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):
Seeking One’s Biological Roots
Forms This Might Take:
- Tracking down birth parents
- Connecting with a half-sibling the character has only just learned about
- The character returning to an orphanage in their country of origin in hopes of uncovering their past
- Searching for the family the character was kidnapped from…
Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): Love and Belonging
How the Character May Prepare for This Goal:
- Requesting access to birth records (once the character turns eighteen)
- Asking adoptive parents for details
- Researching the laws surrounding adoption at the time to understand the hurdles ahead
- Interviewing those involved in the adoption
- Contacting possible leads and setting up meetings …
Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal:
- Becoming obsessed to the point it strains relationships with the adopted family
- The character losing their job because they’re always needing time off to travel and investigate leads
- Losing their sense of self and identity as they dig deeper into the past…
Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved:
- Ineffective lawyers, investigators, and advocates
- A fire or other disaster that destroyed records
- A lack of record-keeping at the time (especially in the case of civil unrest)
- Not being able to access accurate records because the adoption was handled off the books…
Talents & Skills That Will Help the Character Achieve This Goal: A Knack for Languages, Good Listening Skills, Blending In, Gaining the Trust of Others, ESP (Clairvoyance)…
Possible Fallout For the Protagonist if This Goal Is Not Met:
- Feeling incomplete because they don’t know their roots
- Frustration and insecurity because they don’t know why they were given up…
Clichés to Avoid: A “pauper to prince” scenario, where the character discovers they’re actually royalty and were adopted out for safety reasons…
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.
This is very difficult to read against the coloured background..please return to the previous format
Hi PL,
Our design has been the same for a while now–maybe you’re having an issue with your browser?
Oh..it’s always been the same?..I didn’t realize that…anyway the text IS difficult to see against the multi-coloured background.
It must be the texture as the background is one color. Sorry this is bothering you. Maybe zoom in, and then that will allow you to minimize the green. 😉
How the Character May Prepare for This Goal:
Have a DNA test. I found a half-sister I didn’t know I had that way just last month, and she’s helping me get to know about the biological father I never was able to meet.
Talents & Skills That Will Help the Character Achieve This Goal:
Tenacity or persistence. I spent fifty years waiting to find out who my biological father was.
Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal: strained relationships with existing family members who might not understand your need to know or even want you to find out who your parent was.
Great adds! Thanks Keli! With your DNA, how did you find a relative through it–did you get a hit on a specific database? Or was the blood test just to confirm?
The DNA report included information on possible matches. The “close match” was my half-sister. I contacted her, we compared information and we connected. 🙂
How did your sister’s DNA come into the system though is I guess what I’m wondering–did you suspect that you both might be related, and got tested, or was it happenstance that you submitted your DNA and she had at some earlier point in time and there was a match? Just wondering from the perspective of a character who is trying to find birth parents or siblings and having to start from scratch to find them.
The DNA test isn’t a blood test. The company that led to the match asked for a saliva sample.
Very helpful and informative article. Thank you for sharing.
Great ideas!! My character is thrust into her biological family after being ripped from the only family she’s ever known. Chaos ensues.
Oh wow! How timely this post is. I have a recluse, an elderly woman on the old family farm, everyone she ever loved has died. Out of the blue a set of twins arrive at the farm gate looking for their roots – a nephew and niece nobody knew existed – even her her soldier brother, their father, didn’t know as he was killed in action. Your post has given me so much to work with! What fun. Thanks.
Further – you just HAVE to print this book! Don’t even think about it… can I pre-order now???? ?
Lol, so glad this thesaurus is helping you. 🙂
I’ve always been curious about my roots beyond what I know, but don’t have the time to make it a priority. I do love it as a mission for a character though!