This week, we welcome Kathryn back to her seat at the Round Table, and thanks again to Matt Herron and Emma Darwin for keeping the seat warm!

We’re talking character motivation. It’s crucial to every element of your story and you’ll do yourself a favor by having a handle on it in the prewriting stages. We talk about the protagonist, the reader, and you, the writer. Also, how motivation relates to flaws and conflicts, and how a series differs from a standalone.

VIDEO

AUDIO

SHOW NOTES

How do we address character motivation? Do we struggle with it? When do we work it into our stories? How can you get to know your character better in order to develop that motivation? What are the three layers of motivation? And how do you plan for your characters motivation over a series? What happens when your character has competing motivations?

What we talked about:

Do we have problems with character motivation? When do we address character motivation? (0:53)

Is your characters motivation organic? (5:20)

Get to know your character in order to find their motivation. (7:40)

How do you plan for motivation over a series? (10:25)

The three layers of character motivation. (11:40)

What about if you “healed” your character in book one? (15:40)

What about competing motivations? (19:47)

LINKS

Things we mentioned:

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Bosch 

Want more about these topics? Check out:

SWRT 021 Distinct Characters
SWRT 023 3D Villains
SWRT 028 Emotional Wounds Thesaurus
SWRT 029 Emotional Wounds & Character Arcs
SWRT 040 Character Relationships
SWRT 047 Unlikeable Characters
SWRT 058 Narrative Drive

Have thoughts, questions, other examples? Join the conversation at the Story Works Writers Facebook group.