Motivation by Example

Last week we started talking about character motivations. These motivations can appear to be simple at the beginning of your story. Characters may even think so themselves at first. But you need to know the deep down reason why the opposing goals are important to these people before you begin to build your plot.  If they don’t care deeply about these goals, your reader won’t care either.  and if only one is deeply invested, we’ll wonder why the other one doesn’t just give up.
Consider rocky – Sylvester Stallone’s first sold script. I use movies as examples for two reasons: first, we are all more likely to have seen the same films than to have read the same books.  but also, the plots tend to be more transparent and easily seen.
Rocky is a boxing movie but not much of the film is taken up by fighting. It’s good evidence that conflict is not violence. What does our protagonist, Rocky, really want in that film? He wants a shot at the title. Keep that in mind, because his actual objective is important.  He also wants to prove he’s not a loser. And he wants his girl to respect him.
Our antagonist – Apollo – wants to prove once again that he is the best ever. Please note that the antagonist isn’t necessarily a villain. He doesn’t have to be evil. And I prefer stories in which both the protagonist and the antagonist have worthy goals and are both absolutely determined to attain them.
In that context you can see that the plot of that movie is all about what Rocky is willing to do to attain those goals. Each beat in the script is about Rocky facing some obstacle to achieving one of his goals. And really, he’s not particularly good at much of anything. Consequently, each beat in the film contains a conflict that shows us how badly Rocky wants these things he is driven to have. 
Your protagonist, and maybe your antagonist too, should also have internal conflicts.  it might be okay for your villain to be willing to do whatever it takes to take over the world, get the girl or win the race, but your protagonist should have to consider his response to each challenge on a moral basis. Sure he can save the hostage by shooting the bad guy in the head, sure he can find the killer by lying to everyone about what he already knows, sure he can get the girl by flattening the other fellow’s tire… but should he? Yes many people like a totally confident protagonist, and your story might work fine without internal conflict… but it will be better with it.