Brainstorm: GMC & Hero’s Journey

I’ve been pondering and trying to make some more headway on that story about the Food Critic and the Chef that I brainstormed in Building Tension and Food Porn or Romance?. I hate my original outline. The story doesn’t go anywhere yet. It rambles along, but doesn’t have purpose or any promising structure. Below, I’ve tried to change that by examining the heroine’s GMC (goal, motivation and conflict) and attempting to map out her hero’s journey.

GMC: The heroine likes recognition and really wants to achieve a feeling of belonging. She lives the life of an outsider, never really becoming a part of any group in a meaningful way. Her life is empty in many ways and she seeks ways to fill it. However, she’s looking in the wrong place: she needs personal fulfillment, not just career fulfillment.

Hero’s Journey: Francine’s ORDINARY WORLD is that of the café society. She eats out most nights avoiding her empty fridge and her empty apartment. She has made a career out of this lifestyle and made something of a name for herself as a food critic. She meets her first GATE GUARDIAN who also acts as a HERALD when Francine’s reservations to the hot new restaurant in town are lost. She fails to cross that threshhold and instead reluctantly ANSWERS A CALL TO ADVENTURE when she’s forced out of her comfort zone and finds a small cozy restaurant off the beaten path.

She’s TESTED in the restaurant when a clumsy waiter dumps soup on her and she must face the chef if she wants to leave with her cleaning bill paid. The waiter acts as an ALLY and accompanies her into the kitchen.

Francine spends time becoming familiar with the benefits of working closely with family and in a small, close-knit environment on her APPROACH THE INMOST CAVE where she runs into a rival critic, who recognizes her and threatens to expose her to the café society, clearly an ENEMY.

After crossing a second threshold into a world of shifting loyalties, she faces her SUPREME ORDEAL where she’s forced to choose between standing by her professional honor and integrity or submitting an overly glowing review of the hero’s restraurant – a decision from which, there is no going back.

She decides to stand by her beliefs and also takes possession of her REWARD, the blossoming relationship between her and the hero and a sense of belonging she gains by helping reshape and relaunch his restaurant. Her outlook is buoyed by the chance to start building a life of her own with what could be the man of her dreams. Unfortunately, the hero’s not too pleased by the honest review.

Her editor and her rival critic nip at her heels threatening to take away her hard-won reputation and posing a danger to her relationship with the hero on THE ROAD BACK .

She crosses a third threshold, leaving her editor’s office, and experiences a RESURRECTION, and is transformed when she quits her job for the paper and strikes out on her own. She RETURNS WITH THE ELIXIR realizing that she is recognized as a part of the hero’s ORDINARY WORLD, his restaurant and his life.

It’s still pretty rough, but seems better than my rougher outline. Any suggestions, comments, and criticisms are welcome. Just no rotten fruit, please.