Character Motivation Entry: Avoiding Certain Death

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?

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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): Escape Certain Death

Forms This Might Take:

Being in an apartment building that catches on fire
Being imprisoned by someone (a serial killer, terrorists, kidnappers) who has no intent of letting one live
Being a prisoner on Death Row
Escaping a concentration camp
Being a POW (prisoner of war)
Escaping enemy territory when “shoot on sight” orders are in effect
Being slated to appear before a firing squad or hanging judge
Living in a land where all occupants are being exterminated (by hostile forces, aliens, etc.)
Discovering one has been poisoned (and in need of an antidote)
Being abandoned in a hostile climate (in a desert without supplies, shipwrecked, etc.)
Suffering torture that is growing increasingly violent
Suffering extreme sleep deprivation
Being grievously wounded and in need of medical help to survive
Having an infection that must be treated before toxic shock sets in
Suffering from hypothermia, extreme thirst, or extreme hunger
Begin expendable (as a slave, as a witness, etc.)
Being exposed to radiation or another harmful contaminant
Being in the path of a destructive element (a forest fire, flood, tornado, nuclear fallout, etc.)

Human Need Driving the Goal (Inner Motivation): physiological needs

How the Character May Prepare for This Goal:

Track the movements of one’s captors or gatekeepers
Assess the weaknesses of others, or a location one is being held at
Lying in order to gain support or obtain a measure of power or control
Obtain a map of the area
Push one’s body to the limits (traveling in extreme heat or cold, resisting fatigue, etc.)
Secure (or make) weapons
Scout for, buy, barter, or steal supplies
Prepare to fight, and if necessary, kill
Use one’s skills, strengths, knowledge, or sexuality to obtain what one needs
Steal keys, access cards, or a lock pick to escape
Make bargains with anyone in a position to help
Hold other people hostage to get what one needs
Cross moral lines to survive

Possible Sacrifices or Costs Associated With This Goal:

Being maimed, scarred, or disfigured during one’s escape
Having one’s health compromised in the escape to the point where one is never the same
Becoming jaded by humanity based on horrors one witnesses during the plight
Revealing a secret or closely guarded information in order to escape, knowing it will have difficult repercussions later
Becoming what one hates to survive (a killer, compassion-less, a user of people, etc.)
Being saddled with shame and guilt for the things one must do to survive
Losing a limb (to frostbite, due to infection, in an accident, etc.)
Crossing a moral line that leaves one feeling unworthy of living
Sacrificing others so one may live
Being unable to save a loved one and oneself, and so losing them to the situation
Being tortured, raped, and abused as a result of one’s bid to escape
Causing innocent people pain or hardship in order to escape one’s situation
Developing PTSD

Roadblocks Which Could Prevent This Goal from Being Achieved:

Too many guards and no opportunity to escape
Being secured in some way (handcuffed, bound in rope, secured to other people, etc.)
Being in a place where movement is restricted (being locked in a trunk, getting stuck in a tunnel collapse, etc.)
Running out of clean air, water, or food
Extreme temperatures or weather
Having an enemy who is personally invested in seeing one die to the point he goes to great lengths to bring this about
Running out of resources
Having one’s resources stolen
One’s transport breaking down
Weapons, technology, or adversaries that one is unable to counter
An injury that makes mobility difficult, if not impossible
Being responsible for the welfare of others (and having to ensure they escape too)

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

A Knack for Languages
A Way with Animals
Archery
Astral Projection
Basic First Aid
Blending In
Carpentry
Gaining the Trust of Others
ESP (Clairvoyance)
Enhanced Hearing
Enhanced Sense of Smell
Enhanced Taste Buds
Foraging
Haggling
Herbalism
Hot-Wiring a Car
High Pain Tolerance
Knife Throwing
Knowledge of Explosives
Lip-Reading
Lying
Making People Laugh
Mechanically Inclined
Mentalism
Mimicking
Multitasking
Organization
Parkour
Photographic Memory
Psychokinesis
Reading People
Predicting the Weather
Regeneration
Repurposing
Self-Defense
Sharpshooting
Sleight-of-Hand
Strategic Thinking
Strong Breath Control
Super Strength
Survival Skills
Swift-footedness
Throwing One’s Voice
Wilderness Navigation
Wrestling

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

Death

Clichés to Avoid:

Guards who get drunk, allowing one to escape
Guards who put down their weapons in order to take advantage of the character (sexually, or to beat them up, etc.)
Enemies who attack one at a time, allowing the character to take each out in turn

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

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