Please, do not underestimate the necessity for your characters to have some motivation. If they are not motivated, they won’t move. They will go about their lives as they have always done. In that case, you have no story. You might consider this concept pretty obvious, and in some cases, it is. However, there are different aspects of motivation that might not be quite so obvious.
Working on my outline for my second book in my Holder series, (hoping that I could get a third) I had a new character I was introducing. I knew how I wanted them to be introduced. The problem was, when I tried to outline this scene, it seemed a little choppy and vague. It dawned on me; something I remembered distinctly from the 90s when I grew up watching the then current Spider-man Animated Series. In the series, there was a character (some of you might remember her) by the name of Madam Web. She would come in at strategic moments and give Spider-man sage, if cryptic, advice. One such incident came when Spider-man was getting thrashed (more than once), by a new villain created by the Kingpin from the old villain Smythe. Spider-man kept trying to figure out how he kept getting beaten, so he could figure out how to stop getting beaten. Good idea, right? Yet, Madam Web insisted on repeating to him, “It’s not the how that matters; it is the why.”
Now, Spider-man didn’t think this made any sense. Later, however, he discovered that there was more to this villain’s attacks than it first appeared. This antagonist was trying to kill Spider-man because he had been told, falsely, by the Kingpin that Spider-man had killed his father. It was a matter of misguided revenge. When Spider-man found this out, he also found out that the man’s/mutant’s father had only been placed into cryogenic sleep, by the Kingpin, of all people. Simply show the misguided avenger of blood that his father is still alive and… problem solved. There is no need to concentrate on the ‘how.’
Back to my story… I already had my ‘why’ for this new character, in that place, in that time to meet my main group. The ‘why’ I did not have was why my new character reacted the way they reacted to my main protagonists.
Remember how I wrote on having to have some background for your characters? See my post “What a Character.” They don’t exist in a vacuum. They don’t just appear ready-made.
Now, I can’t give too much detail because this would be a bit of a spoiler. However, I can say that this new character comes from an area where there are hidden Holders and the King’s soldiers had been sent in to destroy the Holders that had been hiding here. This is motivation for a few different elements and manages to build an aspect I was uncertain on how to handle later on in the story. I’m still deciding if it is going to be in book two or if it will be part of a third book, assuming that the story lasts that long.
I believe I have said something of the like before in one of my previous posts, but this is a good alternative discussion for it. The ‘why’ is important because the motivation of one character will change the way they act. Different motivations will cause different reactions in different people. Therefore, you have multiple possibilities.
These motivations don’t only depend upon what role your character plays in your story, it also depends on their personality, and vice versus. A gentle spirit will react to some trauma differently than a character that was already aggressive.
If this character is a main protagonist, they are often in a position to affect more people. However, don’t neglect the consideration of one of the supporting character being the inciting force. If a supporting character decides to act upon some misconception or some trauma, it can cause your protagonist untold amounts of trouble, even if your supporting character had no intention of doing so. This is because no one, affects no one. There is always somebody who is impacted by another person’s decision.
Assume that, in a story, a loved one is killed or kidnapped. We have one character who is more assertive and this causes them to turn a little dark or, possibly, a lot dark. They will do whatever it takes to get revenge or rescue their loved one. In their vendetta, they go off in their own direction, but they were needed where they were to help the main character get to where they needed to be or to protect the main character.
There is now a gap in the story. This could be good or bad depending on how it is viewed by the author. They could have made the hole on purpose to provide a plot twist or give the protagonist one more hurdle to get past and build tension. It could be something the author did not foresee and now has to rectify. Even that accident can be helpful because it can provide a plot twist or give the protagonist one more hurdle… etc. However, when you have a certain direction you were planning for your story/novel to go, using a plot twist can change the entire course of your story from that point on. Therefore, unless you are relatively flexible and able to let go of your original plans for the characters’ paths and story ending, it is helpful and in some cases, necessary for you to look at the motivation, the why, behind every character. This can be a simple one sentence explanation; “Why do they behave this way?”
As I suggested earlier in this post, if you investigate the ‘why’s’ it can open up scenarios you didn’t even consider the first time, that now burst on your mind like a V8 moment, and your character’s will be standing there looking at you with sour expressions, their hands on their hips wondering why you didn’t simply do that in the first place.
So, save yourself some headache. Save yourself some editing. Certainly, save yourself some rewriting. While you are outlining, consider the ‘whys’ of your characters. Include it in your outline so that you can keep track of it because you can’t be expected to remember everything from your stories at every moment. We don’t have to make it harder on ourselves. So, while you are preplanning and getting the hard work out of the way, remember, enjoy the wonder.
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