Writing Books I Recommend: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict
Cover of GOAL, MOTIVATION & CONFLICT: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF GOOD FICTION
A long time ago -- like more than a decade -- I wanted to be a writer, and I found myself joining a local chapter of Romance Writers of America. I joined a critique group, wrote a chapter, turned in my pages, and then promptly got ripped to shreds. "Nothing is happening," I was told. "Nobody in this story wants anything." At the time, I remembered that these seemed to be two unrelated statements.
Debra Dixon's GOAL, MOTIVATION AND CONFLICT taught me that I was wrong -- GMC is plot. Without GMC, your story doesn't move. This book will teach you the fundamentals of creating plot based on an internal and external character arc.
WHO IT'S FOR:
This book is for novelists who want to figure out what their story is about before they start outlining. It's for novelists who want to learn how to shape a story, and how to make it resonant. This is a book that has been circling for a long, long time among writers who were serious about publication, but who didn't quite know how to get there.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT:
Dixon teaches you about goal (what some might call character motivation), motivation (what some might call stakes), and conflict. Basically, the goal is what the character wants, the motivation is why they want it, and the conflict is why they can't have it. She spends a chapter on each of these, with conflict getting an additional chapter as she introduces the idea of "conflict mascots." She introduces a chart that you should absolutely use in your own work, and she talks about how the chart gets you to the "big black moment," the moment where it seems like everything has gone wrong and there will be no happy ending. She walks you through scene creation and a brainstorming section. There's a section at the end that is far less developed that talks about querying and selling.
WHAT'S USEFUL:
THE CHART! Seriously, her chart is so simple and straightforward and brilliant. She introduces it using the story of The Wizard of Oz, and she shows how Dorothy's internal GMC drives the external GMC. Dixon makes a good case that the reader thinks that they care about the external GMC, but that they really care about the internal GMC, and here's what I have to say: yep. Absolutely. If you can take from this book the ability to read and create plots according to her idea and visualization of GMC, you're way ahead of the storytelling game.
WHAT THIS BOOK DOESN'T DO:
This isn't the book to read to discover how to write a query letter or to break into publishing. There are other, better books and sites for the more industry-side conversations.
WHAT TO READ FIRST:
This book is great as a first craft book -- it introduces fundamental principles without the need for any prior grounding.
WHAT TO READ NEXT:
SAVE THE CAT! WRITES A NOVEL by (see review here)
STORY GENIUS by Lisa Cron (see review here)