Thursday, July 14, 2011

Tour: Diaries of an Urban Panther - Guest Author Amanda Arista + Giveaway!


How to motivate your character



I’ve found that pointing guns usually work pretty well to motivate characters. Works pretty well for actual people, too. At least, in the movies it does. Guns and physical violence will physically motivate your characters in the direction that you as the writer need them to go, but it is a much more effective story if you can motivate them to go on their own, to want to go.

Fear, love, lust, power, family. These are the keys to motivating anyone to action. This is the lynchpin where reality and fantasy meet; we strive to make our characters as relatable and empathic as possible. We have to give them real, logical flaws and motivations for our readers to identify with, whether they are human or vampire. The key to storytelling and motivating your specific character is finding the key to his/her motivation and twisting it until it unlocks.

Sounds deep and difficult? Sounds hard and heartbreaking? It is, and that’s why we write. To discover these flaws and to show others how to overcome them.
Even though we create these characters, sometimes it’s hard to really know what your character wants, to find the layer underneath (and there does need to be a layer underneath). In my novel, Violet Jordan wanted a quiet life that was her own. However, that was only on the surface. As we dug through her life and tested her, we discovered that she didn’t just want a life that was her own; she wanted a life to share with family that was truly hers. Though the surface want would have made for a nice story, the deeper want makes for a more powerful story.
The next step is to dangle what they want in front of them. Show them that there is a life beyond them that is happy and wonderful, where there is the exact kind of peace they have been looking for. For a while, Violet knew a small family and was finally getting on with the whole shifting thing. To deepen your story, let your character run freely towards what they want (getting them moving of their own accord) and then take the floor out from underneath them. Now, they have had a taste of what they want and will keep moving in that direction.
The last step in motivating you character is to actively prevent your character from getting what they want. Most of the time, this obstacle is internal, a demon that whispers in their ear that they are not good enough to get what they want. Of course, sometimes it’s a huge space ship with firearms that could nuke them into space dust. As you might have heard before, the obstacle you design not only has to be tailored to the story, but also more clearly define the want of the character. Like cogs in a clock, the two will join together and keep running of their own accord. For example, Violet’s ultimate test is not to just kill the bad guy who keeps trying to destroy her life, but she has to kill her “brother” to protect the family that she had built to fit into her new life.

Now, you can’t just throw your character into the pond without a paddle. Give them tools they need use to get what they need. Give them experiences and allies that will help them keep moving, keep fighting. But that’s a whole other post.
Luckily, these three steps work for the good guys as well as the bad guys and when you design two characters that are equally designed to hinder the other towards their wants, it is a beautiful cat and mouse game that will not only motivate your characters to keep fighting for their goals and motivate your readers to keep reading.



Violet Jordan Rule #1 of being a superhero: No tights.



Dear Diary,


By now you know I'm hardly a normal girl. Last night I woke up naked in an alley after fighting off some werewolves. All in a day's work, I guess. I thought I was dealing pretty well with the whole werepanther thing: the training, the apocalyptic prophecies. And the hot guy following me around, protecting me at every turn, is definitely a bonus. I'm even starting to become accustomed to the bloodshed and the violence—and that's what scares me. What will tomorrow bring…



Do you know what your characters really want? Leave a comment, with your email,  and I’ll drop your name into a drawing to win $25 gift certificate to the e-book retailer of your choice.





And check out the cat and cat game of Diaries of an Urban Panther, available from Avon Impulse, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.

13 comments:

  1. I sometimes write and when I do, I normally have an idea of what my character is thinking but he or she always tend to surprise me. I think they dont like me thinking I know everything about them or something so they like to surprise me. lol
    GFC: LadyVampire2u
    LadyVampire2u AT gmail DOT com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am not a writer so I can't even imagine how hard it is to write the characters and determine what they are thinking or anything. I have great respect for authors who have the talent to write.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've been starting to write and I think I may be struggling because I haven't found those things that motivate my characters yet. It is interesting that while I created the characters, they really have a life of their own and you can't make them do things they don't want to do.

    valerie(at)stuckinbooks.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm definitely not a writer. The whole process is just foreign to me. So very daunting.

    Vivien
    deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great post. Congrats on the release sounds really good.

    bacchus76 at myself dot com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Amanda,
    I found this post very insightful. A motivated character is part of making a great story in my opinion. Otherwise it's to easy and with no obstacles to overcome and that can get pretty dull. Before I can know what my characters want, I have to get to know them first. As you mentioned is it family, love, lust, fear or something else? Each character will be different and add on their unique traits, then response will differ as well. It's all about the journey, and equipping the characters with logical fatal flaws that won't break them but make them.

    ~Na
    Cambonified(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I couldn't write my way out of a paper bag!! I have the greatest respect for people who can write and bring hours of entertainment to readers.

    follow on gfc

    mlawson17 at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't write much, but when I do I've usually got a fairly good idea of what my character will do.
    marlenebreakfield(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm not a writer, so what my characters want is for me to read their stories, in every great book I can get my hands on.

    Barbed1951 at aol dot com

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm not a writer but this was still a really interesting post. I barely know what I want some of the time - I can't imagine creating other characters wants and struggles :-)

    smaccall AT comcast.net

    ReplyDelete
  11. I am not a writer either but I would like to be. I am sure it is very hard to write characters up and what they are thinking. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thank you guys for all the wonderful comments.
    Writing is a challenge but it's kind of like learning to play and instrument: you suck at first but the struggle to get it right is so worth it. At least, I hope I got it right,

    ReplyDelete
  13. I am definitely not a writer, so I cannot imagine what authors go through to create their characters

    lag110 at mchsi dot com

    ReplyDelete

The old grey donkey, Eeyore stood by himself in a thistly corner of the Forest, his front feet well apart, his head on one side, and thought about things. Sometimes he thought sadly to himself, "Why?" and sometimes he thought, "Wherefore?" and sometimes he thought, "Inasmuch as which?" and sometimes he didn't quite know what he was thinking about.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to leave a comment. It's appreciated.