Clarity
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Clarity

I’m the first person to admit that discussions on ‘the craft of writing’ tend to leave me glassy eyed and reaching for the nearest bottle of tequila. When conversations turn to GMC and Story Arc’s I check out mentally.

Why? Because when I first started to try and learn the ‘craft’ of writing I tried and tried to grasp these concepts, but they just made things seem so ….hard. I just wanted to write a story for God’s sake! It took about six months for me to see that I was hurting myself by reading all these articles and listening to the way everyone else defined the elements of a good story. I couldn’t seem to get past all the analyzing.

So, I gave up on trying to plot, on trying to find my characters GMC’s. Hell, I don’t even do character sketches! I decided that I was just going to write them damn stories, and hope that all the right elements were in there somewhere. And that’s what I do, it seems to work for me.

But every now and then, someone explains things in just the right way…and a light bulb goes on in my head. The first time it happened was in November ( I thinkit was November) when Paperback Writer posted her 3 questions she asks uses to learn about her characters.
1) Who are you?
2) What do you want?
3) What’s the worst thing I could do to you?
(these are as I remember them…might not be exactly the way she wrote them.*g* )

The second time someone has explained craft to me in a plain and simple way that I can understand was yesterday. I was telling Morgan, from Dark Erotica, that I love her blog posts because she often states things in a way that I understand. (She has a great one on Character and Motive right now, using the movie Constantine as an example…I love the use of examples, it makes everythign so much easier to follow.) And then she did it again. When I said I didn’t like to analyze GMC and stuff because it just made me feel lost, she summed it up in a simple straight-forward way for me, and now it makes sense!!

What did she say? Quote:A better order for GMC — is MCG: Motivation — Conflict — Goal
 – You need to know a character’s Motivation to know what kind of Conflicts will force them to choose what Goals they are likely to chase.

My God!! I see it!! I see what GMC is!! or should I say MCG? Geez, I better be careful or the next thing you know I’ll be *gasp* plotting!! 😉

Related posts:

  1. Weakness
  2. Evolution of a writer??
  3. A little writing advice.
  4. Body Decoration

19 Comments

  1. Grace

    First off, who’s the hot guy in the upper left? If that’s your brother and he lives anywhere slightly west or east of the rockies, I can learn how to mountain climb if need be!

    Second, I suck at writing. You just have to see how badly I’m doing trying to write a term paper that’s a day late to figure that out. You’re much better than you realize. Cheers

  3. Sasha

    Thanks Grace~ LOL No, the picture isn;t actually my brother. But now thatI thinkabotu it it. it could be…he’s the only one in my family that’s never had to watch his weight. Hmm…He lives in ALberta now… how close are you? 😉

    Cece~ I still have never read the writers journey. :blush: But, I’m liking this learning at a slow pace. 🙂

  4. Grace

    Hey Sasha,

    It depends on which part of Alberta. My best friend lives in Edmonton and another friend lives in Calgary. If I drive straight, I could be in Calgary in about 14 hours and Edmonton 18. lol.

    I’m still perusing through all the buttons to the left of your blog. Very interesting stuff!

  5. Sasha

    Grace…Enjoy surfing the site! Be sure to sign up for the newletter! I only mail out about once a month and I always include an exceprt, or special story just for subscribers. 😉

    And you’d need at least 18 hours then, he lives just outside Edmotnon for now. I’ll have to hunt for a piture of him to post..lol. Man, he’d kill me if he ever read this or saw that I put a picture of him up. lol but hey..that’s what little sisters are for. 😛

  6. Grace

    Signed up and ready to receive the newsletter! Thanks.

    My friend’s been harassing me to come visit her in the city of champions. I told her get me tickets to a hockey game and I’ll be there with bells on. What do you know, they cancelled the season.

    Since you have the links to travel sites to surf, perhaps you can look into travel for Italy (specifically Venice and Rome in 14 days) for me so I can stop giving myself a headache. lol.

  8. Morgan Hawke

    Your bro is THAT cute? OMG! Damn, and I live all the way at the other end of the country from Alberta. (sigh)

    He’d have to be a pervy hobbit fancier anyway, as I’m less that 5 feet tall, (barely more than a meter high.) ~O.o~

    I’m glad I was able to help kill the mystery on GMC / MCG. My mission in life, exposing every writing "secret" out there.

    Morgan Hawke
    http://www.darkerotica.blogspot.com/

  11. Steph T.

    I firmly believe you have to write first, at least one or two books/novellas before you can turn to the craft stuff. Because then you have something to plug what you’ve learned into. I never understood half the craft stuff until recently – those lightbulb moments are very helpful. But still – I like my craft in small doses, and mainly to help with revisions, at this point. 🙂

  12. Sasha

    Morgan~ I have no idea if my brother is a "pervert hobby fanicier" and I’m sorta scared to ask him. 😉

    Larissa, Sheri, and Steph~ Like you’all I take craft things in only small doses. But I truly find alot of articles on Morgan’s blog easy t o understand. "Easy to understand" is my favorite phrase right now! 😛

    I think it’s the examples. Examples are good, especially when they involve popular fiction characters (ie movies and such.)

  13. Lynn

    Thank goodness I’m not the only one that gets bleary-eyed! Some things I try so hard to understand, but I never completely grasp them, you know? With GMC (or in your case, MCG), I understand the concept, but I can’t necessarily always find them in my characters. Doesn’t mean they don’t have them, I’m just precise enough to figure them out! But I surely do love those lightbulb moments!

  15. Sasha

    Morgan, you can be sure I will come to you for any deciphering needed in the future. And just to chat! 😛

    Lynn~ Like you, I realize that my characters ussually have what they need, but I’m unaware of it. But now, I’m hoping that I can learn to be aware. With that awarness, I’m hoping I might even be able to start manipulating them a bit… :hehe:

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