Characters want something - this is a basic building block of storytelling. Identifying what a main character wants is a big step in defining that character. Figure out how they go about trying to get it - that's the beginning of a story. Figure out what's stopping them from getting it, and how that dynamic plays out - now you've got a story!

But just like real people, characters can want more than one thing. Characters wants can change over the course of a story, as situations change and that character learns more and sees more. Maybe they get what they want but find they want something else. Or maybe they let go of what they thought they wanted, moving on to something else.

Of course, each individual scene can have a different “want” for the character, and a different obstacle or obstacles in the way. Usually scenes in a bigger story have some connection to the bigger story and the bigger want - the detective is attempting to learn a certain piece of information, or find a certain person, because that information or person is connected to the larger mystery. Or a lover deals with a challenging social gathering, or with difficult friends or relatives of their lover, as a part of the bigger story of making a relationship work.

There's also the idea of wants that a character has consciously, and then the wants that are invisible to the character. They might not talk about them, but they're there!

A handy way to do this is, like we've talked about before, the WANT and the NEED. The want is usually a conscious desire and something concrete (money, love, solving a mystery, escaping the law) while the NEED is usually something psychological/spiritual/emotional. It's the love story, or the character growth part of the story. This ‘need’ is connected to the theme of the story. See Save the Cat for an approach to this that makes sense. (to me, anyway).

Whoa, there's a lot to say about this - I didn't even realize. Maybe we'll continue this one next time. Right now I want a coffee.

See you next time!


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