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):
Realizing a Dream
Forms This Might Take:
- Pursuing a new career
- Getting a degree/going back to school
- Being creative in a new way
- The character living in their dream location
- Traveling the world…
Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): Self-Actualization
How the Character May Prepare for This Goal:
- Making a list of steps needed to achieve the goal
- Putting together a team of experts to help in various areas
- Making difficult sacrifices if it increases the character’s chances of success—giving up sleep, their physical health, friendships, hobbies, etc….
Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal:
- Losing friends and family members who don’t understand the character’s drive to achieve this particular goal
- Losing important relationships due to their obsession with achieving the goal
- Giving up beloved pastimes and activities they no longer have time for
- Other basic needs being sacrificed in the process (e.g., achieving self-fulfillment but losing love and belonging)…
Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved:
- Jealous rivals and competitors
- Physical limitations (e.g., wanting to make a pro-basketball team but being too short)
- Sickness and injuries…
Talents & Skills That Will Help the Character Achieve This Goal: Skill-based talents specific to the goal (Archery, Baking, Carpentry, Farming, Fishing, Foraging, Musicality, Wilderness Navigation, Wrestling, etc.)…
Possible Fallout For the Protagonist if This Goal Is Not Met:
- Being obsessed with the goal to the point of having a mental breakdown
- Living an unfulfilled life…
Clichés to Avoid: The obsessed protagonist who sacrifices everything to achieve their dream and realizes that the sacrifices weren’t worth the result…
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.
This is really helpful, thank you! Also bookmarking for future reference.
Great article! It reminds me of what Kurt Vonnegut said about making your character want something–anything–even if its only a glass of water.