GMC
Cycles
This is an outlining style that I
recently tried out, and it worked really well. I usually write by the seat of
my pants, more of a Gardener than a Pantser, so standard outlines were the
worst for me, but doing GMC Cycles made the process feel like writing a “First
Draft” that needed to be revised and filled in rather than an outline. It made
the whole process go really well.
There are two things I need to
address before moving on.
First: what is a GMC? GMC stands for
Goal, Motivation and Conflict. These are the keys to keeping your characters
and story on track. The Goal is what CHARACTER wants. The Motivation is why CHARACTER
wants it. The Conflict is what is stopping CHARACTER from getting it. It’s easy
to write a simple GMC for a scene: CHARACTER wants THING because REASON, but
PROBLEM.
The other thing I needed to discuss:
what is the cycle? Well, the cycle is a try/fail cycle. It’s what CHARACTER
goes through to achieve that Goal by overcoming the Conflict. All a try/fail
cycle really is though, is just answering the question, “Does CHARACTER get
THING?” But the answer is not a simple yes or no. It’s, “Yes, but UNINTENDED
CONSEQUENCES,” or “No, and PROBLEM GETS WORSE.” With the second part of this,
it gives the character a new Goal and a new Motivation, as well as sets up a
new Conflict, thus cycling to your next GMC.
So, where do we start?
Well, we need to start with an
opening image. What do you want to happen at the very beginning? Write one line
of motion, one line of description and one thought by CHARACTER. CHARACTER doesn’t
have to be named at his point. Use the tense you will write the story in for
this.
Example:
CHARACTER rushed out of the subway. People congested the sidewalk, and clangs
of construction clouded his senses. The thought of Big Bob’s Bakery, BBB, made
his mouth water.
Now we have a starting point.
After writing your opening image,
copy and paste the four topic points below. Paste it like a hundred times (or
as many as you feel like since you can just paste more later):
GMC: X
Location: Y
Characters: Z
Try/fail: XYZ
Make
sure there is at least one line between each of these sets (not between the topic
points). From here, we will start to fill these out.
Based on the initial image, what
does CHARACTER want? Why? What is stopping CHARACTER? Replace X with a GMC
sentence.
Example:
CHARACTER wants to make it to BBB before it closes, because he is hungry, but there
are too many people in the way.
Where does this GMC take place?
Replace Y with the location, don’t be too detailed.
Example:
Just outside the subway, on the sidewalk, lots of traffic in the streets.
Who is taking part in this GMC?
Replace Z with the characters involved. They don’t need to be named, just categorized:
Main, Enemy, Love, Sidekick, elder, etc.
Example:
CHARACTER. Faceless crowd. Enemy, but only described.
The final part of the cycle is to
answer the try/fail question.
Example:
Yes, CHARACTER makes it, but BBB is already closed, early, and it never closed
early.
This leads us to our next cycle. We
have a new Goal (CHARACTER wants a sandwich), a new motivation (because
CHARACTER is still hungry and now he’s also worried) and a new conflict (but
the store is already closed).
Now we just repeat the cycle,
filling in the location, characters and answering the try/fail question. And
again. And again. And again until we reach the ending. At the ending we need to
write a final image, which is like the opening image, to show us the last thing
the character is doing when the curtain closes. For this, also write three
sentences: motion, description and thought.
Example:
CHARACTER stuffed a sandwich into his mouth from BBB as he leaped out of the
window, running away from the police. The alley behind BBB was full of refuse
and wasted meat that should have been thrown away weeks ago. This sandwich tasted
so good, it was totally worth being framed for Big Bob’s murder.
Finishing this feels like finishing
a first draft in a way. You get a lot of the story out and it feels whole.
The last three steps are pretty
simple and standard. Write a GMC for the story as a whole, aka the plot.
Example:
CHARACTER wants to eat at BBB because it has the best sandwiches in the city,
but Big Bob has been murdered, and the killer is trying to frame CHARACTER.
The second to last step is to revise
the GMC Cycles up to this point, then revise the overall GMC.
Finally, put a page break after each
GMC Cycle and start writing under each GMC Cycle. When you finish with a GMC
Cycle, and are looking to stop for the time being, write at least the first
line of the next GMC Cycle.
