Greetings all,
As an instructor, I find myself sometimes watching interactions between students and/or instructors. I think people should always work to assume the best motivation. Like most humans, I fail to do this more often than I’d like to admit, but it also brings to mind something authors must do.
If you want a character to be compelling, you have to make that character’s motivation clear. This is exponentially more important when the character is very different than the reader. The more a reader can relate to a character, the more forgiveness a reader might have. I think some people might debate this, but I stand by the comment.
Establishing believability and connecting to readers is critical. I’ve read plenty of books that weren’t exactly wonderful, but I could stick with it because I was invested in the character. I’ve read books that were honestly well crafted, but I couldn’t stand them because the characters weren’t interesting at all.
For me, that all starts with a clear idea on what that character wants.
Now how does one demonstrate that? We’re supposed to show and not tell. Sure, it might work for Naruto to keep saying, “I’m going to be the greatest Hokage one day!” But while that was a dream, and there were times that motivation helped, his real motivation was bonds. The role of Hokage was a means to an end. So say it as he might, watch how Naruto reacts when someone is treated unfairly or disrespected. Watch how he reacts to any threat to those he loves.
So the technique I’m going to share with you today is establishing motivation by conflict or complication. Try taking something tat is desirable to the normal person, then set it as an obstacle to your character’s main goal. Maybe your character wants to be a millionaire. He wants the associate position and the paycheck that comes with it. One might establish the conflict as that of his wife and family who miss him. It’d be a horrid sinful thing to do, but if that guy were to divorce his wife to keep the job, you’d know his priorities in an instant. Yes, you’d hate him, but you’d understand him better and form expectations for him.
On a happier note, take that same situation, only this time, the guy walks into his office to learn he’s earned the big promotion. They’ll need extra time from him. They have plans to send him to an exotic country with a massive expense account to bring in new clients. The sky’s the limit. One day, he might make full partner. In that moment, all he can think about is how much he’ll miss his wife. He turns to promotion down, even getting fired because he won’t back down. Again, you see his priorities clearly.
So the trick is to take the character’s main goal and set it against another goal most average people would value. We do this in life. I talk about it all the time. People tell me they want to be a writer, but they can’t find the time. I can appreciate the ambition, but there’s probably something else they’re doing. It’s more important than writing if they won’t set it aside to get writing done. Again, I’m not advocating cruelty to loved ones, but maybe not so many video games. Maybe give up a single hour of sleep a night.
When you see a person sacrificing for what they love, you see the love.
Try this out with your characters and see how it affects your story.
Thanks for reading,
Matt
I love 
What I thought I could add or build from this wonderful tool was how to use it when writing a book. I don’t see this as a character development tool myself. Rather, I try to anticipate how readers will see the character. I’m editing 
Case study: Naruto is a moron. He’s a goof, who’s just winging it. He can’t do a single normal jutsu and really only has the one major trick. But look at how hard he works! Look at how much he cares about his comrades? Look at how he struggles to maintain his bonds. In fact, each time he wins, it’s usually DESPITE his competence. Still, if he NEVER learned anything, he’d eventually get boring. So at certain points, he becomes ever so much less stupid. This is how we see his progression as a character. Don’t mistake progression as moving forward.
Now that I’ve done a few case studies, let’s turn that microscope on myself. While writing Bob, I was very concerned about the first act because the conflict is subtle. Most reviews regard the first act as the best, which makes me feel good I didn’t cut it from the book. In the first act, Bob is sympathetic and proactive. His proactivity is what causes the conflict. Police notice him, and now he has to evade them. He’s not very competent. He doesn’t know anything about his job. He doesn’t know how to avoid police. He’s not even very good at covering his tracks. This leads to the climax of part one.
In Part 3, I make Bob more competent. I do this by showing him learn. I had to bring in the “mentor” archetype. I had to give Bob a few wins. This made it so when he got to the final conflict, he looked like he stood a chance.
That leads me to my last point. The Mary Sue character. Corey would be awesome and tell you where that term came from, I just learned it an moved on. (The difference between a gardner and an architect if I’ve ever seen one). A Mary Sue is a character that is the most compelling, most powerful, most proactive, most competent character ever. Dear God, do I hate those characters. I argue that if a character is too powerful and too competent, the sympathy bar naturally slides down for me. It’s a risk writers take. But here’s my twist:
M.L.S. Weech 