|
| |
ANATOMY OF
THE SECRET BABY II: 50 GMC QUESTIONS
By Carol J. Stephenson
copyright 2000 by Carol J. Stephenson
Recently, I took advantage of an editor's appointment at my chapter's conference
to pitch a proposed revision of my secret baby book. When the editor shot
down the hero's external motivation for leaving and returning to the heroine, I
turned to my pals on Cata-Romance at Onelist for ideas. They pelted me
with questions, the kind I felt any writer might ask when plotting a secret baby
book.
I have synthesized and organized these questions to better probe the GMC of the
secret baby. If you're not familiar with the term 'GMC', hie thyself to
Debra Dixon's quintessential book, "GMC: Goal, Motivation &
Conflict", which can be ordered by emailing gryphonink@aol.com or at
barnesandnoble.com or gryphonbooksforwriters.com.
BACK STORY
If there's a secret baby/child, then there's a shared past between your
protagonists.
1) How did the hero and heroine ['h/h'] meet?
2) What attracted them?
3) Why did they part?
4) Was the problem significant?
5) Did the parting spring from inner problems on the part of each?
6) If due to outside meddling, was it for a good reason?
7) Did either h/h have issues of: self-esteem, old betrayals, fear of
commitment, revenge, escape, self-preservation, or control?
8) Why did the h/h leave?
9) Did the hero think the heroine would be better off without him?
10) Did the heroine's family accept him?
11) If the family didn't accept him, did he think it would be better if
heroine didn't have to make a choice?
12) If one night stand, why?
13) Did h/h blame themselves for something?
WHY A SECRET?
Although one normally would view this as delving into the heroine's motivation,
it can be the hero who keeps the child a secret.
14) Why was this a secret child?
15) Why didn't the heroine tell the hero she was pregnant?
16) Did she make an attempt? If not, why not?
17) Was she able to find him to tell him? What was his reaction?
18) Did she send a letter/call/email but never got a reply?
19) Did his goals exclude a life she wanted for herself?
20) Did she think he didn't love her?
21) Did she not see the hero as a father for their child? Why?
22) Did she think so little of him that she didn't want to tell him?
Why?
23) Did she try to tell him and he didn't listen/respond/get the message?
24) Did she feel theirs was a doomed relationship? Why?
25) Did the hero have goals that excluded settling down?
26) Was the heroine too despondent over something else?
27) Did she think the hero knew but didn't care?
28) Did she have amnesia?
29) Was she sick and couldn't tell him?
30) Did the heroine think he wouldn't believe the baby was his because of
rumors?
REUNION
Just as much as there's been a parting, there has to be a reunion of the
protagonists.
31) Do the same problems which caused the separation still exist at the
time of their reunion?
32) Has he overcome a flaw as he matured only to have it reappear on the
reunion?
33) What obstacles do they face and fail?
34) What obstacles do they face and succeed?
35) Does he feel antipathy toward the heroine for keeping the secret?
36) Does he feel cheated out of a piece of his life?
37) Does the hero yearn for family closeness but at the same time resent
it?
38) How do h/h overcome their own weaknesses and build a life together?
39) Does he resent the heroine for having a family?
40) Does he wonder what he missed?
41) What does he think he would have done if he had known?
42) Does the hero doubt if he can sustain a family relationship?
RELATIONSHIP TO CHILD
Not only do the protagonists have to overcome their past difficulties, they must
also forge a brave new relationship to include a third person--their child.
43) Does the hero see problems in the child unnoticed by the heroine?
44) Does his anger at having been left out the parental equation
spill over to his attempts to get to know the child?
45) Does he see things in the child's life which would have been better if
he'd been around?
46) What prospects does he want the child to grow up with?
47) What does the child know about the father?
48) Does the child resent the father?
49) Does the child put the h/h through hell and guilt?
50) Is the child better off with him around or not? Should he go or
stay?
|
