Characters Need Motivation - A Guest Post by Aimee Meester

Greetings. It is I, Aimee of To the Barricade! and Annika has made the mistake done the awesome thing of letting me onto her lovely blog today.

Today, we’re going to talk about character motivations. Specifically, why all characters need them.

I’m going to take a moment and shamelessly self-promote because it sort of ties in. I wrote a post recently about how villains are people too, and one of the things I pointed ever-so-helpfully out was how villains need motivation. There’s a trend with the general Dark Lord type villain, and most of them don’t have a motivation other than to be evil. Because EVILNESS, dang it.

This can happen to other characters, too.

Why does your hero want to save the world? What motivation does the angsty sidekick warrior guy have for following him? Why does the girl in the dystopian world want to join the rebellion, even when it’s nothing but trouble and danger for her and her family? We can often fall into stereotypes with these things, and one of the greatest stereotypes in my opinion is no motivation at all.

This is not a valid reason.

There’s a writing quote out there (several, in fact, but there’s one specifically I’m thinking of) that says, in short, that if your character doesn’t have a motivation, there isn’t a plot. This is 100% true. It’s also true that pretty much everyone in the story needs to have some reason to do what they do. Not to mention, motivation makes us care. I’m way more likely to be invested in a character that has a good, compelling reason to do what they do.

“Because NOBILITY, DANG IT” is rarely a good reason. Kind of like “because I said so” or “because I felt like it” or my personal favorite, “because reasons.”

So what are good reasons?

Katniss in The Hunger Games survives because she has to get home and take care of her little sister. (Motivation = taking care of her family.)

Edward in Twilight does everything he does to keep Bella safe. Yes, I went there. (Motivation = keeping the girl he loves safe.)

Thomas in The Maze Runner keeps all his attention on escaping the deadly maze with his friends, and then keeps friends safe, so he can find out what happened to them. (Motivation = amnesia and a need to find the truth.)

You get the point.

Character motivation is the driving force of the plot. We all have motivations for the things we do in real life — it shouldn’t be any different in fiction, really. These motivations are super important to figure out as you write, too. They shape how the character acts, what they notice and focus on, and so on.

Know what makes your character tick.

It’s that easy.

Thanks so much for having me, Annika! And thank you, all you lovely peeps, for reading.
Aimee out.

Aimee is a writer, reader, fangirl, homeschooler (and proud of it), Christian, Myers-Briggs ESTP, and many other things. She is fond of referring to herself in the third person, believing it makes her look cool. She blogs at To the Barricade! about writing, books, chocolate, gifs, life, and most importantly, sarcasm. You can find her on Twitter, Pinterest, and Goodreads.

Beautiful People #11, a.k.a. I Adore Ace

I am writing this post five days ahead of time, since I've found a small break in my crazy Camp NaNoWriMo schedule. It is day 5 of this mad race, and my word count is currently in the 18,000s. At the very beginning I decided to double my target word goal, so now instead of aiming for 50,000 words (which I estimated would only cover about one third of this draft), I am aiming for 100,000 (which should cover two thirds of this draft). Suddenly, this book is the largest I've attempted with an estimated end word count of 150,000. I'll tell you though, word wars are my salvation.

ANYWAY. You're not here to hear my Camp NaNo updates. This is the Beautiful People linkup! (If you don't know what Beautiful People is, it is run by Cait @ Paperfury and Sky @ Futher Up and Further In - check it out here). However, Camp NaNo did influence my choice of character today. In maybe day 3 of writing, Ace gave me this quote which just makes me want to hug him and not let him go:

(Click to enlarge)

So, yes, I have a new favorite character and I totally choose my Beautiful People characters based on favoritism. I know I've been focusing on Ace a lot lately with this linkup but I now adore him so you shall just have to go with it.

1. What's their favorite ice cream flavor?

Chocolate Moose Tracks (which happens to be my favorite as well). If he saw a chocolate blueberry kind of flavor, he'd go for that instead, but I don't think I've ever seen such a thing and neither has he. 

2. You character is getting ready for a night out. Where are they going? What are they wearing? Who will they be with?

Ace would be going out to dinner with Victoire, and he'd be wearing a plain white t-shirt with his brown leather jacket and aviators. They'd probably be at Ace's favorite burger place, but Victoire may have convinced him to go somewhere more formal. 

3. Look at your character's feet. Describe what you see there. Do they wear dress shoes, gym shoes, or none at all? Are they in socks that are ratty and full of holes? What do they consider comfortable and what do they consider agony?

If he's at school, he's wearing gym socks and sneakers. If he's at the Mage League, he's wearing combat boots. At home, he's just wearing his socks, which is what he finds the most comfortable. He hates flip-flops because of that weird thing between your toes. For summer sandals, he probably prefers something like this:

4. Do they have any birthmark or scars? Where are they and how did they get them?

All my characters in Shadows and Light have a birthmark - it's how their destiny is discovered. As far as everyone knows, Ace's is a shield with four quarters of color on it - skin so pale it's nearly white in opposite corners and then very reddish skin in the other two corners. It is located on his chest, directly over his heart.
He has the faint scars of a couple bug bites that got infected on his legs. xD

5. What kind of music do they listen to? Does it change depending on their mood or is it always consistent? (Feel free to share samples!)

When he's feeling sad or depressed he prefers sad music - oftentimes, he'll be playing the music on his keyboard. His go-to piece for times like that is "Moonlight Sonata (1st Movement)" by Beethoven.

Otherwise, he listens to some pop rock - things like Fall Out Boy, "Angel With a Shotgun," Kelly Clarkson, "War" by Poets of the Fall, etc. 

"War" is practically his theme song (at least in my world). I mean, come on, it talks about destiny, and battles, and love. THIS IS ACE. *feels because Ace and Victoire*

Quote not mine.

6. Do they have any musical talent? Play an instrument? How’s their singing voice?

He's pretty good at playing the piano, though no one knows that besides him since he's currently keeping it as his big secret. I actually have no idea whether he can sing or not. I know he never does it, but that isn't necessarily a tell. He never plays piano when people can hear or see him, after all. He probably does have a good voice but never uses it for fear of it wrecking his perfect hero reputation (it would, in his twisted view of the world). 

7. What kind of book would you catch them reading?

Superhero comics. That's about it. Scandalous, I know.

8. How would they spend their summers (or their holidays)?

Hanging out at the diner with friends, hiking in the woods with friends (maybe family every now and then), hanging out at his cousins' houses, and working at the Mage League. 

9. It’s Saturday at noon. What is your character doing? Give details. Ex. If they’re eating breakfast, what’s on the menu? Are they hiking, shopping, lazing around?

He's out to lunch with about eight other people. They've either spread out over two tables at the diner or they've pushed two tables together. Darcy might be sitting on Ace's lap if we're talking at the beginning of the book before Victoire and Ace started dating. Afterwards they'll probably go to one of their homes to hang out and play games. Ace wants ot drink two milkshakes but doesn't because he's scared that isn't a healthy thing heroes would do if they're concerned about staying heroes.
Stop reading superhero comics, buddy, they're messing up your psyche.

10. Is there anything your character wants to be free of?

Expectations created by his destiny. But at the same time, he clings to them to give him identity and purpose. This is why he's my new favorite. He's so obliviously self-destructive.

Have you done Beautiful People this month? Link to it in the comments! Also, do you have any characters that trap themselves in a bad way of thinking or living? If you're doing Camp NaNoWriMo, how's it going? Have your characters thrown any good quotes at you? Share them below!

The Orphan Protagonist Cliche - Why Is It Still Used?

Have you ever noticed that, in a lot of children's and YA fantasy/adventure/action/sci-fi novels, the main character is an orphan? This is so common that the orphan main character has become cliche. Maybe you're sick of it and really wish a biological parent would show up every now and then. However . . . have you ever considered why the orphan MC is so common?

Photo not mine - found over here. I don't know who to credit.

Think about it. All children's and YA protagonists are the same ages as their target audiences - under aged. They're not adults yet, and that means that they are subject to a legal authority. Parents. What do you think most parents' reactions to their teenager/child going off on a probably dangerous adventure would be?

This sounds quite callous, but one of the easiest and most convenient ways to get rid of that authority which would otherwise prevent the children/teen MCs from going on their perilous adventures is to kill the parents before the book even starts. This leaves the main character in one of three positions: (1) he's on the streets, free to do whatever he wants including running into characters involved in the adventure (Mistborn trilogy); (2) he's in an orphan home which obviously will be very careless and not bother to go looking for the MC once he's gone, or will send him away with a man of dubious motives who will inevitably get the MC involved in the adventure in the first place (hello The Ascendance Trilogy and The Ranger's Apprentice); or living with his last remaining distant relatives who either don't care enough about him to bother if he dies -

- or will soon die to provide the MC with a motive for his quest and conveniently free him of remaining parental authority at the same time.

Obviously, this whole removal of authority thing is getting somewhat predictable. But, then again, I suppose that is sort of the point of cliches.

Now the question is, what to do about it? If we leave the parents in the story, we're still going to have that irritating parental protectiveness to deal with, which means we won't be able to really torture the MC as much as we need to. 

Or does it? Here are ten ideas of ways to avoid the orphan protagonist cliche.

1. Make the parent(s) part of the adventure. Mother gets kidnapped and the child has to set out on a quest to save her (Michael Vey). The dad is an adrenaline junkie and wouldn't pass up the excitement for anything. The mother goes along to try to mother-hen the protagonist on his journey, but believes in good enough to let her child be brave. 

   

   Sorry. I couldn't resist throwing that in.

2. The parent(s) are absent so much that it is easy for the protagonist to run away/get taken away and have some time before anyone notices he's gone. A more extreme version of this happened in Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, when the female protagonist was actually incapable of being remembered by her parents after she'd left.
3. The parent(s) are part of the adventure before the protagonist is, on either the side of good or evil (Elemental trilogy by Antony John, The Compound by S.A. Bodeen). 
4. The protagonist is abducted away from his parents and forced into his adventure (Legend trilogy by Marie Lu, The School of Good and Evil by Soman Chainani, Girl, Stolen by April Henry).
5. The protagonist has no idea who his parents are or if they're alive (this is beginning to be used more often, so be wary). Maybe he is reunited with one or both of them at some point in the plot, complicating things.
6. The adventures happen at a boarding school or summer camp which the parents/parental figures sent the child to (Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, anyone?). 
7. The law interferes with parental authority over the children - this happened in the Black City trilogy by Elizabeth Richards because of Ash's half Darkling status. His father couldn't control all the events in Ash's life because the government was running control measures on Darklings. Other examples of lawful interference take place in Divergent, The Hunger Games, Uninvited, Half Bad, The Darkest Minds, and plenty of other dystopic novels.
8. The parent/s (long shot if there are two parents) are mentally ill, and due to extenuating circumstances (like the end of the world and psychoactive medications) can't take authority over their child. Take a look at the Penryn and the End of Days trilogy by Susan Ee to see this very unique set up. 
9. The adventure does not require any long-distance travel, and so the MC manages to have his adventure right under his parents' noses. (V is for Villain by Peter Moore, Slated trilogy by Teri Terry).
10. The age of majority (legal adulthood) is younger than it is in this world, so that the MC that we would consider a teen or child is actually considered an adult (Red Rising trilogy by Pierce Brown)

There are a few ways to spice things up, but sometimes . . . there is no other option. Your plot requires the parents to be dead, and there's no way around it. Don't be scared that you're being cliche, if this is the case. Just make sure you didn't automatically make the MC an orphan because that was the first idea that came into your head. Think about other options. Family is a big deal, and sometimes, it is nice to see some familial relationships in a book. 

Or maybe you have to do the opposite. You've got the parents, but they're proving pesky. In that case:

Kill those darlings.

So what about you? Do you agree that the orphan protagonist is getting cliche? Have you ever used it, or one of the twists I listed? 

Want more posts on cliches and how to put a twist on them? Click here for all my posts on cliches, or click the label in the sidebar.