No. This article is not about finding the motivation to finally finish that dreamed of novel, although many do consider goal-setting and self-determination as forms of motivation.
“Motivation is a term that refers to a process that elicits, controls, and sustains certain behaviors… According to various theories, motivation may be rooted in a basic need to minimize physical pain and maximize pleasure…” (Wikipedia)
Your characters will react to situations you, the author, put in front of them. Sometimes these reactions will seem irrational, but if you base the reaction on what is motivating the character, they will be real. Imagine something that may have happened in your life, something very sad, something where there was a loss. Now imagine a similar circumstance and a chance to “do it over” – wouldn’t your earlier loss make you act differently?
People react in different ways to trauma (physical or emotional) so even though two people may share history, their reactions may not be similar. Two people survive a house fire, someone they love does not. It is possible that one person is so terrified of fire they will freeze at the very site of it, even a controlled one; the second person may be determined to prevent that loss from happening again so they become a firefighter and saves fire victims.
For every action, there is a reaction. However you decide your character will react to his or her history and experiences is okay so long as you keep it consistent and base your character’s actions on his individual motivations. Try throwing your characters into a situation, any situation, and let each of them respond based on past experiences. Give your characters personalities, they can be negative or positive, but let the personalities reflect things that happened to the characters up to that point.
Build your characters with a full history – use an index card or sheet of loose leaf paper for each. List any significant facts: Were both parents present and loving during childhood? Were there any chronic childhood illnesses? Who and when was the first death your character experienced? Was the character bullied? Did they grown up rich or poor? Was there ever a serious trauma? Is your character lonely? You don’t need to divulge your character’s entire background in your story, let your readers know only the most relevant history, but you as the author need to know what makes your character feel and react the way they do – YOU need to understand.
Writing exercise: (1) How would YOU react? And Why? – You are walking down a dark and empty street. A strange, large and unkempt man comes up behind you and gruffly says he needs help. He motions for you to follow him down an alley. (2) Your character is walking down the same lonely street and stopped by the same scruffy man – Your character is a small woman who was assaulted by a stranger years before. She is also a nurse who makes it a point to help strangers. (3) Same situation, this time your character is a young man who is desperate to make a few bucks to buy drugs and is willing to steal to do it. (4) This time your character is an off-duty police officer close to retirement and carrying a concealed off duty weapon. Your assignment is to write just a few sentences for each of the FOUR individuals (including yourself). There is no right or wrong reaction, it just has to be based on the individual’s history and who they are now.
Writing Prompt: Pick up a recent newspaper or listen to a news show on TV. List the first 10 traumatic incidents you read or hear about (ie: car accident, bank holdup, etc). Next to each incident write one emotion you think is a common reaction. If you would like a challenge, write the emotions from the viewpoint of each of your characters in your most recent WIP (work in progress) or another book you’ve read.
