Tell Me What You Want: Uncovering Your Character’s Driving Motivation
As we dive into NaNo Prep months, many of your Wrimos may be thinking about what what will drive your plot to 50,000 words. Author Dinty W. Moore has an answer: find what your character wants, then dig even deeper. Discovering your character’s deepest desires can propel the plot of your whole novel.
There is not much time to reflect when you are trying to write an entire novel in one month, but, unless I’m mistaken, you’re allowed to think about your novel before NaNoWriMo officially launches on November 1st.
So what should you be thinking about during NaNo Prep season?
You would do well to heed the guidance of novelist Kurt Vonnegut, who once advised, “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.”
As simple as that seems, the urgent desire of your main character, and how that desire either corresponds or conflicts with what other characters want, is what drives every successful plot, from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice to Stephen King’s Misery.
So, what does your main character want?
