Conflict arises from a character seeking to achieve a goal and encountering an obstacle along the way.
Another way of looking at this is CHARACTER + GOAL = CONFLICT.
It is most helpful, when writing a story, if you can define the character’s goal in physical terms.
But what if your protagonist desires love?
Then you need to find a way to symbolize the love your protagonist so desires.
You will need to define what kind of love your character wants.
Does your character want the love of her parents, that of his father, his mother, or both? Does she want the love of her sister or her husband, or perhaps her children?
Specificity is key to writing tantalizing stories.
The love a child holds for a parent can come in the form of asking the parent to come and live with them versus placing the elderly parent in a nursing home.
The love a sibling holds for her or his sister or brother can present as a loan to assist with keeping a house out of foreclosure. It could even be a kidney donated from one sibling to the other.
Re-defining your characters’ desires into physical goals makes it easier for you to tell their story in ways that the reader can visualize. The tangible goal allows them to viscerally experience the conflict and transformation through which your protagonist undergoes in the quest for her or his goal.
Conflict and desire.
Make the goal physical to generate the best effect with these in your story.
How do you define goals in your stories?
What is one of the greatest conflicts one of your characters has faced?
My crit partner and I were talking about this very thing yesterday. We were struggling with defying her characters GMC statements. We both admit we suck at GMC statmetments; not that we don’t know what they are, but that we have trouble trying to condense it down to its bare essence.
I will keep your tip in mind “Specificity is key”
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I don’t know what GMC statements are but being specific both in the prose we write and having our characters do so in the dialogue they speak forces the tension and drives the plot. Specificity also elucidates character personality and character development, both of which raise the stakes and fortify change and transformation.
Thanks so much for sharing.
GMC = Goal, Motivation, & Conflicts. I like to have them down for both characters to help me plot out my story.
Oh, now I see. This is good. I like this plan. And the pneumonics.
Thanks again.