What Do They Want?

Have you ever been in the middle of a book or a movie, and realized you simply don’t care about anyone in it?  The characters mean nothing to you, there’s nobody to root for, and you have no interest in the final outcome.  Sometimes we even close the book or leave the theatre, tired of investing our time in a losing proposition. 

This can happen for a couple of reasons.  One is that the author hasn’t made anyone likable enough to intrigue you.  Even a villain should have one or two redeeming qualities to make him believable (after all, no one is 100 % bad).  In fact, when I was in USC’s Professional Writing Program, we were urged to give our hero a scene, early on, where he demonstrates a virtue and wins our hearts.  After that he can make a hundred mistakes, but you will still root for him because you know he has a noble core—he did something kind or selfless in the first few pages.

But, more often, the reason we don’t care about the people in the story is because they don’t care.  The author has committed the writing crime of not giving them any motivation.  Kurt Vonnegut once said, “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” 

Too many writers let their characters flounder without a goal or purpose.  They’re simply there, like window dressing.  The descriptions might be beautiful, the dialogue truly witty, and the threats genuine.  But if the characters have no motivation to do anything, the story won’t have momentum, and it won’t interest the reader.  It’s as if they’re mired in the bushes at the banks of the river, and they don’t really care to push themselves back out into the current and get somewhere.  You could even be writing about prisoners of war where motivation seems obvious, but if you don’t establish their genuine desire to get out, get even, or simply stay alive, then we’re reading about lackluster people who could use some depression medication.

And don’t think your characters have to want something grandiose, like conquering a country, becoming a king, curing a disease, or establishing world peace.  Like Vonnegut says, they can simply want a glass of water.  But they must want it, and strive to get it.  They must not give up, despite the obstacles you place in their path.  It must become their passion.  They must be determined to achieve their goal at all costs (getting the ring grandma promised her, getting even with the high school bully, winning first place for a pie at the county fair).

So apply this test to your writing, and see if you can identify what every character wants.  Is it clear enough so that the reader will know the desire of each person’s heart?  If it is, you’re on your way to a captivating story.  And isn’t that what you want?