Writing Tips Series | Character Motivation

16 Jun 2025 Post By SEA

Heeyyyy! SEA here, with a VERY overdue (sorry ‘bout that, Jo!) Writing Tips post abooooouuut—

you guessed it! —

Motivations

WHAT ARE MOTIVATIONS?

mo·ti·va·tion

/ˌmōdəˈvāSH(ə)n/

noun

the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.
“escape can be a strong motivation for travel”
— the first thing that came up when I searched “def of motivation”
Motivations are why The Character in your story acts the way they do.

Motivations are imperative to making The Character 3D. Motivations are part of what makes The Character human. If The Character does something, there has to be a driving force behind it. The Character WILL NOT resonate with anyone if you do not take the time to figure out WHY THEY DO WHAT THEY DO.

Soo… How can we make our motivations believable? By making them relatable. Notice I didn’t say nice, or good, or pure. I mean, you CAN make little Irma Dogood’s only motivation to make the world a better place — but, tell me honestly — would YOU want to read about someone who’s perfect all the time?

You need to think of The Character as human, and that means you should recognize their sinful, irrational, emotional, messy nature. Even if you or your readers don’t necessarily agree with The Character’s worldview, they should at least understand why they think that way.

WHY IS BACKSTORY SO IMPORTANT?

Backstory is permanently linked to The Character’s motivation. In a way, it’s the why behind the why. It is the Cause behind the Effect.

Say The Character has a traumatic event occur in their lives before the events of your story take place. The trauma The Character experiences will affect their lives dramatically, including their motivations — they might become passionate about helping other survivors of trauma, or they might unconsciously try to shut out anything that reminds them of that trauma.

Your readers don’t need to have The Character’s backstory hammered out for them. Just make sure you know it so you can correctly gauge how The Character will act in different situations.

MOTIVATION ≠ GOALS

Motivations are not goals, though they both stem from the character’s wants/needs. Goals are a conscious thing The Character wishes to achieve. Think “win a basketball game” or “learn to play an instrument.” The motivation is why they want to accomplish the task. Think “desire to be the best at something” or “want to prove that they can stick to a task”

So, basically, a goal tends to be external, while a motivation tends to be internal. (though, I suppose it’s possible for it to be the opposite)

To give you a clearer example of what I mean, here is an instance where I messed this up.

Characters

Motivations

Cal

1. Keep people from finding out what she’s done (i.e. going to great lengths to figure out who her blackmailer is)

2. Win the prank war

3. Escape from her problems

Okay, do you see what the problem here is? I mistakenly made Cal’s motivations her goals. It’s an easy mistake to make!

So, how can we fix this? Well, I don’t really have the time or the space to do all three, so let’s just focus on “win the prank war.”

Okay SEA, why does Cal want to win this prank war?

To give her a reason that fits with Cal’s backstory, I’ll say it’s because she wants to give herself the illusion that she still has some control over her life. Cal has a lot of struggles, a lot of battles that she feels like she’s losing, and she sees this prank war as a way to compensate, in a way… like, if she “wins”, it might mean she can stand up to the other conflicts and antagonists in her life. Also, pranking is an unconscious outlet for her anger and spitefulness, a “hey! you hurt me! now I get to hurt you,” response. Cal almost looks forward to someone pranking her, because that means she feels a small sense of justification when she gets them back

whew that was a lot. I don’t think I can fit all of that into that tiny box, so I think I’ll condense it:

Characters	Motivations
Cal	1. Wants to win the prank war BECAUSE it gives her a small sense of control over her life… also an excuse let off steam

EXAMPLES

As most of you know, my explaining skills tend to be… subpar. So to ensure maximum comprehension, I will try to unbox a well-known Bible character’s motivations for you.

Aaaaand the character is (dun dun da-dunnn!) Jonah!

Quick recap of Jonah’s story: Jonah is a prophet. One day God says to him “Yo. Go to Nineveh and tell those blokes to repent” But Jonah is like “nuh-uh!” and goes and gets on a ship heading AWAY from Nineveh. So God sends a storm that doesn’t let up until Jonah is tossed into the ocean. Jonah is then swallowed by a large sea creature, where he remains for three days and nights.

Once Jonah is satisfactorily humbled, he gets vomited up by the sea creature onto the very shores he was trying to avoid: The great and terrible Nineveh (cue doomsday music). So he goes and preaches, and the people listen and repent. Jonah is mad about this, most likely because, well, relationships between the children of Israel and the Ninevites weren’t doing so hot in those days. Jonah goes to sulk under a bush, which God uses to teach him a lesson: He sends a worm to eat the bush, therefore exposing Jonah to the sun. Jonah throws a temper tantrum about his precious plant, and God points out that he’s missing the moral of the story — Human lives matter a lot to Him.

You get it? Maybe, maybe not? Just in case, here’s a link to the full version: Jonah 1 NIV – Jonah Flees From the LORD – The word of – Bible Gateway

Let’s dive into possible motivations Jonah could have had to run away from the Sovereign Lord of the Universe:
1. Fear for his physical body. Like I said, the relationship between Jonah’s people and the Ninevites wasn’t going too hot. There was definitely the possibility that he could get killed.

Fear for his spiritual body. It’s possible Jonah worried about being tempted by the sinful ways of the Ninevites, and falling into a trap.
Bitterness, grudgingness. Jonah was a prophet. He knew his God. He knew that if he went and preached, and the people repented, God would forgive them. Jonah didn’t want to give them a chance for them to be forgiven. He didn’t want years of conflict and bloodshed swept under the rug just like it was nothing. He wanted the Ninevites to suffer God’s wrath.

These are not the only motivations you can use for your character! Here is a list of some more possibilities, for inspiration — (BTW I totally copied and pasted this from Dabble. Here is the link to more examples! 51 Character Motivation Examples for a Clear, Compelling Arc )

Intrinsic [internal] Character Motivation Examples

Find empowerment after a break-up or professional failure
Reinvent oneself
Overcome addiction (This can also be considered external, as addiction can be a physiological challenge.)
Grow up
Expand one’s mind and experiences
Find self-love
Build a home
Find a community
Pursue a calling
Be useful to others

Extrinsic [external] Character Motivation Examples

Get revenge
Secure justice
Survive a natural disaster
Escape confinement
Rescue someone in danger
Secure rights
Survive an illness
Protect the innocent
Gain political power
Gain social power

INTERACTIVE ACTIVITY FOR STRONGER CHARACTER MOTIVATIONS

Get ready, get set… hit the forum! Introducing the new interactive activity to build stronger motivation in your characters. In the thread, you will be able to —-

Mix and match motivations.

Exploring character why’s

Make your own motivation

don’t miss this golden opportunity! (I mean, it’s not going away, so take your time

Okay guidesters! I think I’m done. (finally) Thank you for reading and see you… in the Character Motivation Games thread!