Story
Complete
Character Motivation - Driving Character Action and Growth
by
Categories
EducationalMusings & MumblingsRated - Wholesome/All-AgesSITE ADMINSoloTutorial
Do you ever find yourself staring at a blank page and wondering what comes next? Even if you’ve done your plotting well and are following the plot outline, sometimes things can feel mushy if you don’t have your character’s motivations sorted out well within the storyline. Without solid character motivations, good plotting is nearly impossible. If you don’t know why your character is there or what their goals are, it’s going to be really difficult to not only know what to write, but to write something good.
What is Character Motivation?
Simply put, it’s what drives your character to do the things they do. It’s why your character thinks they way they do, why they speak the way they do, why they react to different stimuli they way they do, and what differentiates your character from every other character out there in the roleplay world. Different people may mean different things by the word “motivation.” It’s a complex concept that can be broken down into several parts which can be more clearly defined:
Values.These are the beliefs a character has which he/she considers “self-evident.” Example: All men are not created equal.
Ambition.This is the abstract thing that the character wants to get, achieve, or become. Example: popularity.
Goal.This is the concrete thing that the character wants to get, achieve, or become. Example: a promotion at work.
How Does It Work?
Character motivations work to engage the reader and drive the progression of your story:
Revealing Characterization.There are literally thousands of different motivations that you can give your character. Each of them can reveal either who your character is or who they want to become.This revelation gives a glimpse of your character's personality, preferences, and desires. Readers get to know who your character is at heart, even though a character’s actions may not always reveal the same thing. Sometimes characters work at cross-purposes to their nature, but the motivation to do so always needs to be there and be realistic. People aren’t just random in their actions or their thinking. Even the most disordered reasoning for the most chaotic character has a system.
Distinguishing Characters.Character motivations help your readers distinguish between the good, bad, and in-between characters in your story. The motivations that drive your character throughout the plot, and especially those that lead up to the story's climax, will reveal if they are ultimately a hero or a villain, or if they fall somewhere in-between. If this is already decided ahead of time, it will help distinguish your character from the other characters in the roleplay and keep your character actions true to nature.
Driving Action.Motivations drive characters to action.The most riveting of motivations are those that encourage your characters to make bold decisions. Whether those decisions are good or bad may vary from scene to scene, but the action that results from either helps drive your story forward. Without action, there is no story. Without motivation, there is no action. See the connection there?
Creating Drama.When two characters' motivations are at odds, it creates tension. When this tension finally spills over into conflict (and it needs to), your characters' motivations will have successfully created some intense drama for your narrative. That conflict can be outright battle or much more subtle, but it still serves to make your story interesting. It gives the reader an investment in the outcome of the story. If you’ve characterized well, then even if readers do not agree with your character’s actions, at least they can understand them. Random violence and unfounded drama isn’t riveting; it’s confusing and exhausting.
Generating Growth.Most novels have character-driven plots, which means that they feature the journey of a dynamic, evolving character. In essence, your character starts out as one person and ends their journey changed in logical ways consistent with how their motivations interpret the events that transpire. Roleplay isn’t always the same, especially with those who have multiple storylines or various alternate universes for their character, but this should remain consistent within the individual roleplay storyline. Think of each roleplay story arc as its own little novel. Each one can be a journey that your character takes the readers on with him/her. At the end of the journey, there should be a difference from where your character started, otherwise what was the point?
Motivations are what spawn these types of epic character growth.Something troubling or inspiring needs to occur which drives your character to choose to take on a journey that will change or reinforce who they are at the core of their personality. Just like most times in real life, no risk equals no reward. It’s the same for your character.
Putting Theory Into Practice
Well, that all sounds great, but how do I DO that? The answer is the same as with any other mechanic of writing: practice.
Here are some exercises to help you discover your character’s unique motivations, and help you develop them in your writing:
1. Basics: Motivating Factors
Brainstorm a list of all the factors that motivate human behavior. Examples:
Taking a moment to think about all the things that make you want to do the things you do, or feel the way you feel, is the first step to defining your character’s motivations. You can even turn the list into a checklist for each storyline or roleplay you do, just to make sure you have what is driving your character clear in your mind before engaging.
2. Others: People You Know
Make a list of 5 people you know really well. Beside each, make notes about how they (a) react to stress, (b) experience happiness, (c) treat other people.
After that, list what motivates each of these behaviors. Try to be as factual as possible, drawing from things you know; for things you’re unsure of, use common sense to hypothesize.
A character might make it their goal to treat others with respect because of religious beliefs, or maybe because they were disrespected in the past. Someone might react poorly to stressful situations because they have a deep-seated fear of failure, stemming from a past experience.
3. Fiction: Characters from Literature
List 5 characters from literature and what motivated their actions throughout their respective stories.
Take, for example, Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Spoilers, if you haven’t read it:
Hamlet’s murderous thoughts are motivated by revenge (because his uncle secretly killed his father), along with anger, sadness and confusion (because his mother married his uncle so soon after his father’s death).
Add to this a host of other factors, and you have a well-developed character you can understand. A good character is rarely motivated by a single thing and often times motivations can be at cross purposes.
4. You: Analyze Your Own Character
Write paragraphs to describe (a) your most frightening experience, (b) your happiest experience, (c) your most stressful experience, and how you reacted to each situation.
Afterwards, list all the factors that motivated your behavior. Consider, how is your personality shaped by your motivations?
Other resources you may find helpful for your characterizations and storylines are worksheets for each character/roleplay/storyline to keep as a handy reference while writing. Below are links in PDF format:
Character Motivation worksheet:
http://www.eadeverell.com/wp-content/uploads/charactermotivation.pdf
Character decision-making worksheet:
http://www.eadeverell.com/wp-content/uploads/decisions.pdf
Research
Most writers don’t have a degree in psychology, sociology, or anthropology. You don’t need one to be a good writer or to understand character motivation. You can study any of these topics on your own without the expense or formality of school.
Some resources to get you started:
http://www.freetextbooklist.com/psychology/
http://www.e-booksdirectory.com/listing.php?category=216
http://collegeopentextbooks.org/textbook-listings/textbooks-by-subject/psychology
Get Writing
Once you’ve spent some time analyzing human behavior, you’ll naturally begin to see your characters’ motivations.
Keep in mind, the most important thing is to ask ‘WHY?’ Always ask yourself this question about anything your character does/thinks/says. If you can’t explain why in fairly succinct terms, you might need to rethink your character’s motivations for that event/action/speech.
Why does your character act a certain way?
Talk a certain way?
Believe certain things?
What do they choose to reveal and what do they hide?
There is always a reason. That reason may not be immediately apparent to the audience, but it definitely should be clear to the writer.
Well-developed characters should take on a life of their own, as if they are real people. What motivates them should follow logic, and cannot be forced. It requires forethought, consistency, and planning. Hopefully this blog will help you with that.
QUESTIONS?
My inbox is open to all. Feel free to drop me a line to plot, discuss writing, offer critique, etc. And thanks for reading. You can find more of my writing, both fiction and non-fiction, and research here in this group or at: http://www.roleplaylives.net/LokiSilvertongue/
- Loki Silvertongue
What is Character Motivation?
Simply put, it’s what drives your character to do the things they do. It’s why your character thinks they way they do, why they speak the way they do, why they react to different stimuli they way they do, and what differentiates your character from every other character out there in the roleplay world. Different people may mean different things by the word “motivation.” It’s a complex concept that can be broken down into several parts which can be more clearly defined:
Values.These are the beliefs a character has which he/she considers “self-evident.” Example: All men are not created equal.
Ambition.This is the abstract thing that the character wants to get, achieve, or become. Example: popularity.
Goal.This is the concrete thing that the character wants to get, achieve, or become. Example: a promotion at work.
How Does It Work?
Character motivations work to engage the reader and drive the progression of your story:
Revealing Characterization.There are literally thousands of different motivations that you can give your character. Each of them can reveal either who your character is or who they want to become.This revelation gives a glimpse of your character's personality, preferences, and desires. Readers get to know who your character is at heart, even though a character’s actions may not always reveal the same thing. Sometimes characters work at cross-purposes to their nature, but the motivation to do so always needs to be there and be realistic. People aren’t just random in their actions or their thinking. Even the most disordered reasoning for the most chaotic character has a system.
Distinguishing Characters.Character motivations help your readers distinguish between the good, bad, and in-between characters in your story. The motivations that drive your character throughout the plot, and especially those that lead up to the story's climax, will reveal if they are ultimately a hero or a villain, or if they fall somewhere in-between. If this is already decided ahead of time, it will help distinguish your character from the other characters in the roleplay and keep your character actions true to nature.
Driving Action.Motivations drive characters to action.The most riveting of motivations are those that encourage your characters to make bold decisions. Whether those decisions are good or bad may vary from scene to scene, but the action that results from either helps drive your story forward. Without action, there is no story. Without motivation, there is no action. See the connection there?
Creating Drama.When two characters' motivations are at odds, it creates tension. When this tension finally spills over into conflict (and it needs to), your characters' motivations will have successfully created some intense drama for your narrative. That conflict can be outright battle or much more subtle, but it still serves to make your story interesting. It gives the reader an investment in the outcome of the story. If you’ve characterized well, then even if readers do not agree with your character’s actions, at least they can understand them. Random violence and unfounded drama isn’t riveting; it’s confusing and exhausting.
Generating Growth.Most novels have character-driven plots, which means that they feature the journey of a dynamic, evolving character. In essence, your character starts out as one person and ends their journey changed in logical ways consistent with how their motivations interpret the events that transpire. Roleplay isn’t always the same, especially with those who have multiple storylines or various alternate universes for their character, but this should remain consistent within the individual roleplay storyline. Think of each roleplay story arc as its own little novel. Each one can be a journey that your character takes the readers on with him/her. At the end of the journey, there should be a difference from where your character started, otherwise what was the point?
Motivations are what spawn these types of epic character growth.Something troubling or inspiring needs to occur which drives your character to choose to take on a journey that will change or reinforce who they are at the core of their personality. Just like most times in real life, no risk equals no reward. It’s the same for your character.
Putting Theory Into Practice
Well, that all sounds great, but how do I DO that? The answer is the same as with any other mechanic of writing: practice.
Here are some exercises to help you discover your character’s unique motivations, and help you develop them in your writing:
1. Basics: Motivating Factors
Brainstorm a list of all the factors that motivate human behavior. Examples:
- Religious beliefs (or lack thereof): Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Atheism, etc., all have the power to affect how people see the world
- Relationships: family; friends; love; hate; betrayal
- Fear: the unknown; the past repeating itself
- Obligation: knowing you should do something whether you want to or not; fear of looking bad to others
- Needs and wants: money; basic needs; greed; dreams
- Cultural influences: society; expectations
- Revenge: past wrongs; hurt; anger; resentment
- Past experiences: childhood; frightening situations; defining moments
Taking a moment to think about all the things that make you want to do the things you do, or feel the way you feel, is the first step to defining your character’s motivations. You can even turn the list into a checklist for each storyline or roleplay you do, just to make sure you have what is driving your character clear in your mind before engaging.
2. Others: People You Know
Make a list of 5 people you know really well. Beside each, make notes about how they (a) react to stress, (b) experience happiness, (c) treat other people.
After that, list what motivates each of these behaviors. Try to be as factual as possible, drawing from things you know; for things you’re unsure of, use common sense to hypothesize.
A character might make it their goal to treat others with respect because of religious beliefs, or maybe because they were disrespected in the past. Someone might react poorly to stressful situations because they have a deep-seated fear of failure, stemming from a past experience.
3. Fiction: Characters from Literature
List 5 characters from literature and what motivated their actions throughout their respective stories.
Take, for example, Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Spoilers, if you haven’t read it:
Hamlet’s murderous thoughts are motivated by revenge (because his uncle secretly killed his father), along with anger, sadness and confusion (because his mother married his uncle so soon after his father’s death).
Add to this a host of other factors, and you have a well-developed character you can understand. A good character is rarely motivated by a single thing and often times motivations can be at cross purposes.
4. You: Analyze Your Own Character
Write paragraphs to describe (a) your most frightening experience, (b) your happiest experience, (c) your most stressful experience, and how you reacted to each situation.
Afterwards, list all the factors that motivated your behavior. Consider, how is your personality shaped by your motivations?
Other resources you may find helpful for your characterizations and storylines are worksheets for each character/roleplay/storyline to keep as a handy reference while writing. Below are links in PDF format:
Character Motivation worksheet:
http://www.eadeverell.com/wp-content/uploads/charactermotivation.pdf
Character decision-making worksheet:
http://www.eadeverell.com/wp-content/uploads/decisions.pdf
Research
Most writers don’t have a degree in psychology, sociology, or anthropology. You don’t need one to be a good writer or to understand character motivation. You can study any of these topics on your own without the expense or formality of school.
Some resources to get you started:
http://www.freetextbooklist.com/psychology/
http://www.e-booksdirectory.com/listing.php?category=216
http://collegeopentextbooks.org/textbook-listings/textbooks-by-subject/psychology
Get Writing
Once you’ve spent some time analyzing human behavior, you’ll naturally begin to see your characters’ motivations.
Keep in mind, the most important thing is to ask ‘WHY?’ Always ask yourself this question about anything your character does/thinks/says. If you can’t explain why in fairly succinct terms, you might need to rethink your character’s motivations for that event/action/speech.
Why does your character act a certain way?
Talk a certain way?
Believe certain things?
What do they choose to reveal and what do they hide?
There is always a reason. That reason may not be immediately apparent to the audience, but it definitely should be clear to the writer.
Well-developed characters should take on a life of their own, as if they are real people. What motivates them should follow logic, and cannot be forced. It requires forethought, consistency, and planning. Hopefully this blog will help you with that.
QUESTIONS?
My inbox is open to all. Feel free to drop me a line to plot, discuss writing, offer critique, etc. And thanks for reading. You can find more of my writing, both fiction and non-fiction, and research here in this group or at: http://www.roleplaylives.net/LokiSilvertongue/
- Loki Silvertongue