How to Self-Coach Toward Your Writing North Star

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How to Self-Coach Toward Your Writing North Star

Quote from How to Self-Coach Toward Your Writing North Star

How to Self-Coach Toward Your Writing North Star – How To Write the Future podcast, episode 214

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“What you want is to be able to look at your goal, what you’ve written down, and have a really clear picture for what that looks like.” – Beth Barany 

If you self coached, could you be more efficient with your writing time?

That’s exactly what How To Write the Future podcast host, Beth Barany is sharing today in the episode titled “How to Self-Coach Toward Your Writing North Star.” Beth shares what the writing GMC stands for and breaks down each area explaining how you can create your best in your storytelling,

From defining your big goal, how to find your motivation, to even handling conflicts, Beth also shares an example of a quick-timed exercise at the end of the episode, which is great for when you’re feeling stuck in your writing.

Platforms the podcast is available on: Apple Podcasts | Buzzsprout | Spotify| YouTube

RESOURCES 

The Writer’s GMC: Know What You Want

https://writersfunzone.com/blog/2007/02/01/the-writers-gmc-know-what-you-want/

This episode is adapted from The Writer’s Adventure Guide by Beth Barany

https://books2read.com/writersadventureguide

About the How To Write the Future podcast 

The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cover tips for fiction writers. This podcast is for readers too if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.

This podcast is for you if you have questions like:

– How do I create a believable world for my science fiction story?

– How do I figure out what’s not working if my story feels flat?

– How do I make my story more interesting and alive?

This podcast is for readers, too, if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.

Transcript for How to Self-Coach Toward Your Writing North Star 

What Is Writers GMC 

BETH BARANY: Hey everyone, Beth Barany here. I am the host of How to Write the Future podcast, and I’m sharing with you an episode from my premium channel because I think it is so relevant to everyone. So let’s dive in. Enjoy.

Today I’m gonna talk about the writer’s GMC. What does GMC stand for? That stands for goal, motivation, conflict. And I pulled that right from a book called GMC: Goal, Motivation, Conflict by Deb Dixon. 

Why is this important? As a writer, you are designing characters. You need to know your character’s goal, your character’s motivation, and your character’s conflict or conflicts for storytelling.

Now years ago, I took that idea and I was like ah hah! This is great if we apply it to ourselves, to the creative process. So I wrote a book actually using that tool and many other tools, specifically the hero’s journey, and I wrote The Writer’s Adventure Guide: 12 Stages to Writing Your Book. This is a self-coaching guide for the creative process.

So this book is still available. You can check it out. It’s got a lot of great exercises in there. I today wanna explain to you what is the writer’s GMC and how you can apply it to your writing as well as any creative project that you’re doing.

So let’s go through it step at a time, and I even have an article that is a companion to this if you wanna check that out, in the show notes.

I’m gonna go a little bit more in depth than what this article does because, hey, I wrote this article, gosh, nearly 20 years ago, and I’ve updated it.

Okay, so in your writer’s GMC, you can use this as a rubric, a template, a checklist for any creative project.

[02:02] Define Your Big Goal 

We’re gonna focus here today on your creative writing, but if you have a creative business, I work with also with creative entrepreneurs, you could use it for that, and you could use it for small projects, big projects, medium-sized projects .

So the first thing: goal. And when I speak of goal, I mean the hard goal, the goal that is a little bit of like, ah, difficult. Not the one that’s easy. Write the big goal that you’re working on that feels meaty, that feels challenging, that feels, like you’re up against a big, tall mountain, and you’re like, “Ah, I’m not really sure going straight up, that seems awfully hard, but I need to do it,” that kind of goal.

So be specific. What are you working on right now? What is the shape of it? But also, what is the end goal? There you are, you’re at the end of this project, where would you like to be? Or if you wanna cut it down to size, it doesn’t have to be the whole project. 

Like a book, you don’t have to put, “I wanna be publishing my book.”

That’s great, but let’s bring it down to: what is it that you’re trying to accomplish today, tomorrow, this week, next week, next month? The next big chunk. Okay? 

So write that down. What is your goal? And what you want is to be able to look at your goal, what you’ve written down, and have a really clear picture for what that looks like. 

Like, uh, I might say I wanna finish my copy edits by, gosh, at this rate, I think I could, I could finish my copy edits in two weeks.

So if I’m diligent at it, to give myself some room, I’m gonna say my goal is to get it done by the end of the month. Or I could say, if I’m writing on a first draft, which I am, also, I’ll say, “Okay, my, my goal is to have a first draft ready to show my critique partners by the end of the year,” for example.

That project personally, I don’t have a deadline on, but I do know what I’m working on.

[03:58] Find Your Motivation 

All right, next, next, motivation.

M for motivation. You want to understand what is driving you. Just like we wanna know why our characters do what they do, and we need to hint at that in our stories so that our readers can relate to our characters, you need to know what is fueling you, what is driving you to work on and accomplish this goal.

And then what are your secondary motivations? And maybe there’s even a deeper reason and another deeper reason below that. When we want to accomplish something, it’s not just for the externals of it. There’s a deeper reason.

I’ve talked to a lot of writers, and they talk about satisfaction, a sense of accomplishment, leaving a legacy.

All of these are, are deeper goals. So, see if y- when you explore your motivation for your goal, how deep can you go? Go as deep as you can. For some, it might be about communicating a dream, a message to the world. For others, uh, they want to teach, they want to serve. For others, they want recognition, and they want to have a place in their community. So there’s no right answer to this part about motivation. It’s really what is the truest thing for you. So we talked about goal. What is your goal? Be as specific as possible. We talked about motivation. Be as truthful as possible, and see if you can go deep, deep into your soul and really answer the question: Why is this important to you?

Why is this goal, this very specific goal, important to you?

[05:40] Motivation Example – Refreshing A Book 

Let me give you just one example. I am working on copy edits for a book that’s already published. Why would I even do that? And it’s not easy. Copy edits aren’t easy for me, but they’re necessary. So I have learned a ton since I first published that book, and I wanna be really proud of this book today.

The version of me who published it years ago, that was the best I could make it.

So now I want to make it the best that I can today, this week, this month. And so I can stand proud beside it because it’s also a foundational piece of a larger storytelling universe that I’m involved in, and I really wanna feel like I put my best foot forward today.

So I’m giving it a refresh, and I feel like I’m reconnecting and recommitting to this story world, and to the characters, and all the bigger things that are, I plan to have coming from this book, like a TV show, maybe a film, who knows? It’s a big, ambitious project. So why not? I’m an independent author.

I get to do this, and I’m gonna do it, and I am doing it. So it, there’s a sense of bonding deeper, a recommitment ceremony, if you will, with this whole vast project and what I wanna do with it. It’s my Henrietta the Dragon Slayer series. 

All right. So we talked about goal. We talked about motivation.

[07:03] Name The Conflicts 

Let’s talk about conflict.

Our characters encounter challenges on the way to their goal. That’s what makes their goal hard. Same with us. We are going after our goal, and it’s not easy. That’s why we’re doing this exercise. What is in the way? What are the challenges? What are the conflicts? 

There’s gonna be two main categories.

There’s gonna be the internal conflicts, and there’s gonna be the external conflicts. 

Time, for example, is often feels like an external conflict, a limitation, if you will; another way of putting it: conflict, challenge, limitation. 

So also, self-talk. Self-talk is often a challenge. We often put ourselves down.

I notice I’m constantly berating myself. Not very helpful. And I also have complainy voice inside. “Oh, this is so hard.” Yes, it is hard.

Okay. I’m gonna list that down as one of my conflicts. Judgment from any quarter, judgment from within, judgment from without. Those are all conflicts. We’re not trying to, we’re not trying to fix anything right now, we’re just noticing, acknowledging, writing it down. Being overly busy, having a lot of commitments that maybe you’re like, “Hey, I really wanna work on my book, but I have these other commitments,” and it’s like, and it’s clashing. That’s a real, a real conflict.

Our work obligations, our family obligations. Also hobbies. Maybe we have a lot of hobbies and writing is just, takes up some of that time, but other things take up that time. Those are real things. I’m not gonna judge you for that. What we’re doing here is we’re just taking an inventory of conflicts. We’re not solving any problems right now. Because once we know what our internal and external challenges, limitations, conflicts are, then we can take action. We can make choices. So this is a moment for taking inventory. So now we’ve done the goal, the motivation, the conflicts.

[09:07] Add Strengths To The Mix 

Now what? I am not leaving you hanging.

I invented a fourth component, S for strengths. Because our characters, they need to confront their challenges to get to their goal, and we hopefully create characters that transform and grow, so by the time they are facing their biggest challenge toward the end of your story, they have also grown and transformed and gained strengths and allies and the ability to do something they couldn’t do at the beginning.

Well, same with us. Except we’re gonna harness your strengths right now. So let’s take an inventory of your strengths.

And strengths again are in two main categories. You’re gonna have the internal strengths, the gifts that you were born with, the things that you have learned, your mindset, your know-how, your life experience.

And we’re also gonna look at the external strengths: the people in your life, the environment that you’re in. The fact that you have tools, computer, phone, typewriter, pen, paper, desk, chair. These are all, I consider them strengths. They’re gifts. They’re parts of our life that allow us to do what we can do as writers, as creative people.

Other strengths can be humor, curiosity, intelligence, drive. Also, another outer strength that, that you might have is the ability to schedule time to write and the ability to go and write. Another one of my strengths is I have a long playlist that helps me write and that I put together.

So I would call that an external strength.

So there you have it. I just went through the writer’s GMC, goal, motivation, conflict, and the bonus one, strengths.

[10:59] How To Use GMC When Stuck 

I recommend that you do a short brainstorm on these elements. Give yourself 5, 10 minutes, or set the timer for 20 minutes, which is one of my favorite things to do for timed writing, and just brainstorm on this.

Now, any time you are stuck, confused, overwhelmed, forget, wait, where am I? Maybe you’ve taken a break from your writing, and you’re like, “What? Wait, what am I doing?” Use the writer’s GMC to refocus yourself, reorient yourself, find your North Star, and take your next step.

[11:29] Wrap Up And Next Steps 

All right, everyone, that’s it for this week.

Write long and prosper.

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ABOUT BETH BARANY 

Beth Barany

Beth Barany is an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. They help novelists write, revise, and publish stories that matter—blending practical craft guidance with a big-picture commitment to imagination, meaning, and possibility. 

 

Learn more about Beth Barany at these sites: 

 

Author site /  Coaching site / School of Fiction / Writer’s Fun Zone blog

CONNECT 

Contact Beth: https://writersfunzone.com/blog/podcast/#tve-jump-185b4422580

Email: beth@bethbarany.com

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CREDITS 

c 2025 BETH BARANY

https://bethbarany.com/

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