Hello, Creators!
In today's chapter we're going to dig into the importance of character motivations and stakes, or why your character is doing the things that they are doing, and what happens if they don't get what they want.
Character motivation is what drives a character's behaviors, decisions, and actions throughout the story, and it's a critical factor in making your reader invested in the story. Your character's motivation is the big Why: if you ever get stuck trying to figure out what your character would do in a situation, go back and think about their motivation.
Let's use Harry Potter as an example. Harry wants to defeat Voldemort: this is his goal, or what he wants to achieve. Why does he want to do this? The underlying reason for this goal is his motivation.
There are a few good reasons why Harry might want to defeat He Who Must Not Be Named: he wants to protect his friends, he wants to save the wizarding world, he wants to avenge his parents. Having strong motivations helps your readers really invest in your characters and create those big character drama moments that readers love.
Often related to a character's motivation is the important concept of stakes. The stakes are the consequences of a character not achieving their goal. Usually there is some negative outcome for the character if they don't achieve this goal - those are the stakes. The stakes very much depend on the scale of your story. A contemporary romance set in a high school is going to have very different stakes from an epic space opera, but regardless of scale the stakes have to matter to the protagonist on an emotional level.
Let's return to Harry Potter and try to answer the question 'what if Harry doesn't achieve his goal?' Well, if Harry can't defeat Voldemort, the entire wizarding world would come crumbling down. Harry and his friends would most likely die, and he wouldn't avenge his parents. The stakes for Harry are quite high!
Now that you know about the Big Why and the Big What If, I want to come up with motivations and stakes for your own character. Use the questions below to guide you:
Who is your story about?
What is their goal?
Why do they want to achieve their goal? (Motivation)
What if they don't achieve their goal? (Stakes)
Happy writing!
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