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): Escape Confinement
Forms This Might Take:
- Being locked in the trunk of a car during a kidnapping
- Escaping bindings when the character is being held against their will
- Finding the way out of a building where the character is trapped
- Getting out of a maze-like area (catacombs, a water and sewer system, underground tunnel system)
- Escaping a facility (above or below ground) when the power is out and all access points are locked down…
Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): Physical Needs, Safety and Security
How the Character May Prepare for This Goal:
- Paying attention to sensory details (sounds, smells, movement, etc.) when they’re being taken away to help pinpoint their location
- Clocking the movements of guards to determine the best time to escape
- Studying the area for possible access points
- Inventorying supplies that could help them escape
- Marking their progress in case they have to backtrack or avoid getting lost…
Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal:
- Being injured by broken glass or other debris
- Having to give up shelter or temporary safety for the unknown
- Having to take only what the character can carry and leave the rest…
Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved:
- The character losing their way in the dark when their light source goes out
- Reinforcements being called in by the enemy (guards, police, trackers, etc.)
- Being assigned to a guard whose loyalty can’t be bought
- Being poisoned or drugged, and thereby partially incapacitated…
Talents & Skills That Will Help the Character Achieve This Goal: A Knack for Languages, A Way with Animals, Archery, Basic First Aid…
Possible Fallout For the Protagonist if This Goal Is Not Met:
- Running out of a necessity (food, water. air) while planning the escape
- Getting caught trying to escape and being beaten or tortured by captors as punishment
- Landing in an even more dire predicament while trying to get away (when a roof collapses, getting wedged in a pipe, etc.)
- …
Clichés to Avoid: Guards who fall asleep on duty…
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.
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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 have to tell you gals, this one could belong in a survival handbook 🙂 I’ve got a thing with any form of restriction or confinement—I’d say a phobia, so this one hits home, for sure!
Wow – so many things I never even thought of to be worried about. Anxious just reading the list! As always, Angela, great ideas. As to Robin’s question, some crossover for a character who is not trapped physically but is an emotional victim living under threat of harm to self or loved one.
what about escaping invisible barriers, that make you ‘feel’ trapped?
I guess it would depend on what they are–restrictions placed on the character because of their station or opportunities (self-actualization) a mental block (self-esteem based/self-actualization), or something else?
An invisible type confinement is definitely valid, but likely is more based on the need of esteem or self actualization rather than physical needs or safety/security. Not always, but many scenarios. We’ll have to look at this in another entry 🙂