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Different motives?

Scurron

Acolyte
Rather than all characters agreeing on a common principle or worldview, I find the works where the characters have completely different reasons for why they do something they do to be the most interesting, especially if they work for the same team. For example, I have a story where there are four main characters fighting for the same cause: one is fighting because she wants to show everyone that she indeed can do it and because she thinks it's her fate of sorts, the other is fighting because he's been let down by life and he really has nothing better to do, the third does it predominately for the richness and the fame, and because he thinks that being able to play a part in history would be "kind of awesome", and the last one isn't really sure if this is what she wants but she's not really able to leave the previous characters' side as she feels she would be lost without him.

So, I wanna know what your characters' motives are. Why do they do something they do?
 
I suppose this is as good a place as any to plug Blood Price*.

Price, a teenage wannabe superhero, has anarchist leanings and hates people who try to control other people. She thinks of the evil spirit she's fighting as, essentially, the world's biggest playground bully, and views the battle against it as liberating in nature. However, she finds Melody's similar determination to protect people inspiring and even attractive, despite its different source, and this confuses her.

Melody, a magical girl, dreams of an ordered world with no greed and no cruelty. She hunts evil spirits because they prey on people's negative emotions, and she would love to destroy all such spirits and completely eliminate negative emotions from the world. However, Wolf manages to be heroic despite having abilities that are powered by rage and hatred, and this intrigues and excites Melody.

Wolf, a shapeshifter, wants to eliminate anything that's unnatural. His main reason for wanting to kill the spirit is because it's trying to kill him--he'd otherwise be satisfied wrecking factories and destroying technology. He sees Price as a fellow free spirit, but is mystified that she can use gadgets and gizmos to fight for a chaotic cause.

I don't mention it in the story itself, but this difference in natures is one of the reasons the spirit herded them together. Because they're so different in nature, it should be easier to trick them into killing each other, which would empower the spirit further. Price is the only one smart enough to recognize that if they can't all be right, maybe they can all be wrong, and maybe there's something to fight for that's more important than any one of their causes.

* Formerly known as Extraordinary, formerly known as Kids These Days, and I think it had another title before that. The new one's an editorial mandate.
 

DavidJae

Troubadour
I'm writing a story about a Martial Artist who enters brutal cage fights after a friend of his is injured in one of the fights and left in a coma. He is fighting to stop the matches and get revenge against the man who hurt his friend, as well as stopping anyone else from getting hurt. He has to deal with the knowledge that, by stopping the fights, he will prevent others from winning money that they need.
 
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