So I have considerably less cookies in my house now, thank goodness. Boy, was that a load of work. After this weekend I should be about nil. The remodel on my house is supposed to start a week from Monday, so I've said no more cookies after that, I have no place to put them. I'll do the leg work, but no storage. I'd never tasted a tagalong. Wow, wish I hadn't. Those are tasty, but my loyalty will always be with the thin mint. I like trefoils too. They are really good dipped in hot chocolate, coffee, red wine, a shot of Jack Daniels....
I haven't been writing. I'm struggling finding a story that will hold my interest through the end. I had one idea and started writing, but I couldn't answer the questions. Writers talk about GMC (goals, motivation, conflict) but I struggle with GML (goals, motivation, logic). How many times have you read a book and thought "wow, that heroine/hero was absolute moron?" There is the TSTL characters (too stupid to live) which drag a book down. It isn't that the author is purposely being dense, its that they are thinking strictly in GMC. I saw this a lot in the Golden Heart entries I judged. The writer answered the goal, motivation and conflict just fine, but in the end, it wasn't logical and made the character look like an idiot. It also turned the story into a muddled, confusing mess.
My story I was working on was another urban fantasy (in first person POV, I'm leaving the 3rd person alone for awhile). But I had a core question whose answer would negate the entire book. Sure, I could write around it, pretend the answer didn't exist, but in my head I couldn't do it. I think when plotting out a conflict, a writer needs to look at the question and try to answer it as many ways as possible. How many times have you read a book where a conflict would get resolved with one conversation? I think that's why the Big Mis has really annoyed readers.
Anyway, I've moved onto a story which is a world I've got more control over. I havent' started the writing yet since I need to make sure I can answer the questions with logic.
Do you think through all the questions before you write?
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