Story Plan Checklist: Your Character's Goals

[ladyseishou]

Passion, it lies in all of us, sleeping... waiting... and though unwanted... unbidden... it will stir... open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us... guides us... passion rules us all, and we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion maybe we'd know some kind of peace... but we would be hollow... Empty rooms shuttered and dank. Without passion we'd be truly dead.

- Joss Whedon



What's your character's heart's passion?

Goals, writes Karen Wiesner, "are what the character wants, needs or desires above all else... [and] urgent enough for the character to go through hardship and self-sacrifice."

Multiple character needs can and are often at odds with one another - for example, a character that wants to break the news story that will make his career as a reporter and at the same time he understands that revelation of the facts will endanger his true love. The difficult decisions that he must make creates tension and conflict that drives the story and reader's interest. In my story, the main protagonist needs to demonstrate that he needs no one but to prove his innocence, he will require the aid of a man that has every reason to refuse his request...

So Nano Writer, what are your character's goals? What needs or desire are in conflict?

Comments

[elleth]

Plain and simple for most of them, survival. Of course the different characters have different wishes and passions, but the ultimate goal is survival - with exception of Nada, who keeps on hanging on for no apparent reason, and Max, who is being turned into more of a leader figure the further the story progresses, and wants that cup to pass him by rather desperately, but then his survival is never in question.

[twistingthetale]

Survival is the main thing for my characters as well, in addition to Kate getting her memory back. But there's more conflict for Alexander who wants to survive, keep his nature secret, and help and protect Kate at the same time. The second and third parts won't be easy for him to juggle, as attaining one will be at the risk of losing the other - he's going to go through the wringer :(

[angryoldhag]

Bee is fascinated by the new world she encounters. Even though just about everything clashes with her own believes she still found more of a family there (a brother in Jahnee, a crazy uncle in Myah and a little sister in Calypso) than she had back home. She wants to keep that and see what else this world has to offer. Jahnee simply wants to make a living with his violin whereas Myah wants to find proof that there really is a Great Big Noodle Monster in the sky. Monty, on the other hand, wants to establish himself as a vapable ruler by removing what he sees as a threat to the stability of his country and world, in other words: he wants to send Bee home no matter what.

[lea_hazel]

A home, a community, a steady revenue stream. Shockingly mundane, really. The main theme for all three characters is to build a place where they can feel comfortable and safe.

[dragonscrawl]

Samuel's the most goal-oriented of my characters for this story, but I suspect it's largely because of the situation he's in. Having been given a task by the king of Linnondale as a result of his father offering him up as a sacrificial lamb, Samuel really just wants to get through this task without a lot of trouble. He'd have an easier time of it if he a) wasn't going to Cyprenon via airship and b) had any experience at all traveling aboard an airship as a full fledged member of its crew. Being captain as he is, Samuel's also trying to learn what he can about the role he has to play as fast as he can, lest he get himself and his crew in trouble.

Kit, on the other hand, is driven by her passion. Only her passion is for things mechanical, which is how she so thoroughly broke with the ideal for her social status. But it is her passion for mechanical things that got her onboard the Infinity in the first place, as her knowledge of airship engines is remarkable for someone only in her mid-teens.

George...George is doing the job he's been hired for. Alas, but strong motivations he's not got for this story.

Eloise and Tamid, neither of whom I've talked about before but are part of the main cast, do have some motivations toward keeping their pasts secret, but this doesn't really come into play during this story.

[brutal]

Well for one, the passion is freedom, the other is acceptance, however, eventually these passions are overwhelmed by the instinct to survive and protect eachother.