In a new blog post, Kristen Lamb examines human – and character – motivation. “Articulating character motivation can help us when it comes to better storytelling,” she says. “The best stories are, at their heart, SIMPLE. Easy? By no means.”
Why do characters want or not want something? Conversely, why are they motivated to avoid something? “Motivation is the center of the spiderweb that shoots out spokes into everything else,” Lamb says. “Tug on one part of the web and the spider scrambles to hide, hunt or attack. Tear one part of the web down and what is first of that spider’s Things To Do List? Rebuild that part of the web exactly the same as it was. Or, if that is impossible, spin a new web that is as close to the old one as possible.”
Humans aren’t that different, Lamb says. That’s why it’s necessary to take the time to get to know your characters, to understand their motivations backwards and forwards so that their actions can seem both surprising and inevitable.
Motivation is multi-level, Lamb says. “What is it the character consciously believes he wants versus what does he truly want but is too terrified/damaged/proud/ignorant to recognize?” she asks. “Motivations—even ones that are distorted—make the character believable.”
Motivations have many influences, including health, mental health, and antagonists. In fact, skimping on the antagonist’s motivation is a major mistake made by new writers, Lamb suggests. “Why does the [Big Bad Troublemaker] want X, Y or Z?” she asks. “What is the core motivation? The more relatable the motivation, the better the antagonist/villain (they are not always the same thing).”
Base motivations are usually simple: anger, greed, revenge, love/lust. For a great story, a writer needs to add layers of nuance to differentiate their characters from everyone else.
“If we take some time to get to know our characters before we write, it’s wise to ask what they want and why they want it,” Lamb writes. “Our main character might avoid conflict because she came from an abusive family and has defined all conflict as inherently bad/unproductive. She might be overly confrontational because she came from an abusive family and never learned discernment. She is willing to die on every hill and that not only exhausts her, but everyone around her.”
Once you identify what your character wants, ask why. Then continue asking. Your first answer will almost always be simple, perhaps childlike. Assume this answer is false, flawed, or only half truthful. Ask why until you get to the heart of your character and the events that formed them.
