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 identify fairly quickly what the overall story goal’s going to be and they’ll know what to root for. But how do you know what 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.
Character’s Goal (Outer Motivation): Rescuing Someone from a Captor
Forms This Might Take:
- A kidnapping
- A cult
- An abusive relationship…
Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): Safety and Security
How The Character May Prepare For This Goal:
- Planning an assault on captors in a kill-or-capture scenario
- Enlisting the help of professionals (police, a hired mercenary, criminals, etc.)
- Planning an extraction for the captive
- Infiltrating the group and escaping unnoticed
- Obtaining something to use for ransom…
Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal:
- Going deep into debt
- Being captured and tortured
- Someone who’s helping with the rescue being killed…
Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved:
- Well-armed captors
- A turncoat on the character’s team
- Being unable to raise funds for the ransom
- The loved one being moved far beyond reach…
Talents & Skills That Will Help the Character Achieve This Goal: Sharpshooting, High Pain Tolerance, Self-Defense, Strategic Thinking…
Possible Fallout for the Protagonist if This Goal Is Not Met:
- Self-blame and depression
- Their life falling apart…
Clichés to Avoid: Hiring a badass mercenary who is only in it for the money but comes to care for the main character and so goes above and beyond to save the victim…
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!
Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.
I am trying to see the list of current entries and do not have a log-in or password. What am I not signed up for that I need. Thanks, Deb
Hi, Deb. I think there may have been a typo in the link. Can you try again and let me know if it works? Thank you!
Thanks for this post, Angela. It’s exactly what I needed for my second book in my series! You gave some good ideas.