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.
Goal (Outer Motivation):
Catching the Bad Guy/Girl
Forms This Might Take:
- Catching a killer before he strikes again
- Stopping the terrorist before his bomb goes off
- Identifying a kidnapper so his victims can be freed
- Stopping an assassin from completing his mission…
Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): Safety and Security
How the Character May Prepare for This Goal:
- Traveling to places where the guilty party might be found
- Enlisting like-minded people for his team
- Gathering evidence
- Staking out a suspect’s home or place of business…
Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal:
- Losing the respect of superiors when the character goes against the chain of command
- Slipping down the corporate or political ladder due to pissing off the wrong people
- Strained family relations due to working long work hours
- The character going bankrupt from personally financing the case…
Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved:
- The perpetrator
- Those who want the perpetrator to remain free
- Unreliable witnesses
- Emotional entanglements between the hero and people involved in the case…
Talents & Skills That Will Help the Character Achieve This Goal: A Knack for Languages, Good Listening Skills, Blending In…
Possible Fallout For the Protagonist if This Goal Is Not Met:
- People dying or being injured
- Experiencing a crisis of confidence
- Grieving loved ones of the victim who take matters into their own hands through vigilantism…
Clichés to Avoid: The detective falling in love with the main suspect who they believe is innocent but is actually guilty…
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!
Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.
Love this!!! Thank you. ❤