Always good advice. I always appreciate it reading it, even if I already know this or that about writing. Coming back around to well-presented writing advice is a bonus -- "Hey, remember this? Do it. It matters."
So true! Honestly, despite the fact I literally talk about all of this for my job, I still have to fight to hammer it into my own writing. The reminders are a must 😂
Starting my second novel in my series and this post came at the perfect time. I’m changing my protagonist’s goal so it’s not a rewrite of the first book, but it’s been a process figuring out her next concrete goal. This helped so much! 🙏🏼 to the drawing board!
So happy it found you when you needed it. There’s a bunch more posts planned in this series, so hopefully they’ll continue to support you as you venture into the wilds of book two
Happy planning and outlining. Can’t wait to hear how you get on!
Interesting discussion! What do you think about subgenres like a fantasy cozy where the stakes are often intentionally lower? Is the key that the character has to want it intensely even if it doesn't seem like as big a deal to the reader?
Loved what you said about the hollowness of goals that are imposed externally. An assignment handed down by somebody else just doesn't cut it unless the character is all-in for their own reasons!
I love reading your comments, Robin. You always have the most insightful takes!
Absolutely agree with you about stakes in cosy fantasy. I actually have a section specifically about that, written for one of the later posts in this series. You’re 100% right that part of what makes a fantasy “cosy” is the intentionally lower stakes, and they can absolutely be just as powerful as life-and-death, so long as the protagonist cares enough about it. Legends & Lattes really is the absolute perfect example
Great thoughts on hollow goals, too. You’re right that the same happens in real life: we don’t care about assignments handed down by someone else as much as we care about our own wants and desires
It took me ages to figure out what was going on there. I read so many books where the goals just rang a little false and spent ages figuring it out until the penny finally dropped: in every one of these cases, the character was told “you must go do this thing” by a king, council, starship captain, etc etc, and I never really got a sense of why the character themselves actually wanted this
An imposed goal can absolutely work, but the character needs to already want the thing themselves for their own powerful reasons. I’m replaying the Mass Effect series at the moment, and that’s a great example. Sure, Shepard is told, “you must go defeat the bad guys,” she’s a soldier and is given her orders. But she has such a personal investment in getting it done, especially in the later games. You really feel the weight of her own desire and responsibility. Everything else in her life has been sacrificed to make this happen. In those cases, it works brilliantly. But that internal motivation is absolutely key!
Wow, what a lovely compliment! I find your posts very thought-provoking, so I guess they fuel. Any insight I might have...
I think the "imposed goal trap" is a big challenge for authors writing about characters working in their professional capacities. "Why do I care about this solving this case? Because it's the one that landed on my desk!" One of my favorite authors has written a 40-book series about Cold Case detectives, and she's managed to make every case have personal stakes. I'm pretty impressed!
Sorry for the late reply! The author is Pandora Pine. And it's her "Dead" series about a husband and husband psychic and cold case detective. To be honest, I don't think all of her mysteries are as fresh as they used to be... But she does a good job with the personal stakes!
I have a soft spot for this series because it really inspired me when I was trying to figure out how to make a living using my psychic gifts.
I love that! Also, those books are going STRAIGHT on my reading list. I don't know how I haven't heard of them before. They sound like exactly my sort of thing. Thanks so much for the recc!
I think a character having conflicting goals would be a good source of conflict and internal tension. Like if the character wants to be a good knight, but there's an opportunity for her to make enough money for the medicine for her brother if she does this shady business. Even if it's right at the beginning, so the readers learn what matters most to the character over the course of the story. I guess the trouble would be how to sign post to the reader that progress toward the character's goal
Putting the MC’s goal under conflict and testing it against other things they also want is absolutely a rich source of conflict, and something we want to pursue!
Like with your example, the character’s goal is “be a good knight” but she also wants to protect her brother, and some of the ways that she might do that create tension and conflict, trying to pull her away from her goal
We absolutely want our characters to have other wants and desires, and for those to conflict and cause trouble. But imho, there needs to be a single, clearly defined goal at the centre that’s the most powerful driving force. The one thing that trumps everything else, that they’re pursuing throughout the book, and win or lose by the end. That’s what gives a novel its sense of progress and identity
It might be possible to write a character with two different, conflicting goals (in writing, few things are truly impossible) but I’ve never once seen it work. In practice, the character ends up pulled in two directions at once, and one of two things happen: either they stand there paralysed and the story doesn’t go anywhere, or they try chasing both goals at once and the story gets scattered, disjointed, and unfocused
There’s a lot of nuance here though, as you say. We want our characters to be tested, and to want other thing. We can even construct a character arc where they think they want one thing but actually need something else entirely—what K.M. Weiland calls The Lie vs The Truth
That said, I feel like as writers, we need that very clear idea of the singular character goal the book is about. Every time I’ve worked with a writer who’s vague or unclear on that, or is balancing multiple goals, the story has suffered for it
Such great advice! And perfect timing. I am losing one of the people who edit for me and this will be a great help!
So sorry to hear you’re losing one of your editors! But really happy this post helps a little
I can’t be mad at them for abandoning me, lol. They are going back to school and I’m really proud of them.
I’m just lucky that there are great advisors (you) out there, aiming to improve writers skills. And I should know how to self-edit.
Always good advice. I always appreciate it reading it, even if I already know this or that about writing. Coming back around to well-presented writing advice is a bonus -- "Hey, remember this? Do it. It matters."
So true! Honestly, despite the fact I literally talk about all of this for my job, I still have to fight to hammer it into my own writing. The reminders are a must 😂
This seems like such a solid planning strategy! Thank you!
Most welcome! Really glad you found it helpful
Starting my second novel in my series and this post came at the perfect time. I’m changing my protagonist’s goal so it’s not a rewrite of the first book, but it’s been a process figuring out her next concrete goal. This helped so much! 🙏🏼 to the drawing board!
So happy it found you when you needed it. There’s a bunch more posts planned in this series, so hopefully they’ll continue to support you as you venture into the wilds of book two
Happy planning and outlining. Can’t wait to hear how you get on!
I really like the Questions & Asks section as a bonus. I can imagine it to be very insightful to authors.
Thanks so much! The Q&A was something of an experiment, so I’m really glad you found it helpful 😁
This was really insightful
Thanks! Really happy it helped!
Interesting discussion! What do you think about subgenres like a fantasy cozy where the stakes are often intentionally lower? Is the key that the character has to want it intensely even if it doesn't seem like as big a deal to the reader?
Loved what you said about the hollowness of goals that are imposed externally. An assignment handed down by somebody else just doesn't cut it unless the character is all-in for their own reasons!
I love reading your comments, Robin. You always have the most insightful takes!
Absolutely agree with you about stakes in cosy fantasy. I actually have a section specifically about that, written for one of the later posts in this series. You’re 100% right that part of what makes a fantasy “cosy” is the intentionally lower stakes, and they can absolutely be just as powerful as life-and-death, so long as the protagonist cares enough about it. Legends & Lattes really is the absolute perfect example
Great thoughts on hollow goals, too. You’re right that the same happens in real life: we don’t care about assignments handed down by someone else as much as we care about our own wants and desires
It took me ages to figure out what was going on there. I read so many books where the goals just rang a little false and spent ages figuring it out until the penny finally dropped: in every one of these cases, the character was told “you must go do this thing” by a king, council, starship captain, etc etc, and I never really got a sense of why the character themselves actually wanted this
An imposed goal can absolutely work, but the character needs to already want the thing themselves for their own powerful reasons. I’m replaying the Mass Effect series at the moment, and that’s a great example. Sure, Shepard is told, “you must go defeat the bad guys,” she’s a soldier and is given her orders. But she has such a personal investment in getting it done, especially in the later games. You really feel the weight of her own desire and responsibility. Everything else in her life has been sacrificed to make this happen. In those cases, it works brilliantly. But that internal motivation is absolutely key!
Wow, what a lovely compliment! I find your posts very thought-provoking, so I guess they fuel. Any insight I might have...
I think the "imposed goal trap" is a big challenge for authors writing about characters working in their professional capacities. "Why do I care about this solving this case? Because it's the one that landed on my desk!" One of my favorite authors has written a 40-book series about Cold Case detectives, and she's managed to make every case have personal stakes. I'm pretty impressed!
That’s so impressive! What’s the series? I’m an absolute sucker for crime/mystery books and would love to give them a read!
Sorry for the late reply! The author is Pandora Pine. And it's her "Dead" series about a husband and husband psychic and cold case detective. To be honest, I don't think all of her mysteries are as fresh as they used to be... But she does a good job with the personal stakes!
I have a soft spot for this series because it really inspired me when I was trying to figure out how to make a living using my psychic gifts.
I love that! Also, those books are going STRAIGHT on my reading list. I don't know how I haven't heard of them before. They sound like exactly my sort of thing. Thanks so much for the recc!
I think a character having conflicting goals would be a good source of conflict and internal tension. Like if the character wants to be a good knight, but there's an opportunity for her to make enough money for the medicine for her brother if she does this shady business. Even if it's right at the beginning, so the readers learn what matters most to the character over the course of the story. I guess the trouble would be how to sign post to the reader that progress toward the character's goal
Putting the MC’s goal under conflict and testing it against other things they also want is absolutely a rich source of conflict, and something we want to pursue!
Like with your example, the character’s goal is “be a good knight” but she also wants to protect her brother, and some of the ways that she might do that create tension and conflict, trying to pull her away from her goal
We absolutely want our characters to have other wants and desires, and for those to conflict and cause trouble. But imho, there needs to be a single, clearly defined goal at the centre that’s the most powerful driving force. The one thing that trumps everything else, that they’re pursuing throughout the book, and win or lose by the end. That’s what gives a novel its sense of progress and identity
It might be possible to write a character with two different, conflicting goals (in writing, few things are truly impossible) but I’ve never once seen it work. In practice, the character ends up pulled in two directions at once, and one of two things happen: either they stand there paralysed and the story doesn’t go anywhere, or they try chasing both goals at once and the story gets scattered, disjointed, and unfocused
There’s a lot of nuance here though, as you say. We want our characters to be tested, and to want other thing. We can even construct a character arc where they think they want one thing but actually need something else entirely—what K.M. Weiland calls The Lie vs The Truth
That said, I feel like as writers, we need that very clear idea of the singular character goal the book is about. Every time I’ve worked with a writer who’s vague or unclear on that, or is balancing multiple goals, the story has suffered for it