Storytellersunplugged

Storytellers Unplugged

Yes, but what’s my motivation?

Well, okay, let’s get this out of the way first. My motivation is to have fun writing stories and to, Good Lord willing, get paid professional rates for the pleasure.
What I want to talk about here is, character motivation.
I’ve already babbled on and on about characterization to the point where I’m sure at least a few people groan when they see my articles coming up. But for me that’s still the number one driving force in a good novel. If I can’t love or hate the characters, the story is a waste of my time as a reader and often painful for me.
Now, having said that, I believe that any three dimensional character needs to have motivation in their corner. In this case, it’s the factor that makes a difference in how they react to a situation. The title of this little article has been used by actors many times, I suspect. The answer they most likely get in return (and in one case I know this from experience) is “to make a paycheck. Now say your damned lines.”
Books don’t work quite the same way. If the best plot you can come up with is a story about actors on a film asking about their motivation, then you might want to consider a few slight changes.
Motivation by the definition I’m trying to present is the events that lead a character to a certain action. In speculative fiction especially, the motivations should be something that readers can connect to. Why? Because you’re already asking more of the readers than some of them are easily prepared to give you. You’re asking them to believe in the unusual and to accept it and take it in stride. If your characters fail to ring true, then you’re likely going to lose your readers early on.
I’m going to quote from a review I read yesterday. The review is readily available at Horror-web.com, and pertains to Tom Piccirilli’s new novel THE DEAD LETTERS (I preferred his original title: THE REDEMPTION OF KILLJOY, but that’s just me) and says: “What is the quote…? Ah yes, ”An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind”. And that is exactly what happens to Eddie Whitt. And that, in a really sick, sordid way, is why I loved him. In most movies and books you read, the parent becomes a vigilante with the powers and knowledge even the most skilled agents or soldiers don’t possess. Eddie Whitt plays out exactly how one would in reality; he doesn’t know it all, doesn’t always have those clever one-liners, and rarely has a plan. And that three-dimensional, creative, but honest-to-the-point-of-brutal development is why I loved these characters. Piccirilli delivers a cast that is real, characters that could be anyone – a neighbor, a family member, maybe even a spouse. Even swallowed in their own insanity, their own cruelty, it’s no more shocking than what you see played out every day on the news. This, readers, is life.” –Horror-web.com, BloodyMary
Well, that’s exactly what I’m talking about here. In addition to having some of the best damned prose on the planet, Piccirilli in this case apparently managed to create fully fleshed, beautifully rendered LIFE-LIKE characters. They have depth, they have emotions, they have MOTIVATION. In the case of this particular novel, the motivation is revenge…and a few other things as well.
I’m not going to use and abuse Tom’s characters. That’s for him to do. But the example above perfectly exemplified the point that I wanted to make. In order for characters to live and breathe, they must have depth and they must have motivation.
So, to use a different character, I’ll aim at Joe Beriden, the main character from one of my recent novels. Joe’s motivation at the beginning of the novel (DEEPER) is simple: he’s out to make a living and walks into a windfall. As the captain of a charter boat, he is offered what amounts to an extra month of good money just as the New England boating season is ending.
At the start of the novel he’s in a good mood and it shows. He’s relaxed, he’s having a good time, and he watches from the sidelines as life goes on. His big plans for the next few weeks include nothing harder than watching a dive team go down and explore a few underwater caves, cooking a few meals for his clients and doing some serious fishing while he waits.
Naturally, this is a horror novel, so that can’t possibly be a good thing for Joe. DEEPER was my first attempt at a first-person novel. It was, happily, a successful one by the private reviews I’ve gotten from some trusted sources. It was successful enough to sell, which I’ll consider a proper bonus.
What that meant for me was that I had to do two things that weren’t a concern in previous endeavors. First, I had to limit the perspectives down to one from my usual dozen or so and second, I had to really, really understand everything that happened to Joe and why he reacted the way he did. I always have to understand those things about a character, but in this case I had to get preposterously intimate with a fictitious character. Not on a physical level, obviously, but I had to really, truly understand why he would react with each character the way he did and just as importantly, HOW he would react with the same characters in different circumstances.
What starts as a simple job changes in the course of the story, leaving Joe wondering who he can trust from moment to moment and who he can safely assume is on the other side of a very quiet war.
I didn’t have the liberty of switching perspectives. It was all from Joe’s eyes. Through the course of the story I had to deal with changing motivations for Joe. What started as a simple matter of money is changed into a desire for answers to unsolved mysteries, reactions to supernatural occurrences, to kidnappings and murder.
I had to deal with how he handled his employers, the people working for him, his wife, newly made friends, well trusted allies who suddenly weren’t quite as trustworthy, his father-in-law and local law enforcement.
I had to justify his reasons for lying in several cases, breaking the law in others, and reporting to the parents of one of his crew members that said employee was first missing and later dead.
Don’t misunderstand me here. That’s what every writer has to deal with to one degree or another, but for me, on this occasion, it was both infinitely easier and much more challenging. Easier because I only had to show one character’s perspective; harder, because that one character has to be completely believable and just as importantly can’t be allowed to break from what he MIGHT normally do.
Joe is usually a calm man, but before the story is done with I have him doing things that at the beginning of the novel he would never consider. That, to me, is the challenge and the most exciting part of the story: how a character reacts when the pressure is increased. Some coal might become a diamond. Other pieces of coal might just get crushed into black dust.
Through the course of the story Joe has to admit to a few weaknesses and has to go beyond his normal comfort zone. This isn’t a love story, and there aren’t many happy endings. Because of that, the number one question for me, as the writer, is what is motivating Joe at any given time. In the run of events I am a rather cruel bastard to poor Joe. I don’t give him a lot of time to get his fishing done before things get ugly and quickly move toward just plain hideous. That’s rather to be expected, really. As I said, it’s a horror novel. But throughout the events that take place, Joe still has to be Joe. He’s hardly a hero, and he’s not really a villain. He’s just a man out doing his job and trying to keep his cool in extreme circumstances. Sometimes he manages to play nicely with others and other times he fails miserably.
There’s a character in the book who becomes the focal point for all of Joe’s anger. Unfortunately, said character is also a good friend of another character who Joe befriends. In some cases that means Joe has to curb his temper when he feels the need to get truly ugly with the source of most of his grief. The fact that the two people involved are also the ones paying him handsomely for the use of his yacht only compounds the problems.
As the book hasn’t come out yet, giving in depth examples isn’t exactly easy, and I apologize for that. Mostly what I wanted to show here was the range of potential reactions that can and should be considered when writing about characters and how they will react.
Here’s a random one for you: Let’s say you’ve just met a new friend. You’re getting along famously at a party held by a mutual acquaintance. It’s always nice meeting someone new, right? But how much will your reactions change depending on a few additional motivators. First, there’s the fact that the new friend is attractive and seems to feel the same way about you. Now add in that the new friend is the gender of your preference for an intimate encounter. With me so far? Great. Now let’s throw in a few random factors to murk up the waters of how you might react to your new friend.
First potential complication, said new friend, as you learn through the course of the night, is something of a player. Loves to get a little bedtime action in and drop the new lover like a hot potato. How would you (or each of the characters in the story you are writing) react to that news? Joe from DEEPER is happily married and faithful, so it’s friendship or nothing. Charlie, his first mate, is a womanizer, so it’s off to the bedroom for a quick passion session.
Second potential complication: Said new friend is on the outs with a long time friend of yours. Oh, you knew that Sam had an ex-lover named Patricia, but you had no idea that THIS was the THE Patricia. How close a friend is Sam? How would Sam react to the notion of you sleeping with his ex? What would you do with regards to the new revelation? What would your characters do? Back to Joe: still happily married, so not a problem. He might very well decided to keep the friendship going. If, on the other hand, Patricia was Charlie’s ex-lover, he might decide that the first friendship too precedence and cool off the potential friendship that was growing. Charlie, being a horn dog, would probably sleep with Patricia anyway. If, on the other hand, Patricia had previously broken Joe’s heart that’s a different consideration. Joe is Charlie’s best friend AND employer. There are limits.
Third potential complication: Patricia is not only a swinger, she’s also into hardcore drug use. She always uses clean needles for her heroine fix and never shares them, but there’s the annoying addiction thing to consider. How would that change your reaction to Patricia? Joe would consider her a lost case and wash her from his life. Charlie, being a horn dog, would probably break down and buy a condom. There’s a first time for everything.
Fourth potential complication: Six months after you and Patricia became “friends,” Patricia introduces you to her husband. They’ve been separated for nine months and she never mentioned him before, because he was a part of her life that she wanted to forget. Now they’ve decided to reconcile. If you’re just friends (Joe) this might not be an issue. Okay, weird that she failed to EVER mention him, but everyone has their secrets, right? For Charlie, there’s a definite issue here. Charlie didn’t expect commitment, but damn, there are limits to the things you should avoid talking about. Charlie, you see, despite being a womanizer of epic scale, has his own code of morals that includes never sleeping with a married woman. Because of her secrecy, he’s now broken his own code of ethics. That causes a dilemma and will likely end with an argument or two before the night is done.
Fifth potential complication: Whoooboy…Seems Patricia was really Patrick until that visit to Denmark. How do you react? Your characters? Does the idea of going through a sex change give them the willies? Are they okay with it? Joe is fine. A little weirded out, but after a couple of weeks of hiding his discomfort, he’s okay with it again. Charlie on the other hand, had sex with Patricia. Now he’s got to consider if that makes him gay. Charlie is a macho man. He doesn’t have a problem with other people getting experimental, but DAMN that was unexpected! Okay, maybe it’s all right. He didn’t know, and well, Patrick was looking damned fine in that dress and with the make up. Maybe it was okay, but now they can never be together again. Or maybe they CAN be, but Patricia has to swear not to tell anyone else her secret, ever…”
Sixth potential problem: Patricia seems really cool, but every time she comes over to the house to visit socially, little things seem to vanish. Nothing major at first, but now that Civil War era penknife that was your great grandfather’s pride and joy is missing. How do you react when you notice the trend? How about your characters? Joe would confront Patricia about it. If the items aren’t; returned, it’s time to call the police. He’s that sort of guy. Charlie would confront her too, because he doesn’t much like thieves. If the items aren’t returned, Charlie would make a point of visiting Patricia’s house to get them back. With or without permission.
Each and every circumstance can change a character’s motivation. The minor things are just that, minor, and probably not significant in most cases unless they propel the story forward. The major things, however, should definitely have an impact. Barring absolute mayhem (Godzilla is about to eat the entire city!) characters should not react the same way.
End of lecture for now. I hope it gave you something to think about.
James A. Moore