A story that keeps readers reading does not wander or meander page after page, chapter after chapter, along an amorphous path to an opaque conclusion. Rather, the story is focused on what the main character or characters want, why they want that thing, what they’re doing to get that thing, and what holds them back from getting the thing until they get it, give up, or die, literally or figuratively.
Earlier this month, I covered the big picture of story: structure, plot, and character, putting together the literary jigsaw puzzle pieces that create the experience you want for readers.
But where do those jigsaw pieces come from? What’s their essential nature?
Story.
Whether you are looking for a new story idea, developing an existing story, or beta reading a story for another author, identifying the protagonist’s goal, motivations, and conflicts is important to understand the story’s message to readers.
This article dives deeper into the foundation of ‘story’ via the protagonist’s goal, their motivations toward that goal, and the conflicts that arise in pursuit of the goal.
What a goal is and why your protagonist needs one
Have you ever gotten in the car, started the engine, pulled out of your driveway, and then driven aimlessly until you ran out of gas? No? Me either.
When I was younger, I loved taking long, winding drives along the backroads of Vermont, bumping over class-four roads that hadn’t been grated in weeks or months, sliding along the billboard-free highway in the dipping valley, and blipping out of cell service for a teensy thrill at the possibility of getting myself superbly lost in a small town I’d never before visited.
Even those days when I took myself for a drive, I always had a goal in mind, whether it was finding a new lunch spot or an alternate path home, enjoying the greenery (or whitery, depending on the season), or intentionally trying to get lost just to see if I could intuit myself back to familiarity. Without a goal in mind, I’d have been driving for driving’s sake, rather than cultivating a growth and learning experience via driving, especially on those days I’d half-convinced myself I really was lost.
Without a goal, your protagonist is without a clear drive or intention, and your story will meander because there’s no clear trajectory. Your reader may even get lost.
If a reader gets lost in the story forest and there’s no protagonist around to lead them back to familiarity, does the reader make a noise? Sometimes, no; they simply close the book and move on to the next story on their to-be-read list. But sometimes the reader makes a big noise, a poor-review noise, a don’t-read-this-book noise — the last thing you want when you’re developing your career as an author.
To avoid losing your readers, make sure your protagonist’s goal — the thing they want — is clear and specific; make sure it’s a well-defined and measurable goal. “Achieve financial freedom” is not a workable goal; “get a promotion” is. “Become famous” is not a workable goal; “land a part in a movie” is. “Find love” is not a workable goal; “go on two dates a week” is.
Ask yourself, in increasingly granular detail, what your protagonist wants. Then, figure out what tangible thing the protagonist could get, do, or work toward to show readers what they want.
What motivation is and how it relates to the goal
The reasons we give ourselves for wanting to achieve goals are our motivations. Your protagonist needs to have clear motivations for wanting to achieve their goals, too, motivations that your readers understand, can even identify or empathize with.
Without motivation, your protagonist’s goal exists in a vacuum and is without emotional consequence. Without emotional consequence, your reader has no reason to care about that goal, no reason to want success for your protagonist.
Going back to the story about driving in Vermont:
Why would I be interested in finding a new lunch spot? I was tired of Americana and feeling adventurous, so I visited hole-in-the-wall eateries featuring non-American cuisine to explore my developing tastes. Turns out, I love Polish perogi, and Chinese lo mein, and Tibetan momos, items I may never have tried without those drives. Now, I make some of these dishes at home for my family.
Why would I want to find a new path home? The sameness of the highway, the steady rhythm of the car, the whir of the engine, was hypnotizing, and I’d “awakened” at a few destinations without remembering the drive there. Scary stuff when you’re a young college student working full-time to survive and not sleeping enough to say so because something always needed to get done before the next class. Those winding back roads were perfect for keeping me awake and alert while en route to one destination or another. And today, I know where all these cool tiny towns are and visit when I’m looking for inspiration.
To avoid confusing your readers, make sure your protagonist’s motivations — why they want the thing — is clear, specific, and believable for the average person. “Achieve financial freedom” isn’t a workable motivation; “have enough money left at the end of my month” is. “Become famous” isn’t a workable motivation; “be liked by lots of people for my achievements” is. “Find love” isn’t a workable motivation; “develop an intimate relationship” is.
Ask yourself, in increasingly granular detail, why your protagonist wants to achieve their goal. Then, figure out what tangible reasons the protagonist has to care about that goal.
Necessary conflict in the goal-motivation quest
If you remember my article from last week, you may recall the acknowlegement that To The Lighthouse has almost no plot; the characters literally just plan to go to a lighthouse. But even a literary story without an action-packed plot has conflict. Conflict is what makes the story go ’round.
On one drive years ago, I’d been searching for an alternate path to my parents’ house, which was about 60 highway miles from my home. Since I was uninterested in the hypnosis of highway travel, I’d moved onto backroads, took one too many detours, and ended up well east of my target destination. On that particular day, I was supposed to have dinner with my parents, and my mom had made one of my favorite meals.
Of course, I was going to be late. Like, really late. Cold dinner left in the fridge kind of late. My desire for a hot homecooked meal was overtaken by abrupt sadness. I beat myself up for having been too brazen, for having picked THAT DAY to travel a new route. How wildly irresponsible.
Thing is, my parents weren’t upset with me in the least. Both of them had taken long drives of their own at various points in their lives, and they understood my strange need for new paths. My conflict was strictly between me and myself.
The conflicts that arise along your protagonist’s goal-motivation quest are those moments, people, or situations that threaten the protagonist’s ability to achieve their goal and which cause tension and anxiety for your main character (and for your reader).
Without conflict, your protagonist’s goal is too easy to achieve, no matter how shallow or deep their motivations, and is, thus, without emotional consequence. Without emotional consequence, your reader has no reason to care whether your protagonist achieves the goal. When they reader stops caring, they stop reading.
To avoid boring your readers, make sure your protagonist’s major conflicts — the things that stand in the way of the goal — are big enough for the average person to believe they would be major hindrances. “Stay poor” isn’t a workable conflict; “an unexpected expense that sets me back a month” is. “Fade into obscurity” isn’t a workable conflict; “being horribly disliked by my co-star” is. “Failure to find real love” isn’t a workable conflict; “an intimate relationship has become violent” is.
Ask yourself, in increasingly granular detail, what will hold your protagonist back from achieving their goal, be it internal or external, and what the consequences of failure to achieve really are. Then, figure out how to add conflict at every step along the goal-motivation quest to really stress out and beat up your protagonist as they work toward that goal with increasing fervor.
Pull Together the Story
When thinking up or developing your story, look at your protagonist’s goal, their motivations, and the conflicts that arise, which form the overall premise of your story, the picture that will ultimately come together when you put together that jigsaw puzzle. Can you write a succinct sentence or a few that includes all three parts of story and communicates to readers what your book is about?
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you create or evaluate your story:
- What is the main character’s major goal?
- Why do they want to achieve that goal? Why it is important?
- What happens if they achieve the goal? What happens if they fail?
- Who else is affected by the main character’s quest, regardless of outcome?
- Who or what will actively try to stop the protagonist from achieving their goal?
- Will the main character resolve the conflict and achieve their goal? Why or why not?
If you need a little more, revisit the article on writing a letter to your reader for some extra inspiration.
Happy writing!
♥ Fal
P.S. Want me to cover a specific topic? Tell me about it in the comments. When I write the article, I’ll credit you for the subject matter.
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Fallon Clark is the book pal who helps you tell your story in your words and voice using editorial, coaching, writing, and project management expertise for revision assistance, one-on-one guidance, and ghostwriting for development. Her writing has been published in Flash Fiction Magazine. Check out her website, FallonClark.com, or connect with her on LinkedIn or Substack.