Goal to decision circle

 

Hello, friends!

Today, I'll talk about a writing technique known as “goal to decision circle”. With this technique, developed by Dwight Swain, you can help your plot to keep the right pace, be logical and balanced. 

Let's get into it!

Six steps of the goal to decision circle:

1. GOAL - setting what the character wishes for

Examples: finding a lost cat; getting together with love interest; moving out to a different city

2. CONFLICT - the character is stopped by someone

Examples: the antagonist sent assassins after you; love interest has a crush on someone else; getting fired from the job

3. DISASTER - the goal gets even further from achieving it

Examples: the war breaks out; love interest moves out; you learn you have a dangerous illness

4. REACTION - shows the character's response to the disaster 

Examples: MC isolates themselves; MC goes on a drinking spread; MC overworks themselves 

5. DILEMMA - the character has to make a hard choice 

Examples: MC has to choose between career or relationship; MC has to decide if they should share their condition with others; MC just decide which hobby is more important to them

6. DECISION - the choice is made, and creates new goals

Examples: MC applied for the college and got accepted - now they want to get scholarship; MC went for an art exhibition and got a contact information from a famous artist - now they wonder if they should contact them or not.