Goal, Motivation & Conflict

I recently received a critique from a well-respected editor. I was thrilled that she would take the time to do this. When I started to read over her critique, it was very hard not to feel, well, crushed.

My heroine was TSTL (Too Stupid To Live), my secondary character's accent was over-the-top, I told versus showed, toward the end of the story I paced it too quickly, the villain's motivation was questionable, yada yada yada.

What kept me from sitting on the floor and bawling like a baby was this: (and I quote) "There was an awful lot that I enjoyed about this book. I would love to see a reworked version of this book as a submission."

Well. Can I tell you--that made my month! She liked me. She really, really liked me! (very big grin, here)

This manuscript is the longest thing I've attempted--at just over 45,000 words. It's imperative to have a strong plot and believable goals and motivations. So, today I sat down and talked to my characters. I tried to interview them, find out what their goals were, what motivated them to reach those goals, and what kind of conflict their own emotions and others' would throw in their way. I pulled out Debra Dixon's GMC book, I looked at notes I'd taken from other writers. I tried to rework the plot in a way that the heroine doesn't come off as deserving to be killed off by page three. It was the hardest thing I've done in a long time.

I usually am a "pantster" -- I write by the seat of my pants. I have an idea of my characters' likes/dislikes, their quirks, what they look like, how tall they are, how much they weigh, etc. I have an idea of a beginning and an ending. That's all you need, right? Start at the beginning and write until you reach the end.

Hah. It might work on a shorter story (something 8,000 words or less), but when you do that on a longer work, as I did on this particular manuscript, you end up with a lot of garbage. My redemption on this manuscript -- it was very clean, the sex scenes were hot, and the characters were likeable. They'll be even more likeable once I smarten 'em up.

Being a writer means being a life-long student. Always learn. Always apply what you learn. Then learn some more.