posted
Reading The Story, by McKee (yes, still. I put it down a few weeks ago and just picked it back up today) and he reminded me yet again that it's important for the author to know what their characters want. Then we can put ourselves into that character's skin, in the situations we've painted, and choose their likely actions based on that character in that situation.
So - the question I have for you today is - what do your characters want? Do they have unconscious desires that are different from the ones they are conscious of or express?
Think of a recent story or two and talk about what they want in general terms (or be specific - whatever works for you.)
=== I have one character who seems not to want anything in particular, other than to escape these evil moon authority robots. I think that is a big reason why I've been dissatisfied with this story.
I have several stories where my MC just wants to fit in, to conform. Usually fitting in comes with some kind of cost - often a cost she (the two stories I'm thinking of both have female protags, though they're 20 years apart in age) thinks she's willing to bear, but in the end she finds it too costly and turns her back on her desire to fit in. Usually this desire is her conscious desire, but her true desire is to love and be loved and she uncovers that unconscious desire in the process of attempting to get her conscious desire of fitting in. By fitting in she alienates those close to her, depriving her of what she really wants. Now that I've explained it like that it seems a little trite, but I think these two stories are much more powerful than my madcap moon adventure.
posted
World domination...they all want world domination...see the conundrum???
My characters all want something. I don't think it out and make notes every step of the way--I try to become the character when I'm writing a PoV, so that they're my hopes, dreams, aspiration and irks for that time being. I'll play around with characters (write stories I never expect to go anywhere with) to get to know them.
posted
I have one character that is perfectly content with his life as it is. Then he is sent on a mission by the powers that be. Along the way he meets up with a woman who completely upends his life plans and what he thought he wanted is no longer what he discovers he needs. Part of the conflict is in him realizing, and coming to terms with this internal change.
It goes along with a joke I've heard: "Q: How do you make God laugh? A: Tell God your plans."
posted
Hm... my characters want all kinds of things. I think the over all trend of my characters is that they want some macro level, life ambition thing. Like they want to conquer the world. Or they want to be the most popular girl. But then they have unconscious desires that I try to make clear to the reader, but the characters are kind of clueless about, and as the story goes along they discover their unconscious desires, which frequently conflict with their conscious desires, and in the end there's a choice of some kind, or they have to find a way to resolve their two desires.
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posted
I'm glad you posted this. I've been having a hard time understanding one of my characters. I know what my main character wants. He wants out of a situation that constantly compromises his values and he wants to be able to respect himself. The other character was a little harder to figure out. At first I thought it was ambition that drove her, but it wasn't. It was a trivial desire. I am thinking that her's is a growing up or maturing story. I see now, she wants saftey, peace and the freedom to express herself. Thanks for posting this. It helped me to better understand one of my characters.
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posted
I don't see anything wrong with having a character who just wants to fit in; plenty of people do, after all. But have other characters with them who don't, and maybe some tension between them. If you're not sure where the character's going, one possible solution is to jkust carry on drafting, and see where they end up. They might surprise you. If it doesn't work, you can always change it later.
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posted
What do my characters want? As was said once in MASH, Sex...except for those baseball perverts...
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posted
Didn't think the joke I repeated would shut this thread down...seems a fruitful source of inquiry: character motivation.
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Consider someone trying to be part of high society where it is usually, WHAT you are is more important than WHO you are. It is by nature, difficult. It has to be. One cannot be comfortable as a normal person is. One must only have visable friends of society. Because of this, a charicter wanting to "fit in" could well find it not worth the effort and then see that all the "bridges" to the old life were burned along the way.
As to what the charicter really wants, I need to examine that in my waxy dragon stories.
posted
My characters are often put in a position where their assumptions about themselves are up ended. They are struggling to find out who they really are, and also where they fit in.
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