Friday, 5 February 2010
This is the last part for now. Next week's post will still be about characters but only specific characters - villains!
Today I'm going to talk about motivation.
In order to be believable, characters need to act according to their own motivations and not yours. In other words if you want your character to leave home and travel to a far city, they need a good reason, a reason that outweighs their desire to stay home and warm and safe and with their family, and it can't be 'because I need them to do it to advance the plot'. How powerful a motivation you need depends on the action you want them to take and the personality of your character. An adventurous character with itchy feet needs much less prompting to go on a long journey than a shy homebody, but the still need a reason. Itchy feet may encourage them to leave home, but it won't explain why they're heading in the specific direction you need them to go.
Everyone has a list of things they need and other things they want, what order those wants and needs are in and how far they will go to achieve those ends is a major part of what makes them real rather than just two dimensional puppets dancing around at the author's whim. Some of those needs will be obvious - food, shelter, clothing, physical safety, companionship. Others will be far more individual - a need for adventure, a desire for wealth, loyalty to a specific person or to a cause... How far will they go to achieve their desires and if they have conflicting desires, which one will win out?
For example, your main character has heard that the girl he loves is about to be married off to someone else, but his King has commanded him to go on a secret mission that only he can fulfil. The girl and the mission are in different directions and he can't fight for her and for his King at the same time ... will he delay the mission to try and win the girl or does his loyalty and honour demand that he do his duty and risk losing her? Or he believes strongly in a cause, is he willing to risk losing everything to fight for it? Including his life? Will he steal if necessary? Will he kill? In cold blood?
Knowing your characters' motivations also helps you create realistic conflict between them. It's easy to create conflict if you have a hero and a villain, but not all genres lend themselves to that kind of structure. Maybe the conflict is created because your character has a deep need to succeed in the business world and he has a competitor who is after the same deal he is or even a friend and colleague who is vying for the same promotion. Maybe his main motivation is to win the hand of the beautiful girl next door, but she needs someone who can support her because she has a young child and he just doesn't have the income to do that so she is going to turn him down (because her motivation means that the financial stability of her family and therefore the well-being of her child, is more important to her than her love life).
For each of your main characters you need to know how they will act and react and why. If you can understand their motivations, you can make them come alive.
Today I'm going to talk about motivation.
In order to be believable, characters need to act according to their own motivations and not yours. In other words if you want your character to leave home and travel to a far city, they need a good reason, a reason that outweighs their desire to stay home and warm and safe and with their family, and it can't be 'because I need them to do it to advance the plot'. How powerful a motivation you need depends on the action you want them to take and the personality of your character. An adventurous character with itchy feet needs much less prompting to go on a long journey than a shy homebody, but the still need a reason. Itchy feet may encourage them to leave home, but it won't explain why they're heading in the specific direction you need them to go.
Everyone has a list of things they need and other things they want, what order those wants and needs are in and how far they will go to achieve those ends is a major part of what makes them real rather than just two dimensional puppets dancing around at the author's whim. Some of those needs will be obvious - food, shelter, clothing, physical safety, companionship. Others will be far more individual - a need for adventure, a desire for wealth, loyalty to a specific person or to a cause... How far will they go to achieve their desires and if they have conflicting desires, which one will win out?
For example, your main character has heard that the girl he loves is about to be married off to someone else, but his King has commanded him to go on a secret mission that only he can fulfil. The girl and the mission are in different directions and he can't fight for her and for his King at the same time ... will he delay the mission to try and win the girl or does his loyalty and honour demand that he do his duty and risk losing her? Or he believes strongly in a cause, is he willing to risk losing everything to fight for it? Including his life? Will he steal if necessary? Will he kill? In cold blood?
Knowing your characters' motivations also helps you create realistic conflict between them. It's easy to create conflict if you have a hero and a villain, but not all genres lend themselves to that kind of structure. Maybe the conflict is created because your character has a deep need to succeed in the business world and he has a competitor who is after the same deal he is or even a friend and colleague who is vying for the same promotion. Maybe his main motivation is to win the hand of the beautiful girl next door, but she needs someone who can support her because she has a young child and he just doesn't have the income to do that so she is going to turn him down (because her motivation means that the financial stability of her family and therefore the well-being of her child, is more important to her than her love life).
For each of your main characters you need to know how they will act and react and why. If you can understand their motivations, you can make them come alive.
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