GMC
Since Jordan isn’t cooperating and diving into Debra Dixon’s, Goal Motivation Conflict, (I’ve been checking - she wants me to go first, I just know it.) I had to crack it open and take a peek.
Now, you know that I’m not a big rule follower, can’t plot and read these books more for the inspiration they provide, right? Just so we’re clear - because I can’t snowflake to save my life and the plotting board has now lost all the sticky notes. I try and stick with PBW’s three questions, but even so I usually ask them when I’m halfway through the book and can hopefully answer them. My favorite thing to find in these how-to books is a quote or two that really just brings it home for me.
With that being said, there’s one passage Dixon wrote:
You begin with whichever character appeals to you the most.
Got it. Navy SEALs usually work for me. 
And then you see the situation you put them in.
Navy SEAL-ish type stuff. Sex and danger types of things. 
You have of the types of people they’ll come into contact with. Or you already have an idea of who your heroine will be before you start working on GMC
Other Navy SEAL-ish types. 
And the love of their lives, the woman who will challenge them and drive them crazy. (I’m doing well to this point…maybe this isn’t so bad after all.)
Remember, their reason for being in the book is not to fall in love.
:shocked::eek::shock:
Everyone has their own agenda. This will be the worst possible time for either of them to meet their soulmate. They don’t have time. It’s dangerous. They don’t trust, whatever. So you put them into conflict. You put them in situations that throw them together, but they both have their own agenda. Things they must do.
Sometimes things are said so simply I feel I must immediately memorize them. It’s the character and the author in oppostion. No wonder my characters can be such a pain in the ass. They’re just doing their jobs.
Steph T.
May 28th, 2005 at 4:57 pm
I gotta say it, Steph. You’re the best! I loe your posts. They always make me smile, and today.it helps to knwo I’m not the only one that is lost with this stuff. ALthough, Now, not so lost.
May 28th, 2005 at 5:12 pm
LOL. Well, you’ve got that GMC book all nailed down
one of my favorite quotes from GMC is “Sometimes the strongest conflicts to achieving a goal are the character’s own emotional roadblocks. Internal conflict is what keeps the character from learning his life lessons”
And yes, I’m one of THOSE people. Who highlight books and turn down pages. But look how quickly I found that quote
May 28th, 2005 at 5:33 pm
May 28th, 2005 at 7:57 pm
Dixon’s book hit home with me, too.
Although, gotta tell ya…I had a really hard time getting through the thing. She uses The Wizard Of Oz too much. Every time I got to a WOZ passage, I’d cringe. It’s those damn flying monkeys. I just CAN’T get them out of my head (and that freaky movie still scares the bageezuz out of me to this day!).
May 28th, 2005 at 10:56 pm
I couldn’t write without this book. Well, I could, but you wouldn’t want to read it.
May 29th, 2005 at 8:52 am
Sasha - Glad to make you smile. We can be lost together.
Kacey - I actually have that quote on a sticky note somewhere, but I didn’t know it came from Dixon. LOL that you highlight and bend pages - I can’t bring myself to do that. I write down quotes I like in a separate notebook - I’m a ‘don’t bend the spine or hurt the book’ fanatic.
LOL Bonnie!
Elisabeth - I didn’t really read the whole thing and immediately skimmed quickly past the ‘you have homework’ section of the book. But the monkeys scare me too - my parents said I used to have nightmares about the monkeys.
So Jill & Kacey - did you do the whole thing - watch the movies and everything? Did it make you look at the book differently?
May 29th, 2005 at 8:15 pm
Sounds like you had a real V-8 head-smack moment or two. I know I did when reading that book. Hmm. Maybe I should dig it out again.