What do your characters want?

To be famous in publication. They whine at me about it all the time.

Aside from that, mainly survival.

caw

Most people want what they have lost. Think about what physical and abstract things that character once had or missed the chance to have. Maybe one will be related to the plot.

It's easy to overthink this issue. I always start with characters who - like me - want the impossible: a comfortable, enjoyable life free of hassles and worries. The story stands between them and that life.

Have you tried a character interview?

Interesting question.

It's been a long time since I've written anything, but coming up with the central character's desires is usually where I start and then I build the story and supporting characters around that.

I think starrystorm's response is pretty accurate though - or at least it is in regards how I build my own characters. I'd also add that people a lot of times desire what they see (or perceive) other people to have that they lack in their own lives. Things like stability (both in terms of finances and within relationships), intimacy, and success in their careers and love lives.

Years ago—and we won't talk about how long ago that was, it's too depressing—I did substantial research into Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for a course on adult learning I was developing. I return to what I learned back then when I want to discover what my characters want, what course of action they think will get it for them, and what they really need. Knowing you wouldn't need or want to do that level of research to get you started, I tooled around to see if there was anything similar out there that might help. Take a look at How to Find Your Character's Motivation over at well-storied. See if maybe that might help. Be thinking about where your character is in life, what they're dissatisfied with, what they think would make them happy, and (the big one) what's the "big secret" in their past they don't acknowledge even to themselves. The big secret will help you discover what your character really needs.

Anyway, it's a thought. Hope it helps.

Consider what lie or misconception they might carry about themselves. A coverup for a vice or some misguided direction from their upbringing that's led to this 'lie'. Your MC might consider himself smart, but what he actually is is a know-it-all because his heavy-handed father made him insecure as a boy. For this, a goal might be to prove himself. Do your backstory history sweep on the character, I'm sure it will turn up some vices, which in turn could open up your goals.

Obviously, this is only helpful for an internal goal and it's good to have exterior ones too, to make the story exciting and help show the change or growth in a dimensional way.

My advice (who knows how much that is worth) is to have a specific focus for your character's wants.

For example, maybe the outcast in your YA contemporary desperately wants to be popular. But that's too general to do anything with. So keep that, but give it a focus. She wants to be popular and a way to do that is... get on the prestigious swim team, and win the respect of cool sporty girls. Or whatever. A symbolic event or accomplishment that is sort of iconic for all their issues and insecurities.

It's okay for your character to not know what they want, because quite a lot of books exist which are all about people figuring that out. But *you* have to know, even if they don't realise it till the end (or even if they realise it never).

I believe this is a wise topic to focus on, and previous posters have weighed in with some excellent ideas. Without motivation, a character can simply wander from plot point to plot point, and nothing really changes for them. They seem flat, and the whole thing becomes merely an exercise, IMO.

It's nice to have tension in this area. They want to be loved, but the demons in their closet keep tripping them up. Or they want to be rich, but the sacrifices necessary to achieve this are morally unsustainable. But now they really need the money because their dear old mum is dying, so what will they do?

They want to get the Ring to Mordor, but they lack both the physical skills and possibly even the fortitude to finish the job.

Anyway, once I find something that my character must have but can't figure how to get, that's when I start to plot. For me at least, this has to come first.

Layla Nahar said:

Have you tried a character interview?

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This is a great suggestion and one of my go-to tools. How can we know our characters if we don't pause to ask them a few questions about their stories?

Here's my approach to character interviews.

In addition to all the excellent suggestions here, consider approaching the problem from another angle: that of an antagonist. That is, invent someone or something (the latter could be anything from a natural disaster to a corporation or government) that wants to take away (personally or impersonally) something or everything your MC cherishes. Could be that your character doesn't want anything because he or she already has everything that matters. So in that case, what can you do to mess with that? What will your MC do when confronted with the possibility of loss--of possessions, a relationship, a loved one, a job, a home, or a way of a life?

Protagonists don't always have to start with desires or needs and spend the story fighting to obtain those goals. Plenty of stories are about the fight to hold on to what the protagonist already has. So if you think about it in those terms, maybe you'll be inspired to invent a force the MC can fight against.

It might help to think about it in terms of long term and short term desires, as this often corresponds to the structure of the novel. For instance, a long term desire might be to get revenge for the death of a loved one - this might take years, and might be the overall goal of the novel. A short term desire might be to get blind stinking drunk to erase the pain - this could be a plot point or even a call to action (inviting incident). But it is related to the long term goal (they don't all have to be).

I would have thought that any plot is goal based, so knowing the story and knowing what your character wants usually go hand in hand. Be interested to hear how you come up with stories if you have a different process

My antagonist wants to marry my protagonists daughter.

The main thing my current protagonist wants is enough money to pay for her sister's medically bills. I don't know about anyone else but I always write better scenes more quickly if I have a clear idea about what my character cares about (a place, a person, a job, being part of something bigger).

Because then you can sit down and ask yourself why they care so much and what they want in relation to that thing. You can make links to the character's personality and backstory.

There's also the distinction between what your character wants and what they need - the thing that will help them become a better person by the end of the story. But since I'm an unpublished author I'm not sure I'm qualified to offer advice like I'm a grand master.

My MC's desires are easy and clear. He was a soldier, and has been through many battles; what he wants now is a peaceful life and to be content.

I'm putting him through the wringer before he gets it though - and even when he does, there's a caveat.

MY MC's motives are to put something in place that's currently not there where it could be. However, it's real easy for him to do but extremely difficult at the same time. Aside from that, he wants peace and to sit back enjoying the fruits of his labor surronded by his friends.

Have you tried looking at the scene / sequel methodology? it might help you to think about goals at a micro level (scene), rather than becoming overwhelmed by the macro level stuff (story).

This particular writing technique breaks down the structure of your novel into units of action (scene) and reaction (sequel). A scene is where your character acts, and therefore every scene needs a goal. The sequel is where your character reflects on the consequences of that action, regroups, comes up with a new goal. If your story / pace is dragging or seems aimless, it may be that you have too many 'sequel's and not enough scenes.

So, throw your character into a situation. How they act will be driven by a goal, whether that be to get out of the trash compactor alive, or to get an egg McMuffin, even though it's 10.31 and they stop serving breakfast at 10.30.

Practice on small goals and maybe the big goals will become clear to you.

I also like the character interview method. Interesting enough, the characters whom I most want to speak with are often the ones too impatient, edgy, or suspicious to sit down and conduct the interview. Or .. they dodge your questions. This would leave me feeling stuck until I realized that, like a good journalist, I needed to start digging for information from secondary sources.
My questions usually start fairly open-ended („tell us about your childhood..“) but get more concrete over the course of the session, e.g. „what do you think about so and so?“
I write them for reference although sometimes, when out for long walks with the dog , I’ll conduct extended versions just in my head.

Tanya: stability and safety for herself, but she's too good to take it at the expense of stability and safety for her family. Buried beneath that, to reach her potential in some kind of career way.

Alex: has already achieved career success by external standards. He wants to succeed in something personally meaningful to him.

eruthford said:

I have been having a hard time figuring out what my characters want. I can think about what they look like, about what jokes they crack, about what annoys them, about their backgrounds, but I just can't get the I-want-this thing going for them. On those rare occasions I can come up with that for my main character, a story revs up and gets going nicely. (It may turn out to be a stinker later, but at least it's a story.)

So what are some exercises for figuring this question out?

If it helps, I usually write about people's personal dramas in the real world. Not that I'm against sci-fi or fantasy, but I just have a hard time doing anything with a spaceship or dragon that doesn't become ridiculous fast.

Not coincidentally, I've been having a dreadful time deciding what I want in finding a day job I can tolerate. This is something of a personality flaw of mine. Sigh...

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I find Reversal is a good exercise.
I want Tony Montana to be poor at the beginning and rich at the end.
I want him to believe one thing at the beginning and another thing at the end.
Like that.

My guy just wants to get home, back to his wife and kids, back to his normal life. But he's stuck in his hometown trying to save the life of his estranged father and the life of a young lady with a checkered past and present whom he mistakes for his criminal father's mistress.

ETA: Yeah, and after reading starrystorm's post, I remember that his subconscious motivation is to ease his guilt for turning his back on his family fifteen years earlier. This is a story I've put aside for a while--not sure it can be saved, but it feels like there's something there.

Double. Away.

eruthford said:

What do your characters want?

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I answer your question as if it was much wider:

There is three levels.

1. The level of wanting something. This is shallow.

2. The level of will. This is a bit deeper.

3. The level of need. This is much deeper. This is connected to personal growth of character.


What character wants is often in conflict with what he/she will and need.

Will is in conflict with needs.

"I want to have a drink. I will that my son can trust me. So I need to see and correct my flaws and by doing that my sons realitys will hit me like a ton of bricks."

All these 3 levels must be based on something that seem to be realistic enough. I must do a backstory that creates the base where these 3 stand.

Three layers. Conflicts between them. A base where they all stand. That is the structure. And you can change substances inside that structure almost endlessly.


I do a character paper about all characters. It is about 6-7 A4 pages. About 5-6 pages is about characters motivation and how it is based.

In my current work I have made 12 character papers. They make 79 A4 pages.