Motivation Thesaurus: Trying Again Despite a Past Failure

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): Trying Again Despite a Past Failure

Forms This Might Take:

• An athlete who was injured before reaching a specific level of achievement
• Returning to school after dropping out
• Summiting a mountain after having to turn back before
• Mastering a particular skill or solving a difficult and vexing problem…

Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): Self-Actualization, Esteem and Recognition

How the Character May Prepare for This Goal:

• The character altering their eating habits to improve nutritional health
• Engaging in strength training and physical conditioning
• Researching an area of expertise
• Practicing by achieving smaller goals…

Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal: 

• The character depleting their savings to work toward achievement
• Giving up employment to go on a sabbatical or travel
• Placing more financial and emotional strain on other family members while the character is absent…

Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved: 

• Age taking its toll and the body becoming compromised (if the goal is physical)
• Mental fatigue
• Bad weather or unsafe conditions (if travel is an element)
• A competitor who is just as determined to reach the goal as the character…

Possible Fallout For the Protagonist if This Goal Is Not Met:

• Feeling incomplete
• Regret from failing again…

Clichés to Avoid: Going up against the same rival one was bested by before..

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!