• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
    • About WHW
    • Press Kit
    • Resident Writing Coaches
    • Contact Us
    • Podcasts & Interviews
    • Master Storytelling Newsletter
    • Guest Post Guidelines
    • Privacy Policy
    • Charities & Support
  • Bookstore
    • Bookstore
    • Foreign Editions
    • Book Reviews
    • Free Thesaurus Sampler
  • Blog
  • Software
  • Workshops
  • Resources
    • List of Resources
    • Recommended Writing Books
    • WHW Descriptive Thesaurus Collection
    • Free Tools & Worksheets
    • Grab A Free Show-Dont-Tell Pro Pack
  • WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

Character Motivation Entry: Helping A Loved One See They Are Hurting Themselves (and Others)

August 5, 2017 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

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?

addiction, writing, character motivation, character arcIf you read enough books, you’ll see the same goals being used for different characters in new scenarios. Through this thesaurus, we’d like to explore these common outer motivations so you can see your options and what those goals might look like on a deeper level.

We hope the sample list of ideas below helps you better understand how your character’s motivation drives the story. For a much more detailed entry, follow this link to the official Character Motivation Thesaurus.

Character’s Goal (Outer Motivation): Helping A Loved One See They Are Hurting Themselves (and Possibly Others)

Forms This Might Take:

  • Helping an addict sister see she’s an addict
  • Encouraging a parent to get involved in a 12-step program
  • Talking a friend out of suicide and working to get them into therapy
  • Being honest with a brother regarding bad influences in his life and pointing out the legal repercussions if he continues down the road with them
  • …

Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): safety and security, love and belonging

How the Character May Prepare for This Goal: 

  • Observe and gather evidence to support one’s argument
  • Make notes about instances that happen so one can bring them up if needed
  • Research options for therapy and aid
  • Work on one’s patience, especially if the loved one is difficult or tends to lash out
  • …

Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal: 

  • Broken relationships that may not be able to be saved
  • Sacrificing time and energy to be with this person in their time of need
  • Taking flak at work if one must leave often to deal with situations as they crop up
  • …

Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved: 

  • Resistance to being helped
  • Unsupportive family members
  • An environment that is toxic and rife with abuse
  • A loved one who has lost all hope
  • A crisis with someone else that must be attended to, meaning the loved one’s needs will be temporarily not met
  • …

Talents & Skills That Will Help the Character Achieve This Goal:

  • A Way with Animals
  • Basic First Aid
  • Good Listening Skills
  • Gaining the Trust of Others
  • …

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

  • Developing an addiction to cope with the pain one is unable to alleviate for another
  • Strained relationships with other family who are not understanding about one’s desire to help this individual
  • …

Clichés to Avoid: 

Click here to return to the list of sample entries for this thesaurus, along with a master post containing information on the individual fields.

What does your character want more than anything else and what is he willing to do 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 our popular 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 character motivation entries?  Head on over and take advantage of our FREE TRIAL!

ANGELA ACKERMAN
ANGELA ACKERMAN

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.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Judi-sbobet.net says

    May 29, 2018 at 7:37 pm

    Good article! We will be linking to this great content on our website.
    Keep up the great writing.

  2. Sbobetberry.com says

    May 19, 2018 at 11:39 am

    Hi there, I would like to subscribe for this web site to take latest updates,
    so where can i do it please help.

    • ANGELA ACKERMAN says

      May 19, 2018 at 2:17 pm

      Hi,

      In the sidebar of our site (left) is an area that says “subscribe to blog updates by mail” and if you put your email address in the box below it, you’l start getting our blog posts sent to your inbox. 🙂

Primary Sidebar


Welcome!

Writing is hard. Angela & Becca make it easier. Get ready to level up your fiction with game-changing tools, resources, and advice.

Follow Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Subscribe to the Blog

Check your inbox to confirm! If gremlins tried to eat it, you might have to check your spam folder.

Read by Category

Grab Our Button

Writers Helping Writers

Software that Will Change the Writing Game

One Stop for Writers

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS® · Copyright © 2023 · WEBSITE DESIGN BY LAUGH EAT LEARN

Cookies are delicious and ours help make your experience here better. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with our cookie use. Cookie settingsGOT IT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. More on our Privacy Policy here.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
 

Loading Comments...