Character Motivation Entry: To Right A Deep Wrong

What does your character want? This is an important question to answer because it determines what your protagonist hopes to achieve by the story’s end. If the goal, or outer motivation, is written well, readers will identify fairly quickly what the overall story goal’s going to be and they’ll know what to root for. But how do you know what outer motivation to choose?

If you read enough books, you’ll see the same goals being used for different characters in new scenarios. Through this thesaurus, we’d like to explore these common outer motivations so you can see your options and what those goals might look like on a deeper level.

Character’s Goal (Outer Motivation): To Right a Deep Wrong

Forms This Might Take: there are many types of injustices that may resonate with your character, based on their personality, ties to the past, their experience with marginalized groups or people, exposure to different parts of the world and the challenges there, or to causes and beliefs they hold dear.  Possible examples might include

advocacy for animals or natural resources
advocacy for a group of people who have suffered mistreatment
working to bring about change in an area that has been overlooked (the living conditions of children living in third-world orphanages, animal cruelty, poverty, etc.)
championing a cause (mental health awareness, tackling homelessness, human rights, etc.)
building a charity or foundation to help others
investigating a situation and then publicizing one’s findings to make an injustice known
seeking justice on behalf of an individual or family (to restore a reputation, have credit for something attributed to them, to honor them for a sacrifice or heroic deed)
help make amends for something one feels in part responsible for (one’s white privilege, trying to rectify something one’s ancestors did, etc.)
to atone for something one did in the past that was irresponsible or caused hurt in some way

Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): Self-Actualization

How the Character May Prepare for This Goal: 

soul searching to try and figure out how one might help the situation
traveling to study the problem and collect data, or witness the results of unchecked abuse first hand (visiting the site of polluted waters, a child labor camp, a factory farming location, etc.)
take action to protect a person, place or thing that is in immediate danger
interviewing people who are at the center of the marginalization or injustice
digging up old evidence and researching to bring new facts to light
fundraising to help the victims
volunteering to be accountable for the effort to put a stop to what’s happening
planning an event to draw visibility and support for one’s cause
starting a website dedicated to the cause one is championing
planning meetings and working to draw others in to help
reaching out to organizations who may be able to assist (Amnesty International, etc.)
staging protests or peaceful rallies to gain visibility for the situation or cause
petitioning police or lawmakers to re-open a case, change a law, recognize a situation and investigate, or step in in some way
arranging meetings with influential people who may be able to help
approaching the media to raise awareness
taking one’s fight or cause to social media for visibility
public speaking events (in schools, universities, or at conferences) to raise awareness and educate
investing one’s time and money to help balance the scale by working to improve the lives of others, support victims, and be on scene in any way that is needed, enduring hardship if necessary
take personal responsibility for one’s role by going to the police, media, or the victims, etc. to apologize and accept consequences

Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal: 

damaged relationships with family and friends who don’t understand or agree with one’s mission
financial hardship as one uses one’s own money to fight for others, pay for necessary studies, tests, infrastructure, travel, etc.
a job loss if one’s mission begins to impact one’s day job
health deterioration due to stress or testing one’s physical limits
a loss of esteem in the eyes of others who don’t agree with one’s choices
irreversible family fallout (a divorce, children who refuse to have a relationship with the character) because one’s mission or cause always came first
having one’s reputation damaged by those who oppose one’s cause in order to weaken one’s position
being harassed or threatened (or having one’s family harassed and threatened) by corrupt agencies or people in power who are invested in information being locked up tight
being hurt or killed when one crosses the wrong people
public shaming and possible rejection by one’s loved ones and peers if one was personally responsible for the past damage and is now owning up to it to rectify the situation
charges laid or incarceration if one is personally responsible for a crime
hardship due to legal fees

Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved: 

corrupt governments and officials
powerful corporations with deep pockets who an invested interest in having one’s cause go away, or silencing one’s voice
legal red tape
witnesses or victims who are being intimidated into staying silent
evidence “going missing”
having one’s access to a person, group, place, set of documents, etc. being removed by someone with the power to do so
a lack of interest from the public regarding one’s cause
people who have conflicting interests making trouble
having a personal skeleton come out of the closet which weakens one’s platform and reputation
discovering a source of information one has relied on is false
finding out that a trusted member of one’s group has mismanaged funds or broken the law in some way, discrediting one’s charity, foundation, or cause
a health crisis
a personal tragedy
being framed for something in order to divert attention or discredit

Talents & Skills That Will Help the Character Achieve This Goal:

Being a Good Listener
Blending In
Empathy
Exceptional Memory
Having a Silver Tongue
Midas Touch
Multitasking
Promotion
Strategic Thinking
Reading people

Possible Fallout For the Protagonist if This Goal Is Not Met:

 disillusionment at society as a whole
disappointment in oneself
self-loathing (if one was personally responsible and unable to fix the damage)
guilt at not doing more
second guessing oneself and the work one did
being unable to enjoy life the way one once did
resentment toward others who did not help (or help as much as they could have) leading to damaged relationships
having to “start over” because one’s finances have been drained

Clichés to Avoid:

the struggle to win against an adversary (a corporation, a government agency, society’s beliefs, etc.) being straightforward.  The reality is any situation of injustice will have many different facets, and will affect many different individuals and levels of power–if it didn’t, the past wrong would have been fixed before now. Many moving pieces need to be factored in to formulate a realistic battle plan, and many different types of obstacles will need to be overcome by the protagonist (financial, environmental, dealing with interest groups with opposing views, dealing with public misinformation and ignorance, etc.)

Click here for a list of our current entries for this thesaurus, along with a master post containing information on the individual fields.
Image: vleyva @ pixabay

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