When surveying the scope of a story and how it works, why does character motivation matter?
There are many parts to a story—settings, external conflict, relationships, personal transformation, etc—so why is it super important we nail character motivation?
Simply this: every word you share with your readers will be defined by the motivation your characters have—what they desire.
Where your character goes, what action she takes, who she interacts with on her adventure, or even what beverage she chooses with her breakfast all comes down to the desire she has in the moment.
Character motivation is the rudder guiding your storytelling; the invisible gust of wind sweeping your story in the right direction.
Well-executed character motivation hooks readers for a few reasons which we will endeavor to explore in depth below.
3 Ways Character Motivation Affects Readers
What is it about character motivation that attracts us to a story?
1. When we relate/empathize with the character’s desire (e.g. want for love, financial security, respect, safety) we go on the journey with her, maybe even hoping to find the answers to fulfilling our own desires.
2. We understand why the character wants what she does, and we root for her.
If the readers feel the motivation is too small for the stakes of the story it will feel unrealistic. If the motivation of the protagonist is too small or not admirable you will be hard pressed to keep readers rooting for her, unless she will reframe her desire into something worthy later, like the workaholic seeking monetary success for fulfillment—doing whatever it takes to get it—discovering contentment after falling in love.
3. If the character doesn’t reach their desire something bad will happen, such as depression causing someone to die by suicide or the evil force winning over the good. For this to work it will require the reader to care about the character and/or care about the good side winning.
First we need to understand or empathize with the character’s desire, and then the motivation must be worthy enough to root for.
There are probably more reasons and examples I could think up, but I believe these should do for now.
We could also think back to favorite books or films and define what motivation guided those characters on his or her journey (that desire could even be returning to a state of normalcy before his calling into the unknown).
Character Motivation Case Study
For an example, I’ll use one of my favorite animated films: Rise of the Guardians. (Heads Up: there will be movie spoilers.)
Our protagonist is Jack Frost, and at the beginning of the story his motivation is to discover his purpose and identity.
Centuries ago he woke up as a man who could do magic with things related to cold, but without answers as to why he has these powers.
Jack Frost wants to know his purpose, and he wants children to believe in him as they believe in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and Sandman. (If children do not believe in him, then they cannot see him.)
I believe many could relate to his longing to know who he was created to be—I certainly do.
Within the first few minutes of the film I am hooked, and look forward to seeing if his desire is fulfilled (and how far he’ll go to fulfill it).
As in this story, the motivation you introduce to your readers will become the guiding force of your story, and hooks the reader till the last page in anticipation for the outcome of his desire.
The motivation you introduce at the beginning is a promise to your reader, and the fulfillment of the promise must be paid forward before the story ends.
Related Post: “How to Hook Readers on Your Novel, and Keep Them Hooked.”
Sprinkle in Motivation and Your Story Will Shape Itself
After the reader is interested in your character and his journey, the escalation of tension continues.
The story is propelled forward by the character overcoming obstacle after greater obstacle in pursuit of fulfilling his desire.
Let’s take Jack Frost again as our example.
Jack is recruited by Santa and the other guardians to fight against the villain, Pitch Black, who intends to dethrone the guardians and take over their power. Like Jack, a character motivation Pitch has is wanting children to believe in him.
Now, the guardians are determined to protect the children from Pitch, but Jack Frost isn’t so keen.
He agrees to work with the other guardians not to protect the world, but because he believes they may be able to help him find the answers he craves.
At the beginning Jack’s motivation is selfish, but because we can relate and empathize with his desire (not to mention he’s a charismatic, caring character), we want to find out what happens.
As the story progresses, Jack makes good decisions and mistakes in his quest to find out about himself.
He also grows closer to the guardians (interpersonal conflict) which raises the stakes for Jack.
It’s no longer only his life at stake in his quest to fulfill his desire, but if he makes a mistake his new friends and the believing children are put in jeopardy.
Jack now has three motivations. (1) Discovering who he is and being believed in, (2) helping his friends, and (3) keeping the kids safe from Pitch.
NOTE: There are other character motivations guiding the actions for the rest of the cast, and a hefty external conflict adding tension to this story, but for the sake of this blog post I’ll just be focusing on Jack.
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Character Motivation + Climax
The character’s motivation has been established, the tension has been escalated as the character has tried to fulfill his desire, and now the stakes are at their highest. Enter the climax.
The climax is where the character confronts his biggest obstacle, and the promises we gave readers will start being paid off.
In The Rise of the Guardians, a little before the final battle Jack has finally realized who he is and why he was chosen to be a guardian.
He has achieved his first character motivation, but during his journey two more motivations were realized.
Jack’s actions now reflect these latter motivations in parallel to discovering what he’s meant to do in his life. He decides to risk his life to protect his friends.
The epic battle begins with Jack taking an active role as he pursues his motivations, and the story ends after all promises to the reader (character motivations) have been fulfilled.
Now, it’s important to note once the character motivations are fulfilled, the story is finished.
A character without a motivation does not keep fighting; he has gotten what he wants, and there is no reason to keep on with the adventure.
If Jack had only the one motivation which was fulfilled before the climax (finding out who he is and being believed in), he would have checked out of the story before the final battle—the story would have fizzled out.
It’s important to remember once the motivation ends, the story must close as well. Readers will not stick around for a story without tension.
They want the tension riddled climax, all the promises we made fulfilled, and then a tight ending.
So when all your character’s desires are fulfilled, make sure it’s not before the climax, and then that your story’s resolution does not drag.
What Happens When a Character Lacks Motivation?
Without character motivation the story will lie flat.
If the character is content she will not be taking action to change her circumstances—she is happy where she is. When that happens, it’s time to shake things up and distance her from that contentment.
Imagine your favorite story. Now eliminate the character motivations. Pretty boring, right?
If Jack Frost didn’t care to learn about who he was, we wouldn’t have agreed to help the guardians.
If Santa and the other guardians didn’t desire to keep the world safe, they would have let Pitch Black take control.
Or if Pitch Black didn’t seek to overthrow the world with his darkness, there would be no external conflict for the story to face.
There would have been no Rise of the Guardians if they had all lacked motivation.
When we write our stories with clear character motivations propelling our characters onto grand adventures, writing becomes a little easier.
No longer are we trying to push our characters to fulfill the plot, but our characters are creating the plot for us.
Know what your character wants and he will tell you what happened to him, and how his story should be told.
Applying Motivation to Your Storytelling
How can we apply all this to our characters? Asking our cast some questions is a fantastic start.
Ask your character…
1. What does she want most in the world?
2. What obstacles stand between her and her desire?
3. How will she overcome the obstacles and achieve her goal (or fail if you are writing a tragedy)?
Those answers are your story. Write the realization of her goal, the escalating tension as she tries to fulfill her desire again and again, and then the moments she finally achieves her goals.
With these answers you’ve got a great beginning to telling a tension driven story.
If you would like to dive deeper into this idea of promises, answers, conflicts, and motivations, I’ve created a workbook called “How to Hook Your Readers.”
This workbook contains information and worksheets you can use to flesh out tension in your own story.
If you’re a subscriber to the newsletter you can find it in the Resource Library free to download.
Not a subscriber? No worries! You can join below and I’ll send you the password to the library so you can download your workbook, as well as other workbooks, cheatsheets, questionnaires, and my e-book We Write, absolutely free.
It’s Time to Act
Having strong character motivations are a must have for our books, and I’m excited to see what motivations you will give your characters!
When I started the third draft of my first novel The New Dawn (working title) I honed in on what my characters wanted as the driving force of my story, and it brought the novel to life. I believe it can do the same for you.
Good Luck!
Sarah
Recommended Post: “How You Can Finish Your Half-Written Novel First Draft.”
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S.J. Siedenburg is a thriller & fantasy novelist, an editor, and a bibliophile with a passion for stories and helping writers finish their novels. She’s the author of the guidebooks Character Presentation, Before the First Draft, and the How to Write a Novel online course. Six of her short stories have been published through writing contests. Sarah lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” —John 1:5