Character Motivation Thesaurus: Having a Child

What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story’s end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is written well, readers will quickly identify what the overall story goal’s going to be; this will better enable them to root for the character because they’ll know exactly what he’s trying to achieve. But how do you know which outer motivation to choose?

If you read enough books, you’ll see the same goals being used for different characters in new scenarios. This thesaurus explores common outer motivations so you can see your options and what those goals might look like on a deeper level.

Goal (Outer Motivation):
Having a Child

Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): Love and Belonging

Methods for Achieving This Goal:

• Conceiving a child with a partner
• Becoming artificially inseminated (if the character is single)
• Undergoing fertility treatments…

How the Character May Prepare for This Goal: 

• Reading up on pregnancy and parenting
• Giving up things that could harm an unborn child or decrease the character’s chance of conceiving (cigarettes, alcohol, certain medications, caffeine, heavy weight lifting, boating, etc.)
• Getting into good physical shape…

Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal: 

• Going into debt
• Putting off vacations and high-end purchases in favor of fertility treatments or adoption fees
• The character changing their standard of living so they can afford the associated financial costs
• Replacing sex as a pleasurable experience with sex that is purely clinical and a means to an end
• Going to jail (if the character is trying to obtain a child through illegal means)…

Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved: 

• Infertility
• Health conditions that could make a pregnancy or birth difficult
• A spouse or partner who doesn’t want children
• An inept or unethical fertility doctor…

Talents & Skills That Will Help the Character Achieve This Goal: A Knack for Making Money, High Pain Tolerance…

Possible Fallout For the Protagonist if This Goal Is Not Met: 

• Heightened feelings of loneliness and unfulfillment
• Growing apart from friends who are having babies
• Tension with the character’s partner that could lead to a breakup…

Clichés to Avoid: External stressors tearing apart a couple during the adoption process, forcing one of them to move forward and adopt on their own

We hope you’ve found this sample useful. To access the complete entry and our full range of thesauruses, head over to One Stop for Writers.

What does your character want, and how far will they go to achieve it?

On the surface, the protagonist’s goal seems to be the most important, but the inner motivation driving your character toward this goal (despite pain, suffering, fear, setbacks, and sacrifice) is what really draws readers in. Understanding the four cornerstones of character arc and how they frame a story is paramount for today’s writers. To help with this, we have integrated this Character Motivation Thesaurus into our online library at One Stop For Writers.

Each entry has been enhanced to provide even more information about your character’s motivation and is cross-referenced with our other thesauruses for easy searchability. We’ve also included a must-see tutorial on Character Motivation.

Interested in seeing these expanded entries? Head on over and take advantage of our FREE TRIAL!