CHARACTER’S MOTIVES

By: Mrs. Henning

D O Y O U U N D E R S TA N D W H Y C H A R A C T E R S D O T H E T H I N G S T H E Y D O ?

To understand the motivations of your characters, you need to interrogate them. Strap them to a chair, shine a bright light in their eyes, and make them talk. Here are a few questions to get you started:

• Why did you do that?• Did you have something happen to you as a

child?• In high school?• In college?• Did someone hurt you?• Did you hurt someone else?• Were you spoiled by your parents?• Did you have parents?

Once you’re finished with your interrogation, you need to show the reader what you learned. Here, the best practice to show rather than tell. You might summarize what you’ve learned, but it’s better to describe the scene.

First, though, let’s just get into our characters’ heads.

What did the character do?What did they say?Why did they say/do something?What does this tell you about the character?

Character Motivations:

Brainstorm a list of all the factors that motivate human behaviour. Here are some to get you started:• Religious beliefs (or lack thereof): Christianity,

Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Atheism, etc., all have the power to affect how people see the world

• Relationships: family; friends; love; hate; betrayal• Fear: the unknown; the past repeating itself• Obligation: knowing you should do something whether

you want to or not; fear of looking bad to others• Needs and wants: money; basic needs; greed; dreams• Cultural influences: society; expectations• Revenge: past wrongs; hurt; anger• Past experiences: childhood; frightening situations;

defining moments

People You Know:

Make a list of 5 people you know really well. Beside each, make notes about how they (a) react to stress, (b) experience happiness, (c) treat other people.

After that, list what motivates each of these behaviours. Try to be as factual as possible, drawing from things you know; for things you’re unsure of, use common sense to hypothesize.

A person might make it their goal to treat others with respect because of religious beliefs, or maybe because they were disrespected in the past. Someone might react poorly to stressful situations because they have a deep-seated fear of failure, stemming from a past experience.

Characters from Literature:

List 5 characters from literature and what motivated their actions throughout their respective stories.

Take, for example, Shakespeare’s Hamlet. His murderous thoughts are motivated by revenge (because his uncle secretly killed his father), along with anger, sadness and confusion (because his mother married his uncle so soon after his father’s death).

Add to this a host of other factors, and you have a well-developed character you can understand.