When I was trying to revise my first romance novel, an author who critiqued my first 50 pages told me that my main character needed clearer goals. She recommended Debra Dixon’s book GMC: GOAL, MOTIVATION, AND CONFLICT. Dixon created the now-ubiquitous concept of “GMC,” originally teaching it in workshops. This book explains the concept at length.
I bought a copy of Dixon’s book, read a couple of chapters, and set it aside because I didn’t see how it was applicable. I also didn’t agree with all Dixon’s points, especially with regard to romance novels. Flash forward a year and a half, to when my editor for a forthcoming romance novel kept telling me I needed to strengthen my female lead’s GMC. I trusted my editor’s advice, so I decided to give this book a second shot.
This time, GMC made sense, and I read the book from start to finish. I guess I needed more writing experience before I could fully understand the use of the GMC charts. Having spent more time working on my fiction, I now realize how many golden nuggets there are scattered throughout this book. It wouldn’t surprise me if I reread the book in a couple of years, to refresh my memory. It’s definitely a craft book I’ll keep on my shelf.
I recommend that querying writers ignore Dixon’s advice on writing a query letter, because the structure she recommends is no longer the norm in the industry (so far as I can tell). Instead, look for more recent blog posts or articles that talk about designing a good query letter. However, Dixon’s basic formula of “character wants X [goal], because of Y [motivation], but something prevents them from getting it [confict]” is still a very useful formula for designing a pitch.
You don’t need to buy this book to get acces to GMC charts for character design. You can find those floating around the web for free. But I recommend reading the whole book, because the examples and clarifications will help you use those charts most effectively.
To sum up, I recommend this book and am glad I finally read it. I wish I’d stuck with it when I first got a copy, nearly two years ago.
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