Welcome to Day Four of HEA Writing Week!
Today, we’re tackling what may be the most discussed topic on Write for Harlequin, the essentials of Goal, Motivation and Conflict. One of our favorite writing resources is Debra Dixon’s excellent and simply titled book on writing, GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict. It teaches writers about these crucial elements underlying your novel and we’re drawing from it for today’s challenge. Let’s break GMC down to the basics.
Number 1: Goal
Think about what your character wants. What are their deepest desires, ambitions, or passions? You want to think about both internal and external goals, as they’re likely different. An important note is that, in a romance novel, your main duo’s goals will likely be at odds and won’t pave an easy path to falling in love.
As Dixon writes, “The last thing on their minds is meeting a soul mate. In fact, it’s darned inconvenient. Romance will be a conflict for your characters. Otherwise, they’d run towards each other on page one, kiss, fall into bed, and get married. That makes a very short book.” (GMC, p. 17).
Number 2: Motivation
What is driving them? Why do they want what they want? This is when the backstory that you came up with on Day Two will come into play. What is giving them their incentive to push their own story forward?
Number 3: Conflict
What is the roadblock that is keeping this story from being wrapped up in a beautiful bow on page 1? Again, you will have both internal conflicts, such as a personal belief, and an external, like a scheming ex.
The Princess Bride: A Case Study
Using the 1987 movie The Princess Bride as an example, let’s identify the goal, motivation, and conflicts of our main duo (movie spoilers abound here, so you’ve been warned!). This case study is adapted from an earlier blog post, “Writing a Synopsis that Works” by Executive Editor Kathleen Scheibling.
Let’s start with the heroine, Buttercup –
Buttercup found True Love with the brave hero, Westley, and then lost it. What is there to live for? Before she has time to answer that question, she is taken captive, first of a band of outlaws, and then of the Dread Pirate Roberts himself! But her beloved Wesley cannot disguise himself for long—it is he, come to save her! But then she must save him by giving herself up to Prince Humperdinck in exchange for Westley’s life. Just when they are reunited, they are again separated. They must believe in True Love to save them…perhaps with a little help from their friends.
If we break the storyline down into Dixon’s GMC chart, it will look like this:
| External | Internal | |
| Goal | To be reunited with Westley | Happily Ever After |
| Motivation | True Love | Happiness |
| Conflict | She is kidnapped She must sacrifice herself to save Westley | She doesn’t want to live without true love |
Now, let’s move onto Westley –
Trapped on a pirate ship, Westley stays focused on his main goal—returning home to Buttercup. When his captor retires and makes Westley the new Dread Pirate Roberts, Westley sails for Florin, only to find the seemingly cold-hearted Buttercup engaged to an evil Prince. Before he confronts her, he must save Buttercup from a band of outlaws. Once he has proved himself smarter and stronger than a practiced, revenge-filled swordsman, a friendly giant and a self-styled genius, he has Buttercup’s full attention, and it is time to discover the truth: Does she still love him?
His GMC chart will look like this:
| External | Internal | |
| Goal | Return home to Buttercup | Find out if Buttercup still loves him (she is engaged to the Prince) |
| Motivation | He must prove himself as the Dread Pirate Roberts | He must prove himself to Buttercup |
| Conflict | People want to kill him Buttercup thinks he is dead | He doesn’t know if he’s good enough for her – is he worthy of her love? |
If you’re paying close attention, you’ll notice that in our example here, Buttercup breaks one of Debra Dixon’s rules above—her internal goal is to find true love! What this illustrates is that, like with all creative work, these concepts are more guidelines than steadfast rules. They are meant to guide your writing journey, rather than keep you boxed in. You know your characters better than anyone else but keep these guidelines in mind along your way.
GMC: The Challenge
Today, we’ve created a worksheet with two empty GMC charts for you to fill out about your dynamic duo. Print it out or recreate it in your notebook and get to work filling in those spaces!
Once you’re done, pop over to the Write for Harlequin Facebook Community to check in with other writers and see how everyone is doing.
Further Reading:
We have lots more on GMC across the blog! Before jumping into today’s activity below, have a look at some past articles and see how our authors use GMC in their books as well as what the editors are looking for.
We also recommend going right to the source and picking up a copy of Debra Dixon’s GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict. It is an incredible resource that we highly recommend!
Don’t forget – Our live writing sprint event is tomorrow! At 1 am EST tomorrow, join Carol Dunsmore for an hour of writing sprints to wrap up a week of incredible writing. Register below!
