GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict Kindle Edition

Every now and again I come across a writing blog that mentions GMC, which stands for Goal Motivation Conflict, and is the simple yet powerful concept explained in this book. It’s simple, because most books on writing craft emphasise these three aspects of writing (even if they give them different names) and powerful because conflict—internal and external—is the essence of good fiction. GMC gives a way of ensuring this is properly integrated into the entire plot, whether that is at the plotting, writing or revision stage.Dixon uses movies such as The Wizard of Oz and Indiana Jones to explain the concepts (in fact, she recommends readers watch the movies before reading the book, so they will get the full benefit).GMC is structured in four main sections: Goal, Motivation, Conflict and Scenes. Each section has a helpful list of the main points covered in the section, and the author is very persuasive in her belief that the GMC concept can help all writers, but that each writer can and will choose to apply the concept in a different way.Dixon also answers the question of why I don’t write fiction:“If conflict makes you uncomfortable or you have difficulty wrecking the lives of your characters, you need to consider another line of work.”Yes, I’ll stick with reading.I’ve read books that were obviously written using the GMC concept, and while I didn’t always like some of the characters, their purpose was clear. I’ve also read some books that obviously weren’t written based on the GMC concept, and they were lacking. Some were lacking conflict, some were lacking character goal, some were lacking in not having a single likeable character. Give conflict is the basis of all good fiction, authors will benefit from using an approach like this. Recommended.

This book is a true help to writers. I enjoyed devouring the principles of this book and have already started implementing what I’ve learned. I wish the newer version could be found in print because there’s a lot of areas where I wanted to flip back and forth between different areas of the book. So I settled for finding an older version in print to go along with my more recent kindle version.

This is a clearly written guide that goes step by step into the writing process. It was easy to follow with great summaries at the end of each chapter and helpful ways to build charts that help keep important story points alive. The brainstorming chapter seemed superfluous but otherwise very helpful.

Y’ALL! This book right here is gold! If you are writing commercial fiction and character driven stories, and struggle to plot and fumbling your way through the writing process with no direction, this will help you so much and show you exactly what to do! I wish I had this book years ago!The way Debra explains everything is super easy to understand as she gives you examples based on movies. It’s not overwhelming as she is quick and to the point, and then gives you “homework” to practice.Even though this was written in 1996, it is ALL still applicable. Even in self publishing, you can take the query section and apply that to your business. There wasn’t one chapter that wasn’t useful!“GMC. Otherwise known as the plot.”“If you can trace every action in your book to a unique characters goal and motivation, then the character will create the plot right before your eyes.”“Your reader wants to become involved in the characters struggle to achieve a specific goal. The reader wants to understand why your character is motivated to achieve that goal. The reader wants to worry about whether or not the character can actually achieve that goal. Conflict creates the worry.”“You have to take the reader on a journey of uncertainty.”“Active characters create plot. Let them slug their way through the book toward their goal. Havoc equals excellent reading.”“The goal should be important enough for the character to act against their own best interest and endure hardship if necessary. Important enough means there are unpleasant consequences if the goal is not achieved.”“Romance novels: the goal is not to fall in love and get married. Love is inconvenient. Romance is a conflict. Think about how a romance will complicate the goal.”“Falling in love should impact the characters original goal. Falling in love should require your hero and heroine to make choices.”“Each characters GMC chart should clash with each other. They should feed off each other, push each other forward to create roadblocks.”“Every character has an agenda. It creates plot because the characters are now players.”“Character decisions create your plot.”“A scene should illustrate a characters progress toward the goal, or provide an experience which changes the characters goal.”

This is a small book, but it has solid ideas on what's most important when designing your characters and your plot.I like the idea of condensing everything in small charts that summarizes the key information.It belongs to any writer's bookshelf...

While there was really nothing in the book I haven’t heard before, I found the methodology of the author to be insightful.

I heard about this book from one of the speakers who gave a talk to our local writer's group, Writer's Alliance of Gainesville, and based on her recommendation,I decided to purchase it GMC. This is, hands down, the best book on writing that I have ever read, and I do have a small collection of books on writing. This book has helped me more in a practical sense than any other book in the actual construction and writing of my novel, which is a romantic mystery adventure. The way I used this book was as sort of a check list in the last round of edits on my last read through of my final draft. As a result of the strategies suggested in GMC, I went back and added critical scenes and information that was missing, which really improved the quality of my work in terms of content. This is exactly the push I needed to finish off my book in the best possible way Without question, I will refer back to GMC in writing the next book in my mystery series. Five stars is not enough!

This is an invaluable tool for writers, especially beginner writers. The author walks you through each step in building the goals, motivation s and conflicts for your characters that will help you build the best story possible. The material is easy to read and apply.

Très bon livre exposant d'excellent conseils d'écriture de façon simple et visuelle. Seul point négatif, les derniers chapitres qui ne sont pas véritablement utile à tout le monde. Je recommande vivement !

I have a ton of creative writing books, some of which have similar advice. However, this one was an easy, enjoyable read that made it simple to put the ideas into practice. It makes sense of storytelling techniques in an accessible, memorable way. Glad I bought and read this gem.

Loved this. It's made me a better reader, too ... I have so many more AHA moments now.

This is one of best writing craft books I've read. The goal-motivation-conflict technique is great for giving characters depth and bringing flat stories to life, and is pretty good for brainstorming, too. In a few places I found myself skipping examples etc, but they are there if you need them. Would definitely recommend.