TECH: GMC for Nanowrimo?
Nov. 1st, 2008 10:17 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
mbarker.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
writercises[General Motors Car? What?]
A few days ago, someone on another list mentioned being a pantser. Since I hadn't heard the term in a while, I went ahead and looked up "plotter pantser" on Google. Plotters are the people who pre-plan their work -- outlines and so forth. Pantsers write by the seat-of-their-pants. Not that everyone buys these, nor does everyone fit completely into one or the other side, but generally, there are those who work it out largely in abstract form ahead of time and then write almost mechanically and those who are improvising as they write, boldly forging ahead.
But I don't really want to get into the discussion about which approach is better. Plotters and pantsers have pros and cons, and most of us will try both roads at different times and find out which one seems to work best for us. However, in the various links, I glanced at this one http://www.hodrw.com/ppii.htm and happened to get caught on an acronym. GMC charts? What are they talking about?
A bit of poking around revealed that Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts have been reduced to an acronym. Where is the character headed? Why do they want to get there? And what problems crop up to block them from just doing it?
So, for the nanowrimowers, let me suggest -- even while grinding out the daily quota, take time to think about your characters. What are their GMCs? Then bang them into each other, and let the words flow.
tink
[counting down to November . . .]
A few days ago, someone on another list mentioned being a pantser. Since I hadn't heard the term in a while, I went ahead and looked up "plotter pantser" on Google. Plotters are the people who pre-plan their work -- outlines and so forth. Pantsers write by the seat-of-their-pants. Not that everyone buys these, nor does everyone fit completely into one or the other side, but generally, there are those who work it out largely in abstract form ahead of time and then write almost mechanically and those who are improvising as they write, boldly forging ahead.
But I don't really want to get into the discussion about which approach is better. Plotters and pantsers have pros and cons, and most of us will try both roads at different times and find out which one seems to work best for us. However, in the various links, I glanced at this one http://www.hodrw.com/ppii.htm and happened to get caught on an acronym. GMC charts? What are they talking about?
A bit of poking around revealed that Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts have been reduced to an acronym. Where is the character headed? Why do they want to get there? And what problems crop up to block them from just doing it?
So, for the nanowrimowers, let me suggest -- even while grinding out the daily quota, take time to think about your characters. What are their GMCs? Then bang them into each other, and let the words flow.
tink
[counting down to November . . .]
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