Writers in the Storm

A blog about writing

storm moving across a field
October 11, 2024

What's Your Character's "WHY"?

By Sarah (Sally) Hamer

Writing a strong, interesting, and compelling character is one of the most important aspects of creating a successful novel. How do you do it? By giving that character a strong goal, motivation and conflict. 

It works like this: the goal is the "what?" the character wants, the motivation is the "why?" of why he or she wants it, and the conflict is the "why not?" of obstacles. Each of these pieces of the puzzle is important in its own way, but each also has to hold its own in the triangle of characterization. They all must be strong, clear, and easy to determine by the reader.

So, what's your characters' WHY? And why does it matter?

In Deb Dixon's wonderful book, Goal, Motivation & Conflict: the Building Blocks of Good Fiction, she tells us that motivation is "what drives your character to obtain or achieve his goal." A character can certainly have more than one motivation in a story but Deb continues: "Keep it simple. Keep it strong. Keep it focused." Even though real humans have multiple and often conflicting reasons for what we do, we don't want to confuse a reader with more than one or two. 

Scarlett O’Hara

Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind, for instance, was a spoiled, hard-headed young woman who, on the eve of the American War Between the States (aka the Civil War) had two main motivations for what she wanted: 1) she wanted to marry Ashley because she thought she loved him and, 2) she wanted Tara, the Southern plantation they owned, because it was her father's dream. Both were so important to her, she was willing to lie, steal, and starve to get them. 

Dorothy 

Dorothy (The Wizard of Oz), an unhappy teenager who wanted to find happiness "over the rainbow" (she sings that famous song in the movie – if you haven't heard it, it's a perfect explanation of goal, motivation, and conflict) had to save her dog, Toto, who had bitten a neighbor lady and was going to be killed. She and Toto are caught in a tornado and whisked from her home in Kansas to the amazing, and terrifying, world of Oz. 

So, her secondary goal was to get herself and Toto back home. Why? Saving Toto was because he was her only friend and, probably, a link to her parents. And, "There's no place like home," tells us that she finally recognized that home is where the people you love are and that she could be happy there, which she so desperately wanted. 

Do you see how each of these motivations are crystal clear? They also are very human reasons for wanting something, which makes them even more believable. Getting those motivations right for the story is HUGE! How do we do it?

Goal, Motivation, and Conflict Triangle Method

I'm a nut for triangles in writing – good things come in threes, right? LOL! So, let's add in a triangle for Goal, Motivation, and Conflict with each one assigned to a different point. Triangles are one of the strongest building structures in the world, holding train trestles, skyscrapers, and old screen doors together, sometimes for decades. They also can help us hold our stories together. 

Each point is just as important as the other two. If one of the, let's say the motivation side, since we're working on it right now, is weak. We don't really know WHY the character wants whatever that goal is. So, the triangle, and therefore the entire structure, can too easily fall apart.

We can begin anywhere when figuring out motivation. It can start with motivation itself, or it can start with either the goal or the conflict. It really doesn't matter. Goal most often goes first, so we'll start there. Let’s create a fictional character using the triangle method, in which the three aspects of writing a compelling character are on each of the ends of a triangle for our planning purposes She's young, bright, and determined and we'll call her Tabitha.

Goal

Tabitha's goal is to be the top news reporter at her local TV station. That goes on the top of the triangle.

Motivation

Motivation goes next on either one of the other points. WHY does she want that job? 

  • To prove something to someone who told her she wasn't good enough? 
  • To follow in someone's footsteps? 
  • To make money?

These are just a few of the thousands of reasons we could come up with. We will circle back around here in a minute, so just pick something and put it on the triangle.

Conflict

Last, but not least. is the conflict. Something/someone/multiple someones will get in her way. Conflict comes from both internal and external sources. Internal could be where she's afraid of taking that first step. Maybe she really doesn't have the skill. Or she has other obligations that can stop her. Or it can be other characters. Maybe an older woman holds that position and has no intention of stepping down. Maybe the management of the station doesn't like her. Again, lots of choices but pick one for the last point of the triangle.

Now, when we look at the triangle and the three options we have chosen, we have the beginnings of a story. 

Changing the Motivation and Its Impact on the Story

But let's play with the motivation side a little and take the motivation of trying to prove herself to someone – let's say her mother. Her mom had a dream of becoming "somebody" but there may have been a problem with Tabitha's father. Perhaps he left or died or didn't make enough money, so her mom had to let her dream go. 

Now, Tabitha's mom pushes Tabitha over and over to "be better," to do whatever it takes to make it in the world. If that's the case, Tabitha's motivation is to please her mom, which is an outside source. Maybe what Tabitha really wants is to marry that college sweetheart and have lots of babies.

So, we've shifted the goal – how does that change that motivation? She may still want to make her mom happy, but if she herself doesn't want to become famous, her motivation could instead be to get away from a helicopter mom. Would her conflict change too? YES! The entire story will shift, simply because she wants something for a different reason. She'll still be doing some of the same things, but her purpose for doing them – pleasing Mom or making herself happy – alters the bottom line. 

Bottom line. Sometimes we start a story with a great idea. We may even get fifty pages in. But, if we don't know WHY our protagonist wants something, it may not matter that they want it. And, our story falls apart.

Do you have a character in a book or movie you really enjoyed? Why? 

What conflict, motivation or goal are you working on in your own writing that you can share here?

What does your character really want? And WHY?

* * * * * *

About Sally

Sally Hamer author photo

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 and 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 for the No Stress Writing Academy at https://www.worldanvil.com/w/classes-deleyna/a/no-stress-writing-academy.  Sally is a free-lance editor and book coach, with many of her students and clients becoming successful, award-winning authors. 

You can find her at info@mindpotential.org

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

15 comments on “What's Your Character's "WHY"?”

    1. Thank you, Gina. I tend to look at everything from the perspective of a triangle, because it helps me to organize my thoughts. GMC fits on it perfectly.

      Glad you're discovering and uncovering things about your characters!
      Sally

  1. Sally,
    Thanks for the bull's-eye approach to explaining the goal, motivation, and conflict of a strong character. You nailed it!

  2. Thank you, Sally. I like the triangle method. Not only is it a good way to build a solid story. It's a great springboard for story ideas.

    My protagonist in my current WIP is Siobhan, a faerie on the cusp of adulthood. Her father left her and her mother when she was nine to travel to the enemy kingdom of the Dragons. He told her before he left that he was going to try to forge peace between his country and the Dragons. Also, he wanted to study dragon culture and learn from their renowned knowledge. In the eight years since, people in Siobhan's country have had a lot to say about him, none of it good (he was a fool who got himself killed or worse, a traitor). The Faerie Council has declared him guilty of treason.

    Siobhan's GOAL: to make the dangerous journey to the Dragon Kingdom, find her father, and get evidence to prove he's not a traitor.

    The WHY: she tells her best friend (the only person she confides her goal to) and herself that she wants to prove to everyone that her father is neither a fool nor a traitor but that he is right about the Dragons. The people of her country need to let go of their prejudice and see that the Dragons are a cultured civilization worth forging peace with.

    Her REAL WHY--which she doesn't admit even to herself--is that she desperately wants to know that her father left her and her mother for a noble cause and that he wasn't a just traitorous cad who deserted them.

    Have a happy weekend!

  3. I love this, Sally. Let me think about my next book... Lainey's goal is to fulfill her parents dream. Her motivation is to redeem her heritage. The conflict is that there are many determined to wipe her people from existence. Does that work?

    1. Lisa, it works for me. Good, deep motivation. But, more importantly, does it work for both you and your character?

      I like it a lot!

  4. Nice, clean approach to character motivation. It is necessary, but can be difficult, depending upon story circumstances. It's helpful not to pound a character's motivation into the reader's skull. The reader should learn it as they become familiar with the character, and any underscoring past event in that character's life can be revealed to readers after they've already seen the pattern of your character's actions.

    In my first book, my main character's internal motivations are just revealed mostly through her actions, but I use one dream sequence to underscore certain aspects of her behavior.

    In my second book, the (same) main character's actions are fairly understood, but I still have a 'touchstone' scene reintroducing that aspect for new readers. On the other hand, in book two, I have a mystery antagonist (villain) only known as "Mr. B" until just before the climax.

    I offer readers a few candidates for this role, but had to establish this character's motivations without actually identifying them or tipping my hand too soon. I came up with two flashback chapters which readers could easily have thought belonged in an entirely different story, but which provided clues I hoped could be forgotten until time for the reveals. Based upon my beta readers' remarks, this seems to have (thank goodness) worked.

    1. Jerold, that sounds perfect! You're very right -- don't dump a load of backstory-type information on the reader at the beginning, allow them to "meet" your characters through their actions and thoughts and body language and dialog, THEN tell the WHY later. We humans don't tell our whole life to a stranger when we first meet -- it may take years to finally get to know someone well enough for their WHY to come out.

      Great post! Thank you!

  5. I recently completed my wife's novel after she passed away. It had three main characters, each with a different goal and motivation. A 19th century English barrister, who wanted to get away to his country manor to avoid the hubbub of London. His housekeeper there, a young woman who wanted to become a doctor, but was bound to the manor by contract. And the ghost of a French woman who had lived at the manor and wanted her murder avenged.
    The interactions of these three had to evolve throughout, including the possibility of romance between the barrister and housekeeper.
    She did an excellent job--it's a dang good tale. "The French Woman's Ghost."

  6. I like your triangle model. I just went back and applied it to my published stories to see if it fit. Yes it did.
    However, I needed to add two more elements: Climax and Outcome. So I did this for all my stories:
    - Goal
    - Motivation
    - Conflict
    - Climax
    - Outcome

Subscribe to WITS

Recent Posts

Search

WITS Team

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2024 Writers In The Storm - All Rights Reserved