Think of your favorite character from a book (or movie or TV show). List out the reasons why you like them so much–or why you find them compelling, even if they aren’t very likable. Sure, it probably has something to do with finding them relatable or funny or clever or having a tragic backstory. But none of these things on their own make a character truly stand out.
Instead, what will make a character feel real, feel like an actual person that will stick in your reader’s mind long after the book is over, is the sense of depth that comes with a compelling motivation.
Now, what exactly do I mean by compelling motivation? There are three key components to a character’s motivation that makes them feel real and believable.
It must be consequential. The thing they are going after must have high enough stakes to make the reader care about it too. This doesn’t mean that every story has to be “save the world from evil” level stakes. Instead, it means you as a writer have to set up the beginning of the story in such a way that we care about whatever it is the character cares about.
It must be intertwined with the plot. If the choices the character is making and the reason why they’re making them have no effect on the plot, or the choices themselves aren’t affected by the plot in a loop of cause and effect, the entire story will fall flat. The more tightly connected the plot is to your character’s internal motivation, the more compelling the story will be.
It must be authentic. Your character’s motivation needs to have some sort of internal logic, even if it is ultimately faulty. Lots of what we believe and what motivates us is based on some internal lie that we learned somewhere along the way! In real life, that’s what therapy is for. In books, that what character development is for! But even if the motivation is based on a false belief, it still needs to be believable (true to your story world) and consistent with who they are as a character.
Okay so…how do you do all that?
There’s actually a very simple trick to ensure your character’s motivation has all three parts. And it’s another rule of three: Ask “why?” three times.
Here’s what I mean: At the start of the story, what does your character want? Why do they want it? Okay, why do they want that? And why do they want that?
It’s a little confusing in the abstract, so let’s look at some real story examples.
Take The Hunger Games. Katniss’s main goal in the story is to win the Hunger Games.
Why? So she can live!
Why does she want to live? Because she needs to take care of her little sister Prim, and their mother.
Why is that so important to her? Because her father died unexpectedly, sending her mother into a depression and forcing a young Katniss to be the primary caretaker of her family. If she dies in the Games, her sister and mother will struggle to survive.
Let’s break all that down. The first “why” is usually pretty surface-level, focused on the plot. Why does your character want the main goal of the story? Probably because of something you set up in the plot. Great! That’s the start of making sure the character’s motivation is tied into the plot. Katniss wants to win the Games so that she stays alive. A compelling plot reason! It may seem like an obvious first answer, but what really matters is that it can go into the next two levels.
Then we ask why again, and get into some meatier reasons. Why does Katniss want to live? Because she’s the sole provider for her sister and mother, and she needs to get back to take care of them. This is also an external motivator, but it’s high stakes and authentic. Of course it makes sense that she would want to take care of her younger sister, especially since we see early on in the story how much she cares for Prim (even before volunteering as tribute).
This motivation already has the three necessary components, but asking “why” a third time truly solidifies it and transforms the characters, and story, into something unforgettable. Why does Katniss care so much about providing for her family, especially her sister? Because her father died tragically in a mining explosion, which sent her mother into a spiral of grief that she hasn’t been able to climb out of. Katniss at a young age was forced to become the primary caretaker and adult of the family. Not only does this raise the stakes of Katniss needing to make it home, but it also gives us insight into why Katniss became who she is.
This third level of why moves from plot reasons to the character’s background, to what has shaped their internal compass of motivation. It turns the character from a cardboard cut out solely there to move the plot forward, into a person who has lived a life before anything we see on the page. This is what makes readers care about the character, makes them root for the character. And it is what makes the character relatable, even in a dystopian world none of us have experienced. We may not have had to fight to the death for the whims of a dictator, but we can understand the motivation of wanting to protect and care for those who we love.
So, think about your character and their goal. If you ask “why” three times, are you able to get three levels deep? And do those levels show that the plot of the book is connected with the internal journey of the character? If not, it might be time to do some brainstorming!
