NOVEMBER, 2019
MOTIVATION IS KEY—WHAT THAT IS AND WHAT IT ISN’T
By: Alice Orr
Create a hero your
reader will buy into
and not want to
throw away afterward.
(FYI, I refer to both
male and female pro-
tagonists as Heroes.)
To come up with
such a hero, first, think about what your
reader‟s character preferences might be.
The majority of readers are most
readily drawn to can-do/will-do charac-
ters. This is especially true for readers of
popular fiction and/or genre fiction. We,
as human beings, identify with a bold,
active response to the kind of trouble
and conflict your main character must be
in to make your story dramatic and com-
pelling.
A bold character makes herself vul-
nerable. She exposes herself to scary pos-
sibilities. That‟s what decisiveness in a
dramatic, compelling story situation re-
quires. Nonetheless, she is merely hu-
man. She possesses
no super powers
(except in fantasy
scenarios). Which
makes us care about
her, because she is like us rather than
vastly superior to us.
Still, we believe she can perform
boldly and actively in her challenging
story world. We believe, because the au-
thor clarifies her character‟s reasons for
behaving as she does. The author reveals
the specific forces that drive an otherwise
basically ordinary person into and
through extraordinary circumstances.
Consequently, we understand this charac-
ter‟s motivations.
However, some motivations lack the
power to drive your hero through an en-
tire novel. Case in point. A single inci-
dent makes him angry. He takes off hell-
bent for satisfaction, whatever the cost or
danger may be to himself, and to others.
Unless the incident is catastrophic, like
murder or mayhem, we, as readers, don‟t
accept this behavior. Your hero has failed
to be heroic.
Why would an author make such a
huge storytelling mistake? To answer
that, we must examine his own motiva-
tion. Too often, he‟s guilty of a failure of
imagination. He needed an incitement to
thrust his character into action, and
grabbed the first idea that came along,
always a poor storytelling choice. Deeper
thinking would have produced more sub-
stantive results.
Another inadequate long-term moti-
vator is curiosity. Something horrendous
happens, and the main character re-
sponds with what is presented as idle
curiosity. We‟re not taken deep enough
into her mind to discover possible, more
appropriate intentions there. We dislike
her for that, which weakens her as a pro-
tagonist with reader appeal.
Again, the author has neglected her
duty to make us identify with her charac-
ter. She could have been personalized in
some way, maybe by a heartfelt connec-
tion to the individuals affected by the
horrendous happening. Instead, she re-
mains at too objective a distance, and
most of us are inclined to distance our-
selves from this character, and her crea-
tor as well.
Give your hero a high-minded, self-
less reason for doing what she does, or
doesn‟t do. A good storytelling choice
because, the nobler the motive, the more
significant her struggle becomes. Her
behavior gives her substance in the world
of your story, and in the world at large.
Meanwhile, her struggle intensifies the
tale, especially if it is a moral struggle.
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