Character motivation

Lesson #5: "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father, prepare to die."

This is a great example of character motivation. As readers we understood Inigo's motivation, and all of his actions throughout the book were consistent with his underlying goals.

In simplest terms, character motivation is what drives your character's behavior. It's the underlying reason why when confronted with the exact same situation, two characters will behave in different ways. Why James will stop to pick up the hitchhiker, and why George will not.

As an author, your readers need to be able to connect with your characters. If your characters behave in bizarre ways, or they act in ways that are completely contrary to the motivations you've shown, then the readers won't be able to connect with them and they'll lose interest in your story.

One common mistake of beginning authors is to confuse author motivation (or plot reasons) with character reasons.

I once critiqued a western where the story opens with the hero meeting the heroine and immediately agreeing to undertake a long journey to escort her from the end of the rail line to her uncle's ranch.

"Why would he do his?" I asked.

"I need them to travel together so they can fall in love," the author replied.

This is a classic example of author motivation. Her plot required the two of them to spend time alone together so they could learn to rely upon each other and fall in love. The heroine had a reason for going on this journey but the hero did not. His actions were unbelievable, and thus we couldn't sympathize with him as a character.

One way to fix this would be to have the heroine offer to pay him to be her escort. This solves the motivation problem-- he's doing it for the money.

Since it was a romance, we could strengthen the motivation by making it multi-layered. At first glance, he's agreed to do this for the money. Later details will reveal that what the heroine thinks is a generous wage is actually a pittance compared to what he would normally make in the booming economy of a silver mining town. We then learn that he wants her to think that he's doing this for the money, but his real reason could be:
a) He has a grudge against her uncle and is using her to gain access to his stronghold
b) He admires the courage it took to leave behind her pampered life in the east, and knows that if he doesn't agree to escort her it's likely she'll hire someone who will harm her, and he can't live with that on his conscience.

Given a few minutes thought and I'm sure you can come up with a half-dozen other reasons why he would agree to go on the journey.

Keep in mind that characters may not understand why they do certain things. Denial is a wonderful thing, and just as we can lie to ourselves, our characters can also be lying to themselves. But as the author you don't have that luxury. You need to understand your characters, even when your characters don't understand themselves. Then, once you understand their motivations, you can ensure that their actions are consistent and believable.

Your characters' motivations may change over the course of the book, as their experiences shape them. The young knight who lightheartedly sets off on a quest may transform into a vengeful assassin after witnessing the slaughter of his comrades. As his motivations evolve, so too will his actions. Here, again, consistency is the key. A man seeking adventure will behave quite differently from one who is solely driven by thoughts of revenge.

I approach writing as a character driven exercise, so I spend a lot of time contemplating the 'W' questions: What do they want? What do they need? Who/what do they love? What do they fear? The better I know my characters, the easier it is for me to write, as each action evolves logically from the previous according to the nature of my characters and the situations they find themselves in.

As you write, remember to ask yourself "Why would he/she do this? What is in it for them?" If there's no reason for the characters to be doing something, then your readers have no reason to care, and they're not likely to keep on reading.

Coming up over the weekend, jennifer_dunne is on deck with the next three mini-essays.