Characters are, of course, the lifeblood of fiction. All the twisty turny plot elements in the world won’t matter to readers if they are not bonded to a character they care about.” Just Write by James Scott Bell

Characters are the heart of any novel. If readers don’t connect with and care about your characters, they won’t keep reading. So how do you help your readers connect? By strengthening your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts (GMC). The easiest way to strengthen a GMC is to make sure it’s specific to your character.

Writers often start with goals and motivations are that are too general.

Goal: to buy a house.
Motivation: they’re sick of renting.

The problem with that goal and motivation is that they could apply to millions of people. Strong GMCs can only apply to your characters. There’s something so specific about the goal or motivation that it couldn’t possibly apply to anyone else.

An excellent example of a strong goal is Kenya’s goal is the movie Something New. The movie opens with her having drinks with three friends. The conversation eventually turns to men, and Kenya—a successful single Black woman—admits that she’d like to find a man, but she’s holding out for her IBM: her Ideal Black Man.

Her motivation is somewhat generic. Like many people, getting married is eventually part of Kenya’s plan. It’s her very specific goal, however (to find her IBM), that helps the audience understand her conflict—the kind, successful man she meets on a blind date is white. Without knowing her specific goal, Kenya comes across as either racist, irrational, or both. Because of her goal, however, the audience understands her conflict.

Another way to strengthen a GMC is to individualize the motivation. An example of a character with a specific motivation is Charlotte Atherton is Karen Witemeyer’s A Worthy Pursuit. Charlotte’s goal is to teach gifted children. There’s nothing particularly unusual about that. It’s her motivation that makes her stand out.

Charlotte was a piano prodigy as a child, and her father took advantage of her talent to make himself famous. When she grows up, the first man to show interest in her wasn’t actually interested in a relationship with her; he also wanted to take advantage of her talent. Those experiences fuel her motivation—to protect gifted children from being manipulated by and taken advantage of by others.

Without understanding Charlotte’s motivation, it’s impossible to understand why she flees to the woods and hides with three students when the school she teaches at unexpectedly closes in the middle of the night. Without understanding her specific motivation, Charlotte’s reaction to the school closing looks overly emotional at best and like kidnapping at its worst. Her specific motivation, however, makes her relatable.

By creating goals and motivations that could only belong to your characters, you’re allowing the reader to better understand and better relate to your characters, which makes the reader want to keep turning the page. Keep them turning the page.

What are your characters’ goals and motivations? How can you make them more specific?

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