How do you give your characters goals and purpose?

[aqua03]

Hey everybody, I recently launched DRGN and with it now out there, I can actually look at it more critically as I realize that I might want to reboot it after I finish the current chapter.

One thing I noticed is that the characters don't really have beyond "bad guy is bad and we need to stop him", sort of generic sentai stuff. Sure, some tot the characters have goals like 'recover their lost memories" or "resume their normal life", but they seem more tangential to the group and main story than integral to it. I'm trying to rectify that in my relaunch by having the group have a more tangible goal from the get go, but I'm struggling on what that "get-go" goal can be in the first place. (I was thinking maybe the emergence of a large and strange dormant mechanical creature from the deep oceans that may or may not be connected to the protagonists, though I want to avoid a "race for the macguffins" story until a bit later.)

The villains similarly have a bit of trouble deciding a goal for them other than "Pollute the world with their dark magic for revenge on the Dragon Queen for rejecting the main villain." But that's bit less of a problem than the heroes.

Most of it's a holdover from when I envisioned DRGN as a slower paced TV Show/Persona-esque RPG that I've been trying to break out of now that I have it as a webcomic.

Another problem I realized I had was giving character more purpose and meaningful relationships with each other beyond their archetypes. Though they do have a good character and nice dynamic, they just kind of all fall into "good friends" and "bitter rivals" than anything else. Especially Fubuki, Bryce, and Huky. I recently tried to rectify Fubuki by having her be the "ace" of the team that Selena looks up to, but doesn't get her coldness towards everyone. But I'm still having trouble giving more depth and goals to Huky and Bryce beyond their general "Big shy bruiser" and "Techno geek with a bit of an ego" archetypes they currently are. I also realized that the protagonist, Flare, has a bit of a similar problem as the team leader who wants nothing to do with his teammates and as a result, is kind of just in his own little bubble of sorts when not on missions.

So, if anyone has any tips, ideas, or suggestions for any of this, I'd love to hear them. Thank you all for the help!

[DiegoPalacios]

We all do stuff for intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.

intrinsic are the internal motivations and extrinsic are the external ones.

One thing that helps is to ask why do the characters have these personality traits?.

For example: Flare may not want anything with his teammates outside of missions because he has trust issues. Maybe because an old friend or lover betrayed him in the past.

Also, you can explore their lives outside their missions. Do they have a secret identity?, are they known by the people? are they famous? do they have another job?, how do they balance life inside and outside their missions?

hope this helps!

[DokiDokiTsuna]

I feel like you might be thinking about this the wrong way. Goals and purposes don't have to be like the plot; things you set up from the start. Honestly, the best character depth is the kind that slowly reveals itself to the reader- and sometimes the author- over time.

If your thought process is "I need this character to have a deeper purpose", then of course you'll run into problems. How do you just...give someone a purpose?? If people knew how to do that, society would be a lot different...

I think you should be asking "this character has a purpose...how can I get them to reveal what it is?" Because even if they don't have an overarching life goal, everyone has a motivation for doing things. And over time, all those motivations and things become a sort of 'purpose' that people around them, including your readers, will be able to see.

So go back to your characters and figure out who they are. Even if they want something as basic as to save/destroy the world, their identity and reasoning can still make them into a unique, memorable character. It all comes down to how they think and react to the situations they end up in.

For example, is your 'big shy bruiser' shy because they're just socially awkward? Or are they afraid of their own strength? Or are they afraid they'll let people down?? Does anyone in the group make them feel safer? Does any aspect of their mission particularly inspire them? What is preventing them from leaving the group, and/or what is keeping them there??

^When you have answers to questions like those, not only will you be able to write for the character more easily (actions and words are spawned from motivations) you'll be able to build a purpose for them more easily. If it's super strong (like a devotion to another person) you could look over the plot, find ways to showcase it, and write from there. If it's so weak that even they don't know what it is (which is fine, that's NOT a bad thing), those weaknesses will show themselves as you write, and surprising strengths may also appear, creating a rather complex character. ^^ As long as everything they do is derived from their core identity, which you should know, you're not likely to go wrong.

[DiegoPalacios]

Honestly, the best character depth is the kind that slowly reveals itself to the reader- and sometimes the author- over time.

just quoting this point because is highly important to show the facets of the characters gradually (show, don`t tell). Also, no need to know the whole psyche of a character in the first second they appear.

You can play with the reader`s first impressions and latest ones caused by differents facets being revealed as the story goes.

[Rodimus13]

Basicly, I talk to my characters... so to speak.

I imagine a conversation with them and talk to them about things... what they like, don't like, ask them things to see how they react... that sort of thing.

It reveals a lot about what made them that way.

[Wumbl]

I'm gonna just go hog wild and write out a comprehensive lesson! I love to info dump.

Typically, I start by examining the character's personality and what they've done so far. I look at their positive and negative character traits, who they get along well with and don't, what they react well and badly to etc.

You can find a LOT of inspiration for character motivation simply by looking into that. What's the thing that they hate the most? What could they not live without? What's most important to them?

Remember the 4-part skeleton of narrative theory and apply it to your character's arc:

EQUILIBRIUM (as in, normality for the character)
What kind of world do they normally live in? What is their life like before the start of the story? Establish what 'normal' feels like to them.

INCIDENT (what spurs them to action, disrupting their equilibrium)
What do you think could happen, that would throw off their normality? Some kind of big event, meeting somebody or even making a mistake themselves could be what kickstarts their character arc.

DISEQUILIBRIUM (what they go through as a result of said disruption)
Is their disrupted life better or worse? Why is it better or worse? What do they feel like as they go through it and what hurdles do they face? What are the stakes?

CONFLICT (how they decide to react to the disruption)
Will they change as an individual, or will they have to change something or somebody around them? What are the strengths and weaknesses they'll need to face and utilise to establish a new equilibrium? What will be different about them and/or their world after their arc is over, if anything is different?

As a rule of thumb, try to give every significant character a full arc. They will need to have undergone some kind of change or growth, or adaptation by the end of the story. something will have impacted them, or they will have impacted somebody else. Create a journey for them from one equilibrium to another.

Their goals do not have to be material - they can have emotional journeys too. Sometimes, they might be forced to learn their flaws and improve. Sometimes, they might change for the worse rather than for the better!

As for establishing character dynamics, try to pick apart their 'archetypes'.
Ask yourself why they are the way they are. What goes on in their head and what is their thinking process? Understanding this will help you work out how they will interact with each other. Imagine them conversing with each other casually and organically.

For example, a character who is a 'geek with an ego' will probably function a bit like this:

• Over-achiever from a young age, used to being praised and insecure about their achievement tapering lower.
• Revulsed by illogical/emotional thinking, because they've been taught to reject it.
• Have a hard time taking critique from others, especially those they deem less intelligent.
• Difficulty expressing or picking up on emotions as they likely spent more time studying academia than interacting with people.
• Advantageous when coming up with tactics and plans, weaker when it comes to bonding with others or joining in with group activity.
• Disliked by people who react poorly to authority
• Liked by more patient people who understand their mind

Those are just the ideas that came to me from a few minutes brainstorming. These thigns can help you decide which characters will like and dislike them, and which characters they will like/dislike.

A good method is to draw a circle, put names around it and draw coloured arrows between characters. The arrows should point to other characters to tell what they think of each other. I like to pick different colours for: hate, dislike, like, love. I leave the arrows off if the opinion is indifferent. Having this diagram saying how everybody feels about each other will help you keep track!

Those are my tips. Bye~ passes out

[QueenofBabyLoon]

First of all. Let me give you love. You are tackling the most important problem surrounding story-building out there.

How deep do you want to go and what is the genre and the audience you are aiming for? Bad-guy-gotta-get-defeated is probably the most widespread format in story-telling there is out there. And there is a reason for that. It is very enjoyable, it is satisfying. You don't want to imagine the antagonist having had a bad childhood, an upbringing in a difficult environment, etc. There's this movie with Michael Douglas, called "Fatal Attraction", the female character obviously suffers from Bipolar disorder and was supposed to commit suicide, but just because the male population needed a catharsis in the form of Michael Douglas killing the woman, they changed a logical ending into a killing spree where Michael Douglas comes out victorious and defeats the "hysterical" woman. Humans love black and white. So don't feel bad about continuing in that line, it sells.

Everything is a question of temperament, of personality, of background, etc. Look at Fubuki. She is the ace, she is amazing, she is brilliant and never fails. And cold. Why would she be cold? Did she sacrifice anything to reach that level of greatness? Doctors have one of the highest rates of divorce. They sacrifice their love and family lives for their job. What did Fubuki sacrifice? And how would Selena be faced with discovering that Fubuki had cold-blooded turned her back on something precious to reach that level. Does Fubuki need power and strength to reach a goal, to avenge someone, to find someone she has lost?

Now, your big bruiser. He is shy. And yet, he went ahead and worked on that muscle mass. It goes against the grain with him, most probably. But something happened to make him move in that direction? Someone he couldn't protect? Bullying he faced? Seeing the weak being trampled underfoot and promising himself he shall never be like them. Is he over-empathetic, or is he scared of his own emotions of relating to others? What are his deepest fears and how they direct and orient his goals?

There's also the techno geek. Does he have Savant's Syndrome? Is his ego a reflection of his inability to relate with breathing things? Has he been used as a high-level machine meant to solve problems without a care for his emotional well-being? Is he in that team because he was led to believe that the only thing he can do is play around machines? And thus, here he is free agent without true goal and looking for a purpose in life?

And why was Flare appointed a team-leader? Did her superior consider that giving her responsibilities would lead to her developing stronger links, a stronger sense of belonging with the organisation she works for? Did they desire to control her through the means of having her always surrounded with these underdeveloped (I mean, we are ALL underdeveloped and loose-canons, we are all on a path of growth!)? Is he maybe a greater danger as a solo agent than in a team she must always keep her eyes on? Why would that be? Is she in for power? Revenge?

I am obviously just trying to give your thought process a direction here. It is MY direction. It might not be yours. You might find another path to walk on, but this is the way I work. Instead of creating personality traits based on motivation, I create motivation based on personality traits.

[llyonafang]

I suggest thinking about your own life, and those you know, ask questions like "what does my friend work for/pursue? why do they keep working towards that goal? and think beyond financial needs and social obligation. People in real life can be good inspiration for writing and pretty much every book ever written takes inspiration from events in real life. Consider writing about insecurities, pride, greed, etc. For instance, maybe a character desires validation out of their own insecurities, and their growth is to realize not to chase after validation from others, but rather learn how to gain confidence in themselves. Then you could use supporting characters to help this main character realize the flaws in seeking validation from other people. It's a meh example, but hope this kind of helps you.

[moop]

It might help to try starting with your broadest themes and figuring out specifics from there. What are the central themes to your story? Ultimately, what is it about, and what are you saying about it?

For example, say your biggest story theme is nature - and what you are saying about it is that people must live in harmony with nature for both to survive. Then how does your main character represent that? And how does your villain oppose this, or represent the opposite? Once you figure out this, then think about what happened to your characters to give them this belief. After you have your main protagonist and antagonists, you can think about how your supporting characters add to this. If you have an ensemble, what are their differing world views and how do they contribute together to your theme? Another thing to consider when developing characters is that what the character wants and what they need are often two different things, and establishing this early can help develop their character arc.

For me thinking about story themes while developing characters helps me focus on the parts of the character that are relevant to the plot, and can help your story and characters be more intertwined, rather than having characters that a story happens to.

[aqua03]

Thank you all for the wonderful feedback! It has really helped me a lot! Especially the character dynamic chart @Prince_Wumbl suggested, that really helped me define the heroes' relationships with each other and give me a good visual of what to work on.

Now, I mentioned that I decided to give the protagonists a more visual goal for the first part of the webcomic by having it star twit ha strange mechanical creature emerge from the oceans, where most of the ancient civilizations lay after the world flooded. The thing is, I can't think of what to have said creature do or be exactly. Does anyone else have any ideas on how it could work and why both the heroes and villains need to get involved?

[QueenofBabyLoon]

Have you heard of the legend of the Kraken? A legendary beast living in the seas, slumbering until roused by some unknown force that leads him to go to the surface and wrestle. I see it as a protector of the seas, in a way. Humans have exploited its riches mercilessly and must pay with their lives when the Kraken appears to protect its land. It is the deity of the seas, the protector of its inhabitants.

What if a being from these ancient civilization keeps a grudge against the inhabitants of the earth. Here he is, lonely creature of the seas, cold, hidden from light but drowning in the garbage that is being produced by humans. He sees his fellow fish and turtles die in horrible pain through asphyxia for example, etc. And to take revenge, decides to build this great creature, a legendary guardian who has left the seas to be plundered by the inhabitants of the earth, from the trash that has accumulated in the sea. He desires to warn the humans that their crimes against the seas shall not go unpunished and that this great legendary warrior is back.

You can even add a tragic back story of the real Kraken (or any other such legendary beast) that had been enslaved by some king or master of the earth, to be used as his slave and has died of sadness and humiliation, away from these creatures he loved and protected.

Again, I am just shooting ideas out, here.

[IndigoShirtProd]

I feel like these great responses get to the core of character development. . . and makes me feel I'm not gonna be saying much but I'll try.

One important thing you need to keep in mind when approaching a character is Backstory. Have you taken the time to write a detailed backstory about your characters: especially the main characters and the villains. If you want your antagonists and protagonists to have depth you need to consider their origin. It's hard to portray a deep and layered character if their personality literally begins with the story. It's not impossible, it's just harder. Backstory informs the characters at the start of the story, but as the story progresses, characters are subject to change. Now some may face the new experiences and refuse to change but that will depend on personality.

I'm really speaking more about the technical side of writing when I say write a character backstory, character profile including character descriptions(even if you have drawn them), character interactions(even between antagonists and protagonists), personality traits, etc. It's also good to do this for the antagonists too. Having all these things written down will make the writing process easier because then you will have a reference to go back to during the writing process.

*even if you know a character's backstory like the back of your hand, still write it down.
*keep in mind as the story progresses and the characters develop, your initial character sheets will have less of a bearing on the character's actions.

Lastly, selfishness. It's okay for you characters to be selfish, as long as not all of them are abhorrently self-centered. In a project I'm working on pretty much all my characters are in the main plot or trying to escape the main plot for selfish reasons. One wants to proven himself, others are running away from something, some are on a job, and another is just there to help a family member. What changes is that eventually everyone joins the main story on they're own volition. Having selfish desires is inherently human(i.e. relatable), and it's an important aspect to include in your characters even if some are characterized as generous or if your characters are not human. Greed is flaw that a lot of beginning writers like to avoid when writing their heroes, but there is not one hero who isn't doing what they do for partially selfish reasons.

*While you can do what ever you want with your story, I personally would stress against giving all your character some form of tragic backstory. Realistically, not everyone has gone through heartbreaking tragedy and your groups of characters can turn into an uninteresting pity party very fast if everyone had something horrible happen to them in the past. Just a note.

that's all I got right now, hope this helps.

[borzoiteeth]

Ah man such great advice here! I may have a few questioning points to add-

Big points to DokiDokiTsuna. Yes, for first chapter and the immediate following you do not need to establish every detail. If you are unsure how to "math" the amount of information for a introduction here's really the minimal requirements: Establish something telling about each important character (that has been introduced thus far) other than their looks and some kind of goal/question. It can be a small character goal, it can be a larger plot goal, it can be the thematic narrative goal.

I do want to contrast what some others are saying- some characters, like some people in real life only have a singular goal. This can sound flat but only in how its executed. Usually its commonly broken down by making the "lone wolf" character discover there is more to life than vengeance- but there are some powerful stories that involve a character's life being derailed and having to reestablish themselves because the only thing they cared about no longer existed/attainable.

[elyss]

I found myself with a similar problem to yours. I figured out one of the easy ways to add depth was to look at the character and ask questions about them. Like: Why is A so broody? or Why does B feel the need to touch everyone? I then think up backstories that can be slowly or quickly reveled over the course of the whole story. It breeds topics of conversation and character interactions that wouldn't have otherwise happened.

[ar-ninetysix]

Pssst. Y- You can also make that in itself the goal, the fact the he feels he has no purpose in life, and he goes through some self-discovery to find purpose.. it's relatable as heck