Character motivations can cover a wide spectrum. There are the "obvious" ones of love, revenge, seeking justice etc but motivations can be more subtle than that - for example the wish to prove someone wrong.
What matters is whatever the motivation is, it is the be all and end all to your character, even if it seems to everyone else they're making a fuss about very little.
A motivated character will do whatever it takes to get what they want and the important thing is to ensure your people are driven enough.
It's not enough for a character to just want to stay out of trouble. But if your character goes to extraordinary lengths to stay out of trouble then a great deal of humour or tragedy can result from that.
What could be behind that? Maybe they've got a bet on with a friend to stay out of trouble for six days, say, and the friend has always been right in the past but this time our hero wants to prove them wrong and is determined to do so. They're fed up with their friend being right all the time and finally want something to go their way.
There, the motivation is powerful enough and understandable. Your readers have to get behind your character to carry on reading their adventures after all. Naturally your character's friend will know or be able to guess at their friend's motivation here and will do all they can to scupper any chances of success. Voila! Instant clashes and tension as you work out how your hero does or does not prove the friend wrong.
Image Credit: Pixabay.
What matters is whatever the motivation is, it is the be all and end all to your character, even if it seems to everyone else they're making a fuss about very little.
A motivated character will do whatever it takes to get what they want and the important thing is to ensure your people are driven enough.
It's not enough for a character to just want to stay out of trouble. But if your character goes to extraordinary lengths to stay out of trouble then a great deal of humour or tragedy can result from that.
What could be behind that? Maybe they've got a bet on with a friend to stay out of trouble for six days, say, and the friend has always been right in the past but this time our hero wants to prove them wrong and is determined to do so. They're fed up with their friend being right all the time and finally want something to go their way.
There, the motivation is powerful enough and understandable. Your readers have to get behind your character to carry on reading their adventures after all. Naturally your character's friend will know or be able to guess at their friend's motivation here and will do all they can to scupper any chances of success. Voila! Instant clashes and tension as you work out how your hero does or does not prove the friend wrong.
Image Credit: Pixabay.
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