by Sarah “Sally” Hamer

All of our characters want something, right? Joan Wilder wants to save her sister in Romancing the Stone. Paul Muad’dib Atreides wants to avenge his father in Dune 2. Sully wants to be First Monster on the Scream Floor in Monsters, Inc. Jane Eyre wants to find a place to be happy. Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games wants to save her sister from the crazy world they live in.

I can go on forever.

Almost every story ever told has at least one character who has a specific, definable, understandable goal.

• So, how does the reader know what that goal is?
• How do we as story-tellers express that?
• Does the character actually state it? Yes.
• Does someone else tell the protagonist what it is they want? Yes.
• Can a story work if that goal is never clearly expressed? Yes.

It depends on the story and the person telling it.

One of my favorite movies is Little Shop of Horrors. Well, let me rephrase. I love the 1986 movie with Ellen Greene and Rick Moranis, with music by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman (HATE the theatrical ending. If you know, you know).

For what it’s worth, Menken has nineteen Academy Award nominations (he’s won eight which puts him in 3^rd place for the most won by one person), and is also one of the nineteen people who have achieved EGOT status for winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony award. Ashman was right in there with him until his death. If you’ve hummed a Little Mermaid, Aladdin, or Beauty and the Beast song, you’ve listened to their music. They also wrote the songs for the movie.

The “I Want” statement defined.

Menken made an NPR YouTube video in 2022 during the Covid shutdown and, during the show, explained the “I want” statement. When he and Ashman wrote the music for a show, they had to figure out the main character’s goal. Then, they created a song around it.

In Little Shop, Audrey tells Seymour that she wants “Somewhere That’s Green.” She was raised in the slums of New York City, believes that she is worthless and unlovable, hates her life, and, as her “I want” statement, desires a tract house with an enormous, 12-inch TV screen, somewhere besides the Skid Row where she always lived. Menken’s song moved the story along beautifully, which is his great talent, and, with that one song showed Audrey’s dream in a way that probably nothing else could have.

This moment is where your character steps up and says, “This is what I dream of.”

Alan Menken

The thing about the “I want” statement is that, it’s probably when the character is the most honest in the entire story.

Romancing the Stone

While Joan Wilder’s main goal is to save her sister from the bad guys, it shifts in the middle of the story. She has the treasure map, which is the ransom for her sister, in her possession. But, instead of just turning it over, she decides to find the “stone” of the title. She still plans to save her sister but she’s not going to make it easy for the bad guys.

With Jack’s help – he becomes the hero of the piece – she finds the stone and now has real negotiating power. She also steps out of her comfort zone and, for the first time, we see her for the strong woman she really is. And the treasure is her new self-confidence.

The Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen’s “I want” statement is to keep her sister and mom safe. She immediately volunteers as tribute when Prim’s name is called, and then spends the rest of the series doing things that she believes will achieve her overarching goal. There isn’t a particular revelation in any of the three books/movies, where her “I want” shifts – it’s always about Prim – but she does things that go against her own moral values to stay alive so she can keep her promise. Her vow to save Prim overrides even her own personal safety. And the audience is very aware of it.

Monsters, Inc

Sully’s “I want” is very clear. He’s in a race to be the top Screamer. But underlying all that is the knowledge that his very world is dependent on the electricity the frightened children’s screams create. So, eventually, he has to choose between the good of the one as opposed to the good of the many. What a unbelievably hard choice! And what a wonderful solution they come up with. Regardless, its’s a beautiful story about how enemies can come together to make a better world.

What is your character’s “I want” statement? What do you, as the writer, want that character to have? Is it the same all the way through the story? Does the character say it out loud, or does the audience have to listen to actions very carefully?

My recommendation is always to watch as many movies and read as many books as you can, and try to determine that “I want” statement. It’s one of the best ways to learn how to apply it to your own stories.

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About Sally

Sarah (Sally) Hamer, B.S., MLA, is a lover of books, a teacher of writers, and a believer in a good story. Most of all, she is eternally fascinated by people and how they 'tick'. She’s passionate about helping people tell their own stories, whether through fiction or through memoir. Writing in many genres - mystery, science fiction, fantasy, romance, medieval history, non-fiction – she has won awards at both local and national levels, including two Golden Heart finals.

A teacher of memoir, beginning and advanced creative fiction writing, and screenwriting at Louisiana State University in Shreveport for over twenty years, she also teaches online for Margie Lawson at www.margielawson.com and hosts symposiums at www.mindpotential.org. Find her at info@mindpotential.org.

Top Image by Ria Sopala from Pixabay