Any idea on how to give characters more motivation?

[aqua03]

One problem I keep running into when writing early episodes of DRGN is giving the two sides motivation other than just the usual sentai/superhero-style "Good guys fight bad guys" motivation. While I do have a long term goal for both groups planned, it doesn't get discovered by them until a little bit later. It also doesn't help that I was planning on have the villains be a bit more "behind the scenes" in earlier (more episodic) episodes with the Big Bad of the story being mostly out of the picture until the end of the first arc due to having to gather enough power to become a threat again. It's become a massive discouragement to me when trying to get DRGN off the ground.

If you guys have any tips or ideas on how to give your characters more motivation with these factors, I'd love to hear them. Thanks!

[silverraven0]

Give the person something he would definitely protect.

[aqua03]

Actually a couple of the main side characters on the team do have family members they want to protect. The main character just kind of wants to do his best to protect everybody he can considering I envisioned the main character of DRGN (Flare) to be a slight reconstruction of the stereotypical hot-headed "I must protect everybody no matter what" shonen action hero.

[silverraven0]

Give him tragic and traumatical things like losing somebody to bad peoples so they have something to achieve by eliminating bad people.

[hjfsdh2222]

Make em a cold heartless bastard. Somehow making characters mean or cold gives em motivations:3

[aqua03]

Who, the villain, or the protagonists?

[erma]

when it comes to character motivation, it can be good to write down questions about the character, maybe stuff like:

• are they trying to make up for any past mistakes they've made that might be haunting them?
• like @silverraven0 mentioned, is there something specific they're trying to protect?
• do they feel external pressures, that they have to prove themselves to anyone?
• is getting revenge a factor in their decision making?
• do their family and friends influence their decisions, positively or negatively?

[MariMontoya]

There are internal and external motivators. People/environment around them and their inner beliefs/thoughts. Giving someone an intense belief in something (like morals or an idea of their perfect world) that they are willing to fight for is a powerful motivator. Fleshing out their backstories and personality can also given inspiration as to why they do what they do. And some may do it because, no one else would. It can also be simple motivations to other people that mean a lot to the character themselves.

[dawgofdawgness]

Motivations are more satisfying when they're deeply personal or unique to your character. In your arc, your character's motive should cause them to do ANYTHING to reach their goal - the more motivated they are, the better. Also, what will happen to your character if they don't reach their goal? Will they (or a loved one) die? Will they be expelled? It's all about stakes. Pixar has some great examples of character motives: Marlin (Finding Nemo) wants to find his son. Mike and Sully (Monsters Inc) need to find a way to deliver a human back to their home. Joy (Inside Out) needs to get back to the control room before Riley slips into ETERNAL DEPRESSION. In most of the Pixar films, the stakes are high no matter what the tone of the movie is. SOMETHING is at risk if your character fails to reach their goal.

You should also consider the question: will they get what they want in the end? Why?

This will affect your story. If your character is destined to "fail" from the very beginning, maybe their goal isn't a very healthy one. Nevertheless, keeping them motivated will make them more likeable.

[aqua03]

Thanks for the advice. The problem is the characters do have a broad high-stakes goal of "If we don't win, the world dies and becomes a twisted nightmare version of itself ruled by a hive mind of creatures biologically incapable of positive emotions and empathy." the problem comes in trying to make the stakes more personal for the team, especially for the earlier, more episodic chapters I have planned to start with.

[DiegoPalacios]

Every hero can have a personal reason to join the group that fights evil. Even if the organisation has a general goal.
Here are some examples:
-revenge
-for glory
-being forced to do the job (this can give the character some conflict like feeling he is not up to the task)
-because he/she wants to be like someone he/she admires (like an older hero)
-for the love of fighting/fighting is the only thing they know.
-seeking for a purpose in life
-because he/she loves helping people
-so a weaker/younger character doesn`t have to fight (to protect someone who got the call)
-money (like a mercenary)
-because that way he/she can beat up others without getting in trouble
-His/her crush joined this hero group
-he/she wants to know what it means to be strong
-status
-chicks
-honor
-a sense of duty
-tradition (maybe his/her ancestors have fought evil for generations)

As you can see, some are noble, others are selfish and there are reasons that are in between.

If someone joins for selfish reasons, this can give an oportunity for character development, for them turning evil or some kind of antihero.
There are more examples, but those are the ones that came to my mind. See which ones fits which character and if none of these reasons fits, seek for another one.

[baasinsimple]

Well remember that good characters have flaws. Make their goals tied to their flaws and their ideologies. Luffy from One Piece wants to become pirate king, but that's a pretty big goal and is completely morally ambiguous in nature. So naturally it ties into his flaws of Selfishness and blind ambition and his ideology is about pure freedom. He believes being the Pirate King is about being the most free man of all. I don't know just some basic stuff like that.

[DiegoPalacios]

Also you can give your villains personal motivations too to make them more interesting. Maybe someone thinks the hive mind of creatures will "establish the order this society needs", or other is in just for the money. Or someone praises the evil as a deity. Maybe the villains are the only ones who gave one of the bad guys a sense of belonging somewhere. Or someone was blackmailed into working for the bad guys. Some of the motivations i showed earlier can work for villains too.

[awesomefeelsman]

When I come up with stories I always like being the main villain.

My advice is cripple them. To the point where they're at their lowest. Then present them their responsibility. Like people they have to protect, a task they need to fulfill, a promise they want to keep. That should give them enough motivation.

[hjfsdh2222]

Both:3 what’s the diff really?

[jpnakashima]

Agree with many of the above sentiment. Stripping it down, like to basic bare bones, motivations is about wanting something and knowing why said character wants something. The character has to clearly want something, but said char doesn't need to know exactly why he wants what he wants, though. The lies we tell ourselves are great fodder for drama. It can get also really layered.

Just to compliment, quoting the always thoughtful Story by Robert McKee: we only know a character when he takes action in a situation of pressure. That's when you test someone's resolve.

[MK_Wizard]

My best advice is to give them a short term goal first like going to work, doing the daily chores, curiosity, etc. and then develop it accordingly as the story progresses. More often than not, even the most noble of good guys start off with just wanting to get by. As they go through the motions, it evolves into something more with time.

[shazzbaa]

the problem comes in trying to make the stakes more personal for the team, especially for the earlier, more episodic chapters I have planned to start with.

So you've talked about how there's like..... a Goal, but they don't discover it until later.

Why?

This isn't me asking the question, but it's a question to make sure you can answer yourself. Why not start the story where those goals come in? You have the power to start the story at the point where the Big Bad has gathered enough power to be a threat, or the point when those goals are revealed!!

Because, like, this is very reductive, but if someone asks "how do I make the story interesting while my characters are still faffing about?" then the answers is, that's the wrong question -- the real question is, is there a story there at all? If they don't have anything to do other than mindlessly punch monsters, is there a reason you don't want to skip ahead to the interesting stuff? TO BE CLEAR: you might find that you DO have a good reason for those chapters! But you gotta make sure there is one other than "I always imagined this other part would happen later."

Also -- I think conflict might be an important part of motivation, here. Like, I assume they have a Reason™ to fight bad guys, but like........ is there any reason NOT to go fight bad guys? Because if your character wants to go punch a bad guy, and has no reason to not do it, and goes and punches a bad guy, then there's kind of, nothing in his way? And that makes whatever motivations he might have feel sort of hollow.

There's a lot of different directions to take this that introduce a potential reason not to punch - needing a Special Weapon That's Hard To Get, or needing to keep the mission secret from someone, or being afraid -- but I think ultimately a lot of this stuff can't be tacked on for a chapter; it has to be built into who your characters are. The character who wants to be a hero but isn't strong enough, or the character who is powerful but fears his own destructive rage -- these people might discover some bigger goal down the line, but they already have a conflict inside them. And there's a good chance that these smaller conflicts will tie into how they approach the bigger conflict, which makes them a lot more relevant to the story overall. It's not just "how do I motivate them for this chapter," but, "how do I use this chapter to start to reveal their deeper motivations?"