GMC Decoded

I’m actually afraid to say this out loud, or to type the words, but...I think I may have decoded the mystery of GMC. Granted, for many people, this isn’t much of a mystery. I know some people who can whip off their characters internal and external GMC the same way some of us can whip off the different kinds of Lindt chocolate balls available at their local Chapters.

But not me.

Every now and then I think I have it within my grasp but the harder I think about it the more elusive it becomes. Internal mixes with external, goals overlap motivation and the conflict doesn’t blend cohesively with any of it. Oddly enough, I can write the book and have those elements present in the writing, but if you were to ask me to nail them down, or pick them out, I stutter and stammer and get this blank, glazed look in my eye. Eventually I wander off wondering where it all went so horribly wrong.

But today in the lunch room, as I worked on my hero’s GMC for Brimstone, it became clear to me. I had an epiphany. The skies opened up, sunbeams danced upon the looseleaf, a chorus of angels sang. I wept with joy. Okay, perhaps I didn’t actually weep, I was sitting amongst my co-workers after all. But I did to a small little happy dance in my chair. Complete with arm-pumping.

If I manage to pull off my heroine’s GMC with equal ease, I’m not sure I can be held responsible for my actions.