FifthView
Vala
Legendary Sidekick's recent thread introduced the McGoo method of planning characters, and it prompted me to reexamine what I've felt to be my weakness in planning new long-form stories. It's a roadblock I seem to hit nearly every time I have a new story idea, and I wanted to post my most recent thoughts here for some feedback that might help me find a way of overcoming future roadblocks.
The "G" in McGoo is Goal. I do wonder if goal and motivation should often be considered separately, and that's fine, but for the purpose of this thread I'm mostly interested in how others go about determining a primary motivation, a primary goal for a character before beginning a story. I've emphasized "primary" and "beginning" because this is the area that so often trips me up when I'm developing a main character for a new story.
I do believe that long form fantasy fiction (novels) will usually introduce a large number of secondary, tertiary, etc., motivations and goals for main characters. Each chapter might include its own motivation and goal, or multiple motivations and goals. Each scene might have a narrow motivation and goal as characters navigate their world and take baby steps toward achieving an overall goal. These lesser motivations and goals are a strong point for me, something I find relatively easy to imagine and plan. But determining an initial, primary motivation and goal—that I care about—is a lot harder for me to do.
While thinking about this over the last however many hours, I've been considering different examples, trying to categorize or at least isolate different approaches toward creating "G" for characters—remember, that initial "G" (heh), that is determined in the planning stages. (How that "G" is revealed in the novel seems to be significant also.) There will be some overlap in these.
The Kill Bill Method — This is a revenge tale. Revenge is The Bride's primary motivation/goal, and this goal is made explicit very early in the first movie and carries throughout the movie. Every step The Bride takes is in service to this goal. I think this is the simplest approach when planning a novel, and also that it can be a very good motivator for the writer. It can create strong enthusiasm for the writer and the reader, if for no other reason than that it is clear, well-defined. Revenge is not the only sort of goal in this category. It can be almost anything, but the point is this: "G" is determined early by the writer and it shapes the MC's actions from the very beginning. It could be a major heist, finding love and/or a suitable spouse, overthrowing a ruling class, escaping enslavement....the list goes on.
The Dune Method — What's Paul's initial motivation and goal? Eventually, he is motivated by revenge and ambition. But the goals of killing/destroying the Harkonnens and the Emperor and taking over Arrakis and the Empire don't come until much later in the book, prompted to a large degree by Baron Harkonnen's invasion and murder of his father. To some extent, these later goals are like the goal of revenge in Kill Bill. But in planning what to write in the first many chapters, in planning the character from the beginning, I don't think we can call those goals the primary motivator/goal.
Rather, I think Paul's primary goal at the beginning, and even later throughout the book, is this: To come to some understanding of his changing circumstances (including himself) and to find a "home" or a solid, secure role for himself amidst the changing circumstances.
From the beginning, we learn that he has some strong power although he himself doesn't fully understand it. This is that scene in which the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother tests him; even if he understands something of the Bene Gesserit powers, he is an outlier because he is male. Later, his arrival on Arrakis further opens his eyes to this mystery about himself as his body becomes saturated with the spice. He begins to have visions, etc.
From the beginning, he and his family are already preparing for their move to Arrakis, and this is a major change for them. He doesn't know what to expect. We might say that an early motivation/goal is the survival of his family, of himself; but this is implicit, I think, in his goal of coming to understanding his changing circumstances and finding/creating a secure role for himself.
I would also say that revenge against his enemies later in the book is merely an "answer" to his initial primary goal. His role. Leading the Fremen is another answer. Becoming Muad'dib (or the Mahdi) is another answer.
Incidentally, Harry Potter falls into this category also. Eventually, defeating Voldemort and the Death Eaters becomes a goal, but it's not the initial motivator/goal. We're several books into the series before that becomes a goal. No, he wants to come to an understanding of himself (He's a wizard!) and to find his True Place in his changing circumstances.
I'd like to say that, like the Kill Bill method, there are multiple goals that would fit within this category....but I'm not sure there are many? The primary difference seems to be this: The motivator/goal is implicit rather than explicit from the beginning (to the degree that even readers might not fully see it for quite some time, although they'll probably have a strong sense of it) and it's relatively amorphous—psychological, emotional.
The Come What May Method — Ok, I don't mean to reference any specific book or movie by that name. The methods above seem obvious to me, they jump out at me, and I'm including this category as a sort of catch-all for anything that doesn't fit the first two categories. But, I do see a sort of definition to this. Basically, in Come What May MCs have no initial overriding goal but merely meet circumstances as they come. They may have intrinsic motivators that are personality-based, general goals; but while these may influence the story, the story doesn't exist to satisfy those goals. Satisfaction of those goals may be incidental. I think these types of stories may be episodic in nature or else serialized stories in which a new "goal" is determined by some new inciting incident for each new story involving those characters.
Incidentally....
a) I'm not sure if a great many stories might actually fall into that last category, in which some inciting incident fairly early in the story becomes the primary goal for the rest of the story. Is that a new category of its own? Or does it fall into Come What May? This may be a frivolous consideration on my part, but when I set about to brainstorm a story, it's major for me. Do I first determine an overriding goal/motivator for a character, or can I just create a character I like in general and then throw interesting incitements at him?
b) Actually, in the cases of Kill Bill and Dune, we might be able to say that the inciting incident happens before the movie/book begins. The Bride's fiance and (as far as she knows) unborn child are murdered before the movie begins. Paul Atreides' family was ordered to relocate to Arrakis before the beginning of the book. Again, though, this influences pre-determination of an overarching goal that will be in effect from the very beginning of the story.
In sum, and to bring this topic back to my own initial goal:
I have a difficult time settling on a Kill Bill or Dune determination of initial, overarching goal for a main character. I can imagine such motivations for any character. But in the Kill Bill approach my tendency is not to care very much about the goal (revenge? revolution?), which saps my motivation. In the Dune method, which is my normal tendency, the motivation seems so amorphous, I have a difficult time visualizing it, planning out a story around it.
The "G" in McGoo is Goal. I do wonder if goal and motivation should often be considered separately, and that's fine, but for the purpose of this thread I'm mostly interested in how others go about determining a primary motivation, a primary goal for a character before beginning a story. I've emphasized "primary" and "beginning" because this is the area that so often trips me up when I'm developing a main character for a new story.
I do believe that long form fantasy fiction (novels) will usually introduce a large number of secondary, tertiary, etc., motivations and goals for main characters. Each chapter might include its own motivation and goal, or multiple motivations and goals. Each scene might have a narrow motivation and goal as characters navigate their world and take baby steps toward achieving an overall goal. These lesser motivations and goals are a strong point for me, something I find relatively easy to imagine and plan. But determining an initial, primary motivation and goal—that I care about—is a lot harder for me to do.
While thinking about this over the last however many hours, I've been considering different examples, trying to categorize or at least isolate different approaches toward creating "G" for characters—remember, that initial "G" (heh), that is determined in the planning stages. (How that "G" is revealed in the novel seems to be significant also.) There will be some overlap in these.
The Kill Bill Method — This is a revenge tale. Revenge is The Bride's primary motivation/goal, and this goal is made explicit very early in the first movie and carries throughout the movie. Every step The Bride takes is in service to this goal. I think this is the simplest approach when planning a novel, and also that it can be a very good motivator for the writer. It can create strong enthusiasm for the writer and the reader, if for no other reason than that it is clear, well-defined. Revenge is not the only sort of goal in this category. It can be almost anything, but the point is this: "G" is determined early by the writer and it shapes the MC's actions from the very beginning. It could be a major heist, finding love and/or a suitable spouse, overthrowing a ruling class, escaping enslavement....the list goes on.
The Dune Method — What's Paul's initial motivation and goal? Eventually, he is motivated by revenge and ambition. But the goals of killing/destroying the Harkonnens and the Emperor and taking over Arrakis and the Empire don't come until much later in the book, prompted to a large degree by Baron Harkonnen's invasion and murder of his father. To some extent, these later goals are like the goal of revenge in Kill Bill. But in planning what to write in the first many chapters, in planning the character from the beginning, I don't think we can call those goals the primary motivator/goal.
Rather, I think Paul's primary goal at the beginning, and even later throughout the book, is this: To come to some understanding of his changing circumstances (including himself) and to find a "home" or a solid, secure role for himself amidst the changing circumstances.
From the beginning, we learn that he has some strong power although he himself doesn't fully understand it. This is that scene in which the Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother tests him; even if he understands something of the Bene Gesserit powers, he is an outlier because he is male. Later, his arrival on Arrakis further opens his eyes to this mystery about himself as his body becomes saturated with the spice. He begins to have visions, etc.
From the beginning, he and his family are already preparing for their move to Arrakis, and this is a major change for them. He doesn't know what to expect. We might say that an early motivation/goal is the survival of his family, of himself; but this is implicit, I think, in his goal of coming to understanding his changing circumstances and finding/creating a secure role for himself.
I would also say that revenge against his enemies later in the book is merely an "answer" to his initial primary goal. His role. Leading the Fremen is another answer. Becoming Muad'dib (or the Mahdi) is another answer.
Incidentally, Harry Potter falls into this category also. Eventually, defeating Voldemort and the Death Eaters becomes a goal, but it's not the initial motivator/goal. We're several books into the series before that becomes a goal. No, he wants to come to an understanding of himself (He's a wizard!) and to find his True Place in his changing circumstances.
I'd like to say that, like the Kill Bill method, there are multiple goals that would fit within this category....but I'm not sure there are many? The primary difference seems to be this: The motivator/goal is implicit rather than explicit from the beginning (to the degree that even readers might not fully see it for quite some time, although they'll probably have a strong sense of it) and it's relatively amorphous—psychological, emotional.
The Come What May Method — Ok, I don't mean to reference any specific book or movie by that name. The methods above seem obvious to me, they jump out at me, and I'm including this category as a sort of catch-all for anything that doesn't fit the first two categories. But, I do see a sort of definition to this. Basically, in Come What May MCs have no initial overriding goal but merely meet circumstances as they come. They may have intrinsic motivators that are personality-based, general goals; but while these may influence the story, the story doesn't exist to satisfy those goals. Satisfaction of those goals may be incidental. I think these types of stories may be episodic in nature or else serialized stories in which a new "goal" is determined by some new inciting incident for each new story involving those characters.
Incidentally....
a) I'm not sure if a great many stories might actually fall into that last category, in which some inciting incident fairly early in the story becomes the primary goal for the rest of the story. Is that a new category of its own? Or does it fall into Come What May? This may be a frivolous consideration on my part, but when I set about to brainstorm a story, it's major for me. Do I first determine an overriding goal/motivator for a character, or can I just create a character I like in general and then throw interesting incitements at him?
b) Actually, in the cases of Kill Bill and Dune, we might be able to say that the inciting incident happens before the movie/book begins. The Bride's fiance and (as far as she knows) unborn child are murdered before the movie begins. Paul Atreides' family was ordered to relocate to Arrakis before the beginning of the book. Again, though, this influences pre-determination of an overarching goal that will be in effect from the very beginning of the story.
In sum, and to bring this topic back to my own initial goal:
I have a difficult time settling on a Kill Bill or Dune determination of initial, overarching goal for a main character. I can imagine such motivations for any character. But in the Kill Bill approach my tendency is not to care very much about the goal (revenge? revolution?), which saps my motivation. In the Dune method, which is my normal tendency, the motivation seems so amorphous, I have a difficult time visualizing it, planning out a story around it.
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Inkling
Sage
