The "G" in GMC

Yep, I'm talking goals again. Not the annual kind, though. Nope, I'm interested in one of the three building blocks of good story.

Debra Dixon in her book, GMC Goal, Motivation & Conflict, states that readers expect a book to answer four simple questions:

1. Who = character


2. What = goal


3. Why = motivation


4. Why not = conflict

Sounds easy, right? Not for every writer.

Let's break it down a bit more. A character's goal is what she wants above all else in the story. A husband. Independence. To find her brother's murderer. A good goal will be something she doesn't have yet.

Debra Dixon says the best goals are the ones that are important and urgent. Ones that drives a character to act against her own best interest and endure hardship to obtain it. Something unpleasant will happen if she doesn't reach her goal. Amp up the volume of your story by making the goal urgent. Something that needs action NOW.

A character is much more interesting to a reader if she has both external and internal goals. Having both, creates an intriguing, multi-layered character. And it forces your character to make lots of decisions. Some will be good and some will be bad. The bad decisions create conflict. Readers love conflict.

Stay tuned for more on GMC!

GMC

I'm not referring to one of those gas-guzzling, muscle-man, can't see around SUVs tooteling down the highway (can you tell I drive a standard transmission car?). Nope, I'm talking about Goal, Motivation and Conflict aka the backbone of an awesome story.

My local RWA chapter has a wonderful reference library that I recently tapped into. The book I selected? Debra Dixon's Goal, Motivation and Conflict: The Building Blocks of Good Fiction. Now, I admit not being very far along, but what I've read so far has really resonated with me.

Here's just a few notes I've written down.

• Conflict creates worry (Simple statement but to the point and meaningful)
• A writer should aim to take the reader on a journey of uncertainty (Ooo, I like that)
• Your story must answer 4 questions: Who (character), what (goal), why (motivation), and why not (conflict)

It seems to me that the last bullet can be used to build a high concept or short query paragraph about your story. I have to read on to be sure, but it looks good right now.

Sorry for the short post. I'll talk a little more about this once I've finished the book.