Character goals - a Foundational post

Internal/external & conscious/unconscious

Photo by Laya Clode on Unsplash

“What’s the character’s goal?”

“What’s the motivation?”

“Everybody wants SOMEthing!”

These lines speak to plotting and ‘what is the story about?’ as much as they do to ‘character.’ They can weave story-threads together.

‘Goals’ can be broken down to conscious/concrete goals, and unconscious/sub-conscious goals—or ‘external’ and ‘internal.’ Those subconscious/internal things can be hidden—as you might expect.

To work with our characters is to explore human layers—and some shadowy stuff. Some seemingly surprising stuff, too; consider those who seem frustrated or ‘negative’—(how quickly that word gets thrown around)—or ‘bitter;’ yet bitterness can belie a core of one who has held to hope. The most overt manifestation of a way of being has often a core of inversion; those who appear to have faith, can have a core of doubt. (Is faith even possible without doubt?)

I don’t want this to be reductive; that statement, “Up the stakes!” always smacks of formulaic writing. It can be easier to create Huge Issues for your characters and watch them Battle Through, than to show a subtle moment, and the change that comes of that.

And talking about ‘internal’ goals may seem to connect more readily with ‘subtle,’ but not necessarily.

To talk about ‘goals’ is seen as writing basics, and it’s too easy to go to “water finds the easiest path.”

Let’s wander a bit. Deliberately.

External/conscious

We’ll start with external/conscious goals, which is in some ways the more straightforward to consider (though the possibilities of just what this goal might be are endless). The external goal is often tangible or concrete. It might even be an object (often, in the case of children’s stories in particular), or it might be a job or a school program, a position, an experience. There are as many possibilities as there are stories. The external goal will be particular to this character in this story.