Characters have to have a goal.
Everybody wants something. Why do YOU want to write, for example?
Maybe you want to write a book for the story’s sake. A vociferous, misunderstood character started vying for your mental attention and enthralled you with his antics. He gets under your skin in all the right ways, and he’s an entertaining guy. You don’t want the world to miss out.
Maybe you like to challenge people. You’re on a metaphorical soapbox, and—rather than flat out preaching at the masses—allegory would be a better, wiser venue for your message. It’s time people question the status quo. Or act on their convictions. Your story will call them on that.
Or maybe you want to be rich and famous. You fancy yourself the next J.K. Rowling or Frank Peretti. (NOTE: If this is your motivation, you’re in the wrong field. There’s an easier road you should travel, somewhere.)
I know there are scads of other reasons people write. But the point is: something drives you.
Something’s got to drive your characters, too.
And I don’t mean only your main characters. Would you want to watch a play—no matter the genre—where only the protagonist and the antagonist were played by humans? Everyone else was a cardboard cutout?
(NOTE: Even though there are no other humans pictured below, I am NOT saying The Doctor interacts with a bunch of emoticons-on-sticks. Far from it. I simply couldn’t resist using THESE particular cardboard cutouts when I spotted them.)
To read more, visit my editing blog at A Little Red Ink.
