Goals, Motivation and Conflict

I'm not really one for anachronisms. (Had to even look that one up to spell it.) But I won a really good book called A Novel Idea that was put together by all these best-selling Christian authors.

I wanted to save it for my plane trip (my looooong plane trip) but couldn't resist. Anyways, Jill Elizabeth Nelson mentioned something she termed GMC.

Goals, motivations and conflicts.

Let me backtrack here abit. When I wrote my first book, I hadn't a clue what when into each chapter. Just my story. That was it.

Second one. More of the same.

By the time I hit my third book, I was daring myself to study some of the chapter structure stuff even though I hated to read all those terms. Eventually I realized if I was going to improve, I needed to understand the bones of writing a book.

(Still groaning) I discovered that learning this stuff makes writing a book easier and makes for a better book. Yes, the pros know their work.

So now I have a way to remember if I'm doing what I should in each chapter.

What does the character want?
Why does he desire this goal?
What stands between the character and achieving the goal?

(Thank you Jill again.)

Maybe it's just me but when someone explains it this way--a bell goes off in my head. I get it.

What about you? Are you still fumbling in the dark without a writing formula or do you trust the experts?

Next time I post, it will be from rainy Seattle. Have a good week!
PS If you love Bread and Chipoltes--enter this contest here:)