Thoughts on Writing – Character Motivation

Today I’m talking about how a character’s backstory influences their actions.

In the first draft of Magic’s Stealing, I never really explainedwhy the main character, Toranih, didn’t like magic. She simply didn’t. But stories generally read better if the author knowswhya character behaves a certain way, even if theynever explain this directly to the reader. So, in order to add credibility to Toranih’scharacter, I began to explore her motives.

From Dictionary.com (a really useful resource when...