Monday, April 16, 2007

Life goals vs. story goals...

I've been struggling with this over the last few weeks and think it's part of the problem I'm having with my characters. GMC has always formed a big part of my story planning, yet with this story in particular, I'm finding my hero and heroine have life goals AND story goals. So which one is paramount? When working with GMC, we ask "What does he/she want?", then have them work towards it. My characters want one thing overall in life, and another for this story in particular. Are they truly divergent?

There is no doubt that one informs the other, yet I don't see the life goal as being an internal one, per se. That was my first thought, but I it didn't follow through when I examined it more carefully.

Am I making too much of this? Over-analyzing? Should I just include both and work with the story goal first and life goal second?

Any insight into this is most welcome :)

Other than that, more progress on the house has been made. The footings were poured last week, the electrical shed now has a roof on it (as of this afternoon) and we spent Saturday night at the site in our camper. And both the Senators and Canucks are up 2 games to 1 in their respective playoff series!!!

Oh, and I've been noodling about with another story idea, one that might, in the end prove a tad easier to sell as it's set in England rather than France - though it still takes place in 1793, a decidedly unusual time period.

Tomorrow I'll relate a cute Cleo story, complete with photos.

Last, but not least, my heart goes out to the relatives and friends of those who lost loved ones today in Virginia.

Teresa

Currently Reading: Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
Link of the Day: PageFour Notebook - updated version

5 comments:

Margaret Porter said...

Very exciting, the progress of your new house!

My only advice is not to over-think your characters' goals, not to let this aspect bog you down. The picture may well clarify itself as you write. And certainly, in revision, you can heighten and intensify anything you've included, for better effect.

Melissa Amateis said...

I agree with Margaret - as long as you have a good, solid idea of what their goals are, just incorporate both right now and just let the story take you where it will.

Kelly Boyce said...

Ack! More GMC questions to think about!!

Chris said...

Real life is what happens when you're busy making plans. I agree with the above, don't overthink things. You might hook more readers with the impact that events have on the character's goals, not just the things that they do to achieve them.

Diane Dehler said...

Congratulations on the blog of note thing. You have an intriguing space and I found some great book suggestions. Good-luck and best wishes.