I Learned Something Today

Today’s lesson in Build a Better Story by Hank Quense was on Motivation.

1. He pointed out that many authors, especially new ones, have problems with character reactions within scenes. For example, Sue, a minor character the reader has not met before walks up to our protagonist, Joe.

“Hi, Joe,” said Sue.
Joe looks up at Sue and yells, “Get the hell out of here.”
Sue turns and runs off.

From this scene we have no idea why Joe is acting the way he is. As writers, we must make the motivation explicit.

As readers, we would understand why a character would duck when bullets are fired but if the character runs into the line of fire the writer must show why.

2. A character’s motive must fit the character’s persona. For instance, a quiet, whimpy character can’t all of a sudden jump in front of a moving car to save someone. As writers, we must build to the change.

3. A character’s outlook on life must remain consistent. A pessimistic character can’t be all chipper and happy out of the blue.

4. The antagonist’s motivation must be as strong as the protagonist’s to make a good story.

5. My favorite hint was on the protagonist’s motives. Hank suggests giving the protagonist conflicting inner and outer motivations. Here’s Hank’s example: Joe has to save Fred who is trapped on a mountain because that is Joe’s job. Once Fred is saved, Fred will marry, Martha, the love of Joe’s life. Joe will lose Martha if he rescues Fred. Joe is now very conflicted.

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I completed everything on my daily writing checklist including adding more to my character sketches from yesterday and I started my general setting sketch. These are part of the First Draft in 30 Days by Karen S. Wiesner.