GMC: Goal, Motivation, & Conflict by Debra Dixon

This book was required reading for a class that I am taking. And while parts of the topic seemed to be common sense to me, the book does have some very good ideas on how a writer can more easily not only discover their characters’ goals, motivations, and the conflicts they will face, but how to find ways to show each of those items to the readers as the story progresses.

If the writer doesn’t know what drives a character, or what lengths they are willing to go to in order to achieve those goals, how can they possibly express that to their readers? In order to help the writer with this concept, the author of this book has shown us some simple charts that will help to define both the internal and external things that drive a character, and make each of them unique.

I did appreciate these charts & the ideas behind each of them, as it makes the goals, motivations, and conflicts quite clear to the writer, and allows them to develop their plots accordingly. I also loved the  examples provided to us by Ms. Dixon. I may not have seen each of the movies that she used as an example, but even the ones I was unfamiliar with provided enough of a context for me to understand the intended story of those films.

In addition to these charts and examples, Ms. Dixon talks about the purposes of scenes, what makes for a good and useful scene, and what might be an unnecessary scene. Again, examples are provided for each. And there are exercises throughout the book that should be helpful for most any writer.

Another topic that is discussed involves query letters, and the recommended way to format one to encourage an agent or publisher to want more information about a story, thus decreasing the likelihood of a rejection. (This seems like a helpful topic for most writers.)

Overall, I believe this would be a very helpful book for writers, as well as editors (both copyeditors and developmental editors). The exercises can easily be applied to any book that has been written, whether it is one that has been published or one that is being edited prior to publication or submission for publication.

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