What Do Your Characters Need?

As I've been working on a series of devotional posts to discuss the things we need that God so freely provides, I began to think about how this applies to the characters we use in our stories.



Every human being on the planet has needs, and for the most part, those needs are much the same from person to person.



Abraham Maslow, a psychology professor, developed his now-famous Hierarchy of Needs, as demonstrated by the picture. According to Maslow, humans have five types of needs. The broadest ones at the base of the pyramid are the most basic and easiest to achieve, while those at the top are the least important and most difficult to obtain.



So how does this theory affect our characters?



Because people are motivated by their needs. Human behavior can often be easier understood when we recognize the need that influences that behavior.



Have a character who is starving and also hoping to find true love? They're going to be a lot more motivated by food than a relationship, because the need for food is more basic than the need for companionship.



As writers, we've learned the importance of goal, motivation and conflict--not only within a story, but within each scene of that story. Human need is behind it all. Need serves as the motivation that produces the goal. Conflict occurs when people have opposite goals.



So the next time you get stuck in a story, take a step back and ask: "What does my character need more than anything else?" Once you know their need, the rest will fall into place.