Stephanie Sullivan: Review - Goal, Motivation, and Conflict

January 02, 2026

TITLE: GMC (Goal, Motivation, and Conflict)

RATING: ★★★★

Summary (from Goodreads): Goal, motivation, and conflict are the foundation of everything that happens in the story world. Using charts, examples, and movies, the author breaks these key elements down into understandable components and walks the reader through the process of laying this foundation in his or her own work.

Learn what causes sagging middles and how to fix them, which goals are important, which aren’t and why, how to get your characters to do what they need for your plot in a believable manner, and how to use conflict to create a good story. GMC can be used not only in plotting, but in character development, sharpening scenes, pitching ideas to an editor, and evaluating whether an idea will work.

Be confident your ideas will work before you write 200 pages.

Plan a road map to keep your story on track.

Discovery why your scenes aren’t working and what to do about it.

Create characters that editors and readers will care about.

REVIEW: This book has been recommended to me by several of my author friends over the past few years, and I finally got around to reading it. It's very thorough, and Debra explains goal, motivation, and conflict in a way that's easy to understand. I'm glad I purchased this book, especially now that I'm writing again, and I would recommend it to any other authors who might be struggling in their writing journey.