Greetings, Wizard Writers!
Let’s talk about wanting stuff. I’m sure when you woke up this morning, you already wanted something. Maybe a hot shower, maybe a steaming cup of coffee, maybe to call out of work and enjoy a free day. If you’re a stay-at-home writer like me, maybe you woke up wanting nothing more than to get to work on your writing projects or blogs or articles. Whether or not you acted on that want, it was there, guiding your day and keeping you moving. If you told your significant other about your want, they might call or text throughout the day to find out if you achieved your goals. Basically, you woke up motivated.
In short stories and novels, a reader will most often follow a character and grow attached if that character wants something right away. Initially, it doesn’t have to be anything huge or obvious, but through normal human curiosity, the reader keeps turning pages to find out if the character achieved their goal. We can all identify with want, so if you set up a protagonist with any goal right away, you’ve already hooked the reader. In short, a character must want something to be interesting. They must have a conscious and even unconscious desire that motivates them. This will keep the reader intrigued and invested in the tale.
In the classic novel The Great Gatsby, for example, we keep reading to find out if Gatsby will ever get Daisy back. The motivation is strong and the subject is something we can all relate to—love. Throughout the story, the reader keeps turning the pages to find out if Gatsby ever achieves his goal of winning Daisy. There are obstacles, of course, and perhaps a deeper desire on Gatsby’s part to be wanted and accepted by high society. But the surface goal is Daisy, and Gatsby will do just about anything to win her love.
In the popular novel The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen wants to protect her younger sister Prim from the dangerous games, which is a strong desire. Katniss is motivated to survive a life or death situation—taking her sister’s place, Katniss can die in the Hunger Games. Therefore, the character has a few strong desires and motivations going on: protect her sister and stay alive. The reader follows Katniss until the end, hoping she achieves her goals.
Here’s a fun exercise. Make a list of everything a character might want or desire. Afterward, go back over the list and rate the want from 1-10: Is it a small want (1) or a huge want (10)? How motivated is the character? Are they obsessing about this desire? Is it life or death? In your own stories, play around with character motivation. Start off with something small at first, like a character wanting a rare herb or fruit for a recipe. Keep going from there: maybe the character is hiking and growing hungry. Going further, maybe they need to find shelter in order to stay alive. There are varying degrees of character motivation, but most likely, the reader will follow a story as long as there are continuing goals. If a character achieves the goals, that’s awesome, but that’s not always the case. To keep a story interesting, a character should also be presented with obstacles and setbacks.
What are some of your favorite character motivations? How about Harry Potter wanting to get out of his cupboard under the stairs and achieve something huge in the wizard community? How about the boys wanting to get rescued in The Lord of the Flies? Let me know in the comments!
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