Foiling the Villain by Sandra Ardoin

Image Courtesy of PublicDomanPictures.net

The movie Star Trek: Into Darkness came out in May and we had to see it as a family since we enjoyed the last one. 

So, I was sitting in the theater, enjoying the movie and minding my own business, when one line of dialog detonated in my head like a photon torpedo. I’ll paraphrase the idea since I didn’t whip out pen and paper to write the exact wording in the dark. The idea was simply this: Find out what he (the villain) wants and see to it he doesn’t get it.

Okay, that’s such a simple concept that my reaction should have been, “Uh…yeah, I know that.” But, oddly enough, my thoughts went immediately to the antagonist in my project and that person’s reasons for doing what they do. Honestly, I ended up feeling a bit sorry for the poor creature—but not enough to let my hero and heroine fail.

Like our heroes and heroines, our villains need a goal and motivation, and they need to be things in direct opposition to what the good guys want. Much of the time, the antagonist believes he or she is in the right, and (in their minds) there's a certain justification to what they do, but they don’t go about accomplishing their goal in the right way. Discover what your antagonist wants more than anything and why, and let the protagonist stop him before he gets it.

Overall, I found Star Trek: Into Darkness to be an excellent lesson in the tug-of-war that should take place between the characters. Another gem: let the bad guy win on occasion. It ups the stakes and keeps the tension high.

When was the last time you experienced a sudden explosion of understanding—when you heard or read something that boiled down a concept you already knew into such simple terms that it left you reeling? (I doubt I’m the only person that happens to.)

Have you ever watched a movie and come away with a concept that helped your writing?

~~~

Besides being part of the fabulous Seriously Write Blog team, Sandra writes Christian romance, with her focus on Historical Romance. You'll find her children's short story, "Get a Clue," in Family Ties: Thirteen Short Stories.
Personal Blog: www.sandraardoin.com
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Wrapping up with GMC:

Please welcome Katie Ganshert as the concludes her series on GMC this Manuscript Monday.

Wrapping up with GMC

by Katie Ganshert

For this last post, we will explore how to use GMC to create an elevator pitch. But first, let’s do a quick recap.

Goal. Every main character needs one. What does your character want? And what's at stake if he doesn't reach his goal? The higher the stakes, the better.

Motivation. Every goal needs one. Why is your character after what he’s after? Why does the goal matter? You can make your character want anything, as long as the motivation behind the goal is compelling and believable.

Conflict. Every story needs one. What stands in the way of your character reaching his goals?

Every scene you write needs to advance your character's GMC in some way. If one of your scenes doesn't address a G, or an M, or a C, then you must ask yourself, why is the scene in the book?

What’s an elevator pitch and how do we use the GMC to write one? An elevator pitch is a short one or two sentence blurb describing the premise of your book.

Elevator Pitch Outline: Character wants (goal) because (motivation), but (conflict).

Elevator Pitch: The Wizard of Oz
An unhappy teenager wants to get home because her aunt is sick, but first she must win the witch’s broom in order to get help from the wizard.

Important Note: Unhappy teenager is used in place of Dorothy’s name. Debra Dixon refers to this as a dominant impression—an adjective/noun combination that captures the essence of your character. When constructing your elevator pitch, you want to use the dominant impression, not your character’s actual name.

So that’s a very simplistic explanation of GMC. To learn more about these important concepts, you’ll have to buy Debra Dixon’s amazing book, Goal, Motivation, and Conflict.

Katie Ganshert was born and raised in Iowa, where she currently resides with her husband, their ten-month-old son, and their black lab, Bubba. She keeps busy balancing her roles as wife, mother, 5^th grade teacher, and writer. She writes emotional love stories. Two of her short stories will be published in Christian Fiction Online Magazine, one in August, the other in November. She is an active member of ACFW, has completed three novels, and looks forward to writing more. You can find Katie at her website: http://katieganshert.com/ or on her blog where she writes about all things writing. www.katieganshert.blogspot.com

GMC: Looking at the C

Please welcome Katie Ganshert once again this Manuscript Monday for her continuing series on GMC.

GMC: Looking at the C

by Katie Ganshert

Conflict. Hate it in real life. Love it in fiction. According to Debra Dixon, the strength of a story rests in its conflict. Wow, that's a big statement. Why is conflict so important? Because conflict is the gasoline that keeps our stories running. Who wants to read a story about a character who accomplishes his goal without any problems? Talk about boring.

So what, exactly, is conflict? It’s any obstacle that stands in the way of your character reaching his goal. Conflict moves the story forward. Think about every good book you’ve ever read. The characters are not stagnant, are they? Of course not. They grow, mature, evolve. How does this happen? By overcoming obstacles that get in the way of their goal.

What you should know about conflict:
- Conflict equals tension and tension is what makes readers flip pages.
-Villains make excellent conflicts
- Bickering isn’t conflict
- Misunderstanding isn’t conflict

Three ways to increase conflict:

- Raise the stakes: Imagine the worst case scenario and run with it
- Fish out of the water: Throw your character in a situation or a setting that’s so far out of his comfort zone that conflict is inevitable

-Two dogs, one bone. Two characters both want the same thing. Only one can win.

Important to keep in mind: all the conflict in the world won't mean a thing if you don't establish an important goal and a compelling motivation. If your character doesn't really care all the much about accomplishing the goal, or the reason behind the goal isn’t important, it won't matter how many obstacles you throw in your character’s path, because if your character doesn't care about the outcome, your readers won’t either.

Katie Ganshert was born and raised in Iowa, where she currently resides with her husband, their ten-month-old son, and their black lab, Bubba. She keeps busy balancing her roles as wife, mother, 5^th grade teacher, and writer. She writes emotional love stories. Two of her short stories will be published in Christian Fiction Online Magazine, one in August, the other in November. She is an active member of ACFW, has completed three novels, and looks forward to writing more. You can find Katie at her website: http://katieganshert.com/ or on her blog where she writes about all things writing. www.katieganshert.blogspot.com

GMC: Looking at the M by Katie Ganshert

Once again we welcome Katie Ganshert to Manuscript Monday here on Seriously Write. She's here with Part II of her series on Goal, Motivation and Conflict.

GMC: Looking at the Motivation

Now that we’ve established the need for an urgent, important, and timely goal, let's look at the M in GMC: Motivation. Motivation answers the question: Why does your character want what he wants?

Here’s the thing about fiction: there are no limits. If you want your character’s goal to be cloning his dead uncle Bob, you can do it. If you want your character’s goal to be capturing a colony of hostile mermaids living at the bottom of the ocean, you can do that too. You can make these goals believable as long as you establish a strong, plausible motivation behind them.

Here’s an Example

Character Goal: Winning a pie-eating contest

C’mon, that’s an absurd goal. Who cares about winning a pie eating contest? Give your character a compelling motive behind the silly goal, and your reader might just start to. Let’s say our character is a bean pole who can’t eat more than a sugar snap pea without getting full. His father is a burly man who thinks real men have big appetites. Our character has always been a disappointment to his dad—the skinny black sheep of his otherwise husky family. Taking first place in that pie eating contest suddenly becomes much more than winning a blue ribbon. It means proving to his father, and to himself, that he’s just as much of a man as the next big guy. The story is silly, no doubt, but at least it’s believable.

Writing good fiction means suspending disbelief. And nothing screams unbelievable more than a goal with a poorly constructed motivation. Without a strong motivation, the story falls apart. And when the story falls apart, you’ve lost your reader. Motivation is key. Every character needs a goal. Every goal needs a motivation.

Katie Ganshert was born and raised in Iowa, where she currently resides with her husband, their ten-month-old son, and their black lab, Bubba. She keeps busy balancing her roles as wife, mother, 5^th grade teacher, and writer. She writes emotional love stories. Two of her short stories will be published in Christian Fiction Online Magazine, one in August, the other in November. She is an active member of ACFW, has completed three novels, and looks forward to writing more. You can find Katie at her website: http://katieganshert.com/ or on her blog where she writes about all things writing. www.katieganshert.blogspot.com

GMC: Looking at the G

This Manuscript Monday, please welcome Katie Ganshert to share on Goal, Motivation, Conflict. This piece begins her four-part series which will take us through Mondays in September.

GMC: Looking at the G

Debra Dixon wrote a book called Goal, Motivation, and Conflict, by far one of my most favorite craft books to date. According to Debra, every story can be pared down into three basic elements: goal, motivation, and conflict. Get them right, your story will flourish. Get them wrong, and your story might take a nose dive.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at the G in GMC: the Goal. Your main character needs a goal. This goal should answer the question: What does my character want? Sounds simple, right? It is, as long as you keep three things in mind:

Urgency. To give your story that ever elusive hook, you want to create a goal that is urgent, not something your character could accomplish just as well ten years from now. Create a sense of urgency within your character, and you will entice your readers to keep flipping pages.

Consequences: Your goal should come attached with a “So What?” addendum. If your character doesn’t accomplish this particular goal, so what? Are the consequences big enough to make your readers care? Make your readers care, and they will stick around.

Timing: Once you’ve established the G, make it evident right off the bat. Don’t leave your reader guessing what your character wants to accomplish until half way through your novel. Clue your reader in, and do it in a timely manner. A note of caution: Show the goal, don’t tell it.

What happens when your character doesn’t have a clearly defined goal? The story becomes episodic and lacks a sense of direction. Episodic books are incredibly hard to sell and even harder to read.

So get off to a good start. Give you character an important goal.

Katie Ganshert was born and raised in Iowa, where she currently resides with her husband, their ten-month-old son, and their black lab, Bubba. She keeps busy balancing her roles as wife, mother, 5^th grade teacher, and writer. She writes emotional love stories. Two of her short stories will be published in Christian Fiction Online Magazine, one in August, the other in November. She is an active member of ACFW, has completed three novels, and looks forward to writing more. You can find Katie at her website: http://katieganshert.com/ or on her blog where she writes about all things writing. www.katieganshert.blogspot.com