The 3 Tears of Motivation and their Tissues

In this month of February where winter's character is highly suspect, illogical and frankly, out of character (i.e., little snow, lots of rain, no subzero temperatures or even a separation from what we think of as spring's character), I'm drowning in tears and tissues. In essence, my character has gone dull, my motivation, well, null.

Hence, a hard look into this issue. When building a character, the layering begins with motives. Desires. But motivation goes beyond what a person wants in life.  It is the push behind every reason why a person thinks, feels or does something. 

Tier 1: Basic, simple character motives

Motive               Issue

Fear                 To fight or flee

Love                To gain or avoid

Belief               To seek or ignore

Justice              To seek or ignore, 
                             fight for or against (antagonist)

Pleasure           To pursue, redefine or ignore

Hate                 To overcome or give in to

Safety               To seek, fight for or ignore

Tier 2: More complex, personal motives

Motive                 Issue

Reputation           To protect, lose, destroy 
                               or manipulate

Friendship            To pursue, avoid, renew 
                               or destroy

Knowledge          To seek, avoid, 
                               use for good or evil

Duty                    To accept, ignore, avoid
                                or decline

Fame                   To seek, accept, avoid, use

Tier 3: Obscure, more behind-the-scene motives

Motive                   Issue

Influence                To gain, prevent, use, block
                                  or give in to

Obsession              To allow, accept, pursue
                                  or fight or flee

Control                  To avoid, gain, prevent, lose

Wealth                   To steal, seek, accept,
                                  destroy, use for good or evil

Destruction            To plan, execute, prevent
                                 or decline to use

Motivation precipitates Action. Action becomes the plot line, and the story a character plays out. This list is tiny but a place to start building character by putting them in places where they have to choose(action), avoid (action), flee (action)... yeah, you get my drift.

Another tip I found while researching motive: While plotting your story, put a "because" in all your character statements. For example: "I don't submit my manuscripts to publishers because I fear rejection, starting over or finding out I'm not good enough because then I must accept that I'm not willing to work harder, have no real belief system and aren't as smart as I think I am because I'm afraid of running out of ideas, writing a sequel or having to write a story I'm not thrilled about. In all honesty, I'd rather be the delusional character!"