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): Being the Best at Something
Forms This Might Take:
- Winning a local competition (best chili in the city, prettiest garden display, best home brewed beer, etc.)
- Winning an election (Being chosen as prom king, elected to student council, winning a seat on city council, becoming mayor, becoming a minister or judge, etc.)
- Being awarded a scholarship (for an art competition, for accomplishments in math, for a written essay, etc.)
- Being acknowledged for putting on the best parties or events
Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): Esteem and Recognition
How the Character May Prepare for This Goal:
- The character reading up on the activity they want to master or the issues of importance they need to know
- Observing (in person, watching video footage, etc.) and studying the competition
- Buying equipment or services that will give them an edge
- Practicing affirmations and positive self-talk…
Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal:
- Giving up free time
- Friendships that grow strained because others aren’t supportive of the character’s passion
- Spending their savings on training, equipment or other things needed to be the best…
Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved:
- A health crisis (personally, or a family member’s) that requires time, money, or both
- A financial crisis (losing a job, a sudden expense like needing a new car, etc.)
- Not having the knowledge, talent, or experience to be the best (needing to be more seasoned)…
Possible Fallout For the Protagonist if This Goal Is Not Met:
- Crippling disappointment
- Losing the respect or esteem of family or friends for not succeeding…
Clichés to Avoid:
- Because of the popularity of the Chevy Chase “Vacation” movies, one would want to avoid creating a character who was obsessed to the same degree
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.
there are no skills in the Talent & Skills section.
Hi, Dylan. Thanks for your input. I guess it would depend on how talents and skills are defined. For our purposes, a talent is a knack someone is innately born with while a skill is something a person becomes good at over time through practice and diligence. By these definitions, many of the entries in this thesaurus could be either talents OR skills, depending on how they’re acquired: archery, good listening skills, charm, wrestling, etc. Granted, there are other ways to define these terms; but for the purposes of this thesaurus, this is how we’ve chosen to characterize them.
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This might be a hard character to write. Like you said, you might go over the top like Chevy Chase in the Vacation movies. It’d be a challenge, definitely!
I keep thinking how a person like this could so easily be Unlikable—say, if he/she was driven to always be the best at everything. I think we’ve all been around people like that and know how challenging they can be. But they’re real life, right?
My goodness, this certainly describes my main character’s motivation. Rhino wants to be the best at everything–he wants to be perfect. He wants to be the chief among his brothers, compelling their love and loyalty and ruling over them. Looking at your list of characteristics and behaviors, I see where Rhino hits all the markers. Very interesting and informative article.
We’re so glad it hit the mark for you and your character.