reach those that are undecided or more importantly know little or nothing about global warming. Some may know a little bit about global warming but be unaware of the far-reaching consequences it may have on the global climate. It is these people that the movie is targeting. The main message of the first movie is that global warming is real and is happening, that humans play a significant role in what is happening, and if we continue to neglect what is happening the future could bring catastrophe on a global scale. What Mr. Gore and the authors of the film are doing is simply offering up the growing mountain of scientific evidence that backs this argument to as many people as possible in a simple and approachable fashion. The idea of the film, much like the idea behind Mr. Gores lectures is to inform as many ordinary people as possible. Global warming has become a political issue, although as Mr. Gore argues it is an issue that goes beyond politics. The political aspect cannot be ignored particularly because of Mr. Gore political history and because the USA is currently all but ignoring the topic of global warming. The film documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle (2007), by director Martin Durkin, features some of the worlds and certainly the United States most highly credible and respected scientists in a discussion on global warming. The scientists are taking the position that global warming is occurring, but that it is more scientifically seen as the natural forces of nature as opposed to the man-made greenhouse gasses or CO2 put into the atmosphere by mankind. Their argument about global warming as a natural occurrence is compelling, and convincing. At the foundation of this argument, which has garnered great support, including celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, and political force, like former Vice President Al Gore who has made a film about mans abuse of fossil fuels; is the notion that global warming is bringing about climate change that is responsible for everything from the melting of the icebergs at the north pole, to tidal waves and hurricanes (Gore, A., An Inconvenient Truth, 2006, motion-picture). In response to the allegations that mankind and, especially, that CO2 regardless of who put it into the air; mankind, plants, the residual of the decaying plant and life processes. A group of scientists, including highly respected Professor Tim Ball, of the University of Winnipeg; Professor Niv Shaviv, University of Jerusalem; Professor Ian Clark, University of Ottawa; Professor John Christy of the University of Alabama and lead author International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Professor Philip Stott, University of London; Professor Richard Lindzen, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and others from Harvard and other highly respected universities around the world. Have come together on film, loaded with scientific information which, if it does not refute mankinds responsibility for global warming, at least demonstrates that there is a lack of scientific evidence to support that contention. Because it is highly controversial, and because these scientists have taken the unpopular position of anti-CO2; they have now been called names like heretic and have even been the subjects of death threats because of their outspokenness. It is not, they emphasize, to be unpopular to contrary to a popular notion, but to refute bad science, they say, that they come together in this way to present the other side, the scientific side, of global warming that is not found in Al Gores very popular film on mankind generated global warming, An Inconvenient Truth (2006). Anytime a cause has the huge special interest of the environmentalists, responsible for preventing exploitation of fossil fuels in the pristine Alaskan range; and add to that mix the celebrity of Hollywood and the political clout of the man from whom the 2000 presidential election was stolen from, Al Gore, then you have an emotional, but highly powered, or fueled, group of advocates. It is not that their goal of alternative fuels is not an admirable goal; only, contend the scientists of The Great Global Warming Swindle, that it is, at best, bad science, and, at worst, responsible for keeping the third world nations in the dark because of their support and influence in preventing development or industrialization in third world nations. Carbon dioxide, the scientists of The Great Global Warming Swindle, contend, has always had a fluctuating presence in the earths atmosphere, and that it is a relatively small amount in the atmosphere. The data, they contend, shows that there is a surface warming of a slight level, but no atmospheric warming. The recent warming of the earth, they contend, happened in the early part of the 20th century, and, if the CO2 theory were valid, it would be reflected in the data that shows that the most significant increase in human generated CO2. Professor Ian Clark has examined ice samples going back thousands of years, but that link between CO2 and the weather, but that the CO2 levels lag behind the temperature increase by 800 years. So when the temperature rises, behind it, consistent with historical data, the CO2 rises. The most fundamental assumption of climate changes because of CO2 is proven wrong, the scientists say. In fact, that the CO2 increases in the atmosphere is more easily proven scientifically to be consistent with global cooling, than global warming. Other natural bodies, like the oceans, are the source of CO2 than is the modern technology of mankind.The scientists say that the global warming, now, is a result of coming out of a mini-ice age, and that during that time, which predates modern civilization, the temperatures were much cooler than those times going back to the little medieval period, when in fact the temperatures were much higher than temperatures today, and during a period when mankind could not have had any responsibility for putting CO2 into the atmosphere. It is not, these scientists contend, CO2 that drives climate change. They do agree that climate change is occurring, that the global warming is occurring; but that it is more related to the activity of the sun, solar flares, solar winds that pass close to the earth, than mankinds generating CO2 into the atmosphere. It is important to understand that these scientists do not disagree that there is a need to find alternative fuel sources, or that environmental conscientiousness is a good thing; they do, however, adamantly maintain that they cannot stand back as scientists and allow to be put out as fact and good science, when in fact it is not.

Minority Cultures in Pittsburgh Essay -- Sociology, Culture, Jewish Co

Minority Culture --- Jewish Theme 1 --- Holidays/Traditions There is no way to define someone as â€Å"Jewish† in terms of race; there is no â€Å"Jewish race.† Judaism has a long history; Jewish identity is a combination of this history as well as religious and ethnic variables. There are also several different ways to practice Judaism such as Orthodox, Reformed, Liberal, and Masorti. The Orthodo Jews often follow most strictly the laws and observances of Judaism and will often times send their child to privates Jewish schools at synagogues, therefore it is most likely that I would encounter students that practice as less strict form of Judaism (Chinn, Gollnick p.254). According to 2009 religious affiliation information from the US Census, Pennsylvania’s Jewish population makes up 2.3% of the total population (Table 76. Religious bodies selected data) and according to the Jewish Virtual Library 88% of the Jewish population in Pennsylvania resides in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). One holiday that is uniform amongst all Jewish cultures is Hanukkah. Hanukkah is not considered to be a â€Å"high† festival because it is not regulated in the Torah; however Hanukkah is important to Jewish families because it signifies their refusal to integrate into mainstream culture. Hanukkah has very clear origins. It was first celebrated in 165 B.C.E. when a small group of Jews (The Maccabees) overcame the Syrian oppressors to preserve their culture and way of life and re-dedicate their temple which had previously been taken over by the Syrians. The Syrians sought to destroy the Jewish faith and convert all Jews over to Hellenism (Cardoza p. 83-84). One of the most recognized practices of Hanukkah is the lighting of the eight candles on the... ...e importance of education for children. Many Jewish families will set aside time and money to ensure their children receive a good education in all aspects, including school, religion, and extracurricular activities (Jewish family life and customs: a practical guide). When Jews began immigrating to America they immediately embraced education as the proper path to success and opportunity for themselves and for their children. This is perhaps the reason from the shift in importance of strictly religious studies to the importance of a â€Å"secular† education in the public schools. In a documentary series by David Grubin entitled The Jewish Americans, one Jewish-American woman (Letty Cottin Pogrebin) describes her experience: â€Å"Succeeding academically, are you kidding me, was there anything else? I didn’t feel I had to be pretty or anything else, I had to be smart.†

Family Meal Essay

In her essay, â€Å"The Magic of the Family Meal,† Nancy Gibbs, explains the important role of having meals plays on children. Gibbs begins her essay by telling us how valuable having a family meal is and the positive outcome. She believes that having a family meal, more than three times a week, with no interruptions, can have a great power over a family’s communication skills. Gibbs then explains that children who eat meals with their families, are less likely to get into trouble and eat healthier. She writes, â€Å"Studies show that the more often families eat together, the less likely kids are to smoke, drink, do drugs, get depressed, develop eating disorders, and consider suicide, and the more likely they are to do well in school, delay having sex, eat their vegetables, learn big words, and know which fork to use†(209-210). Gibbs then starts explore the negative effects of not having family meals. She writes that 45 percent of all family dinners have the TV running at the same time as the meal is being eaten. This is part of the reason kids feel like their parents aren’t proud of them as well as why there is tension among that particular family Gibbs states. She then concludes that back in the day dinner was a very precious event for most U. S. families. Overtime however, Gibbs believes this has dissipated due to social, economic, and technological factors. As a result, families became busier with these factors, which made it harder for families to sit down. Meanwhile, the message embedded in the microwave was that time spent standing in front of a stove was time wasted,† (211) Says Gibbs. She explores the effects of the fast food business and what role it played in destroying family meals and its importance. Overall Gibbs concludes that every family needs to have an uninterrupted family meal time, whether it be breakfast, lunch, or dinner, family meals are important, and writes, â€Å"So pull up a chair. Lose the TV. Let the phone go unanswered. And see where the moment takes you† (213). After reading Nancy Gibbs Essay, I looked back at my life and all the family dinners I have had. My parents got divorced when I was really young. Even though I lived with my mother and my sister, we stopped eating as a family every night. My mother got a job as a banker, where she left at 7 am and didn’t come home until around 7 pm. Thus, all of our meals were at the babysitter’s house, sitting by ourselves. After my father moved to Lincoln city and got married, we went to his house to visit every weekend. We sat down as a family to have a meal every night. We did not have phones, TV’s, or any other interruptions. At the dinner table we always had pretty in depth conversations which brought us closer as a family. It always made my sister and me feel like we were important and our dad was proud of us. After my father and his wife had their second child, my father cut us off and he didn’t have us come over very much anymore. My sister and I both started acting out in the beginning of middle school year getting into trouble, experimenting with drugs and hanging with the wrong crowds. Regardless of what we had been told, we didn’t care. Soon my mother got married to my step dad. We started having family dinners again, and my sister and I straightened up. Now that I look back, I do see how important it was for my sister and I to have family meals. These days, it is hard with the world moving so quickly, with jobs and school to sit down and have family dinner. However, we manage to make an effort successful or not, it brings us closer together and we know how important it really is now.

How To Revise A Novel A Step-by-Step Guide

How To Revise A Novel A Step-by-Step Guide How To Revise A Novel: Taking Your Manuscript From Scruffy To Spliffy Last updated: 2017/07/11A week after NaNoWriMo, it is time for you to go back to your novel and ruthlessly revise it. To help you with that, we asked our specialist developmental editor Maria D’Marco to share her top tips on how to revise a novel. Follow them and you might be able to turn your first draft into material worthy of submission.The first thing to keep in mind once you have finished your first draft is that the writing process is not over. You have to accept that creating ever-improving iterations of your manuscript takes time. Your goal here is not perfection (you’ll have to work with a pro editor to get there), it is balance; so do not get hung up on minutiae and work quickly through your drafts.How to revise a novel in 9 key stagesThere is one underlying concept that should drive your revision process: the foundation of Continuity and Relationships, or how everything relates to every other thing in the story.Of course, you shouldn’t try to tackle ev erything at once; instead you should avoid mind-boggle by approaching your re-writes progressively, stage-by-stage.Share this infographic! Click below  to tweet about it or Pin it on your board 🙂 The first 4 stages of the revision process are primarily developmental and should be tackled as individual reviews and re-writes. Each stage will potentially represent a new iteration of the draft. A novice author should expect to perform at least 3 total revisions of their manuscript, before moving into the writing reviews (the last 2 stages). Character reviews are the most time-intensive, deservedly so.Time LineAs the author, you have a running timeline or chronology for your story. It is vital to remember that the reader is not privy to this timeline until you share it with them. Do not leave them to their own devices! This is your story- lead the way!Again, consistency is your gate-keeper, so your revision must ensure that your time line makes sense, supports the story, and has no "whaaa?" factors. You can also check for innovative ways to introduce your time line, which may enlighten as to the time of day, day of the week, month, year, season, etc. Using well-known events can es tablish multiple time points, as well as having a character who is a bit (or very) obsessed with time and checks watches and clocks regularly.CharactersYou have an intimate knowledge of all your characters- well, most likely anyway. To capture their essence on the page and ensure continuity, follow each character through the entire manuscript. Do their actions make sense? Do they contribute to every scene they occupy? Do they elicit emotion? Do they create a turn in the plot (however small)? Are they clichà ©? Does their dialogue add to the scene or the progression of the story?Each character must have a purpose to the story, so perform your revision by 'seeing' the story through their eyes and enriching their interactions, actions, and dialogue as you go.Environments ScenesYou 'see' the environment of every scene vividly, but have you created that vivid environment for the reader? You know the season, the time of day, the placement of each character (plus their mindset importanc e to the scene) within the scene, what the character is wearing, how the action will progress within the scene, etc.As you revise, is every environment and scene written to engage the reader's imagination? And are they imagining what you want and need them to imagine?From worldbuilding to a space the character only occupies for a moment, you must scrutinize each environmental element for opportunities to enrich your story and build a stronger draft.Transitions PacingThese are related elements that can be sticky to refine. The need to identify any lack of consistency in the movement of the story is the goal.Transitions, whether paragraph breaks, chapter breaks, or scene changes are finessed partitions that conclude or leave things hanging and set up or anticipate moves within the story. Transitions can come at the end of a paragraph, chapter, or scene, but can also occur at other times, particularly as set up or anticipatory dialogue or 'hint dropping'.Pacing ties to transitions, as well as to types of scenes, and can keep readers breathless and excited, bored to tears, or precariously tormented between the two. It is the engagement factor that determines the rate at which your story is absorbed. Some refer to pacing as 'flow', not to be confused with 'readability', which refers to comprehension.Revise your story transitions, re-writing to improve focus and positioning, while cementing pivotal transitions that function as story turning points. A 'log' of transitions can help track the movement of the story. This same log can be a complementary tool in your pacing review, allowing you to further indentify and re-write material to support story continuity.Assumed KnowledgeThis is, to me, the greatest pitfall in authoring any novel- or any other type of writing. We have a wealth of knowledge about our book, from personal experience and observations to careful research. We have saturated our minds with endless details, as well as visions of our story, characters, and environments. We then write from that empowered position; and often, assumption of knowledge skewers our story.In every revision, along with the foundation of continuity and relationships, be mindful of assumed knowledge. Shore up the information presented to the reader when necessary so the reader can experience your story from your deeper perspective.Sentence Starts StructuresStrictly a writing review, with the objective of exposing repetitive writing habits. Such habits can dramatically affect your story, as they eventually become predictable to the reader, which then makes them aware of you, the author, instead of your story.Everyone has writing habits. They are tied to our accustomed way of communicating. Some are so ingrained that they become known as our 'style'.This revision isn't meant to dilute your style, your special voice, or any other uniqueness in your writing. Instead, you will be checking for unimaginative sentence starts, obtuse or convoluted sentence structur es, and repetitive phrases or words or use of character names, among other things.Continuity isn't bettered by starting nearly every sentence with a pronoun or a character's name. Combining related concepts in a complex sentence can enrich a transition or deepen emoting. Creating 40-50 word sentences that over-explain, confuse, or present concepts at cross-purposes can tire a reader and even cause them to abandon your story.Identify when, where, and if these lame or aggravating writing habits appear in your story, and then re-write to strengthen your story.DialogueYou probably can envision most of the conversations held between your characters, but have you framed these conversations in an engaging way, avoided using actions or reactions as dialogue tags (we can grimace, but cannot 'grimace' words), or ensured that a conversation actually contributes to the story?Once again, continuity and the relationship of dialogue to the scene and story should guide you in your revision and re-w rites. Consider the entirety of the scene, what it is meant to accomplish, and if the dialogue promotes that goal. Does the dialogue expand and deepen the understanding of the story, the characters, and the relationships between all?An additional review aspect is to identify any instances where dialogue is used as an info-dump, back-story or otherwise. Determine if that material is better presented as narrative. Dialogue that informs is fine, as long as it is the most appropriate and powerful way to present the information.Are you looking for more advice on how to revise your novel? Check out some of our  other editors' advice on the Kobo blog.Of course, nothing trumps working with editing professionals. And we happen to have the best ones (like Maria) on Reedsy, so check out our marketplace here.