Motivation Thesaurus: Helping a Loved One Who’s Hurting Themselves

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): 
Helping A Loved One Who’s Hurting Themselves

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 child regarding bad influences in their life and pointing out the legal repercussions if they continue 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: 

• Observing and gathering evidence to support their argument
• Making notes about problematic instances that can be brought up when needed
• Researching options for therapy and aid
• Actively developing 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 the character must leave often to deal with situations…

Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved: 

• The other person resisting help
• An environment that is toxic and rife with abuse
• The loved one losing all hope
• A crisis with someone else that must be attended to, meaning the loved one’s needs will temporarily go unmet…

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:

• The character developing an addiction to cope with the pain they’re unable to alleviate for their loved one
• Strained relationships with others who don’t understand the character’s dedication to helping this individual…

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!