Element dyn.pr. Hinder ↔ Help

a direct assistance to another's effort to achieve their goal

The Help characteristic assists another's efforts. This can be a real boon to someone struggling to achieve. Sometimes, however, someone doesn't want any help. He either wants to do it on his own or what he is trying to do has been misread by the character representing the Help characteristic who is actually hindering him. Did you hear the one about the Boy Scout who helped the little old lady across the street and then she bashed him with her handbag because she had been waiting for a bus?

syn. aid, assist, support, bolster, abet

Element dyn.pr. Help ↔ Hinder

a direct detraction from another's effort to achieve their goal

The Hinder characteristic strives to undermine another's efforts. This might be seen as a negative, as it often is. But sometimes a character functions to hinder an "evil" character, disrupting his plans. Hinder merely indicates the effect on the plans not whether that is a good or bad thing.

syn. retard, obstruct, impede, fetter, undermine, block, burden, encumber, thwart

Variation dyn.pr. Dream ↔ Hope

a desired future if things go as expected

Hope is based on a projection of the way things are going. When one looks at the present situation and notes the direction of change, Hope lies somewhere along that line. As an example, if one is preparing for a picnic and the weather has been sunny, one Hopes for a sunny day. If it was raining for days, one could not Hope but only Dream. Still, Hope acknowledges that things can change in unexpected ways. That means that Hoping for something is not the same as expecting something. Hope is just the expectation that something will occur unless something interferes. How accurately a character evaluates the potential for change determines whether he is Hoping or dreaming. When a character is dreaming and thinks he is Hoping, he prepares for things where there is no indication they will come true.

syn. desired expectation, optimistic anticipation, confident aspiration, promise, encouraging outlook

Class dyn.pr. Future ↔ How Things Are Going

the way things are going; progress

How Things Are Going concerns itself with change -- what direction and how fast? It is not so important where things were, are, or will be, but rather how the struggle between inertia and change seesaws over the course of the story.

syn. flowing, advancing, proceeding, moving forward, developing step by step, graduated, staging, successive, procession, the way things are going

Element dyn.pr. Theory ↔ Hunch

a conclusion based on intuition

A Hunch is an understanding arrived at by circumstantial evidence. The phrase "where there's smoke, there's fire" describes the concept. The advantage is that when evidence mounts, even without direct connections, one may draw an analogy that has a substantial likelihood of being correct as in "I've seen that pattern before!" Of course, a Hunch is merely a suspicion. The danger is acting upon it as if it were fact.

syn. intuition, premonition, impression, suspicion