June 19, 2007
Creating Characters (with Goals, Motivations, Conflicts)
Written by Margo Maguire in Writers and WritingThere is a lot of thought that goes into the development of a character – thoughts and ideas that the reader might not ever see. But all this background development helps an author make the character a three-dimensional person, rather than a flat, cardboard character.
I always write feisty heroines, no matter what their background, because they’re more interesting and better role models than shrinking violets. They might be the most downtrodden of creatures – it doesn’t matter. I like to give them spirit and a reason for that spirit.
Take Sarah, the heroine of A Warrior’s Taking. Her mother died when she was young, which set her father off on a drinking binge. Actually, he became the town drunk. And when he died, he left Sarah a homeless and penniless twelve-year-old. She had to live off the charity of strangers in the town for four or five years. OK, I don’t think I ever really came out and stated all that quite so simply in the book. Her background comes out in dribs and drabs, and it gives her the motivation to make sure that the little girls in her charge never have to suffer the deprivation and degradation Sarah knew as a child. (Sarah is a nurse/governess to Margaret – age 7, and Jane – age 6. Their mother died birthing Jane and their father has died fighting Napoleon).
The girls are in danger of losing their home when a distant cousin inherits their father’s property. Sarah’s motivation (her terrible childhood) leads to her goal, which is to provide a home for herself and the girls, even if they’re evicted by the cousin. The conflict is two-fold: Sarah hates the town where she and her father were mistreated and ridiculed, so she doesn’t really want to go there to try to make a living. And then there’s Brogan, the hero. She believes he’s a Scotsman who must return to his own estates. So even if there were a possibility of a future with him, Sarah would have to give up her custodial interest in the girls. She would have to leave them at the mercy of the cousin, and/or the town.
So … Back to Robyn’s post from June 10th (”Robyn gets Down and Dirty with GMC”), here’s the way to sum up Sarah’s GMC: Sarah wants to keep the children safe and secure because she had a terrible childhood as an orphan, but she might not be able to support them in the town she grew up hating. Or here’s another one: Sarah wants to have a future with Brogan because she’s in love with him, but that would mean giving up the children (and besides, he hasn’t asked her).
Every character who has more than a quick walk-on should have some kind of GMC, even if you’re the only one who knows what it is. It’s not necessary to get into tons of detail, but if you give it some thought, even your peripheral characters will add texture and depth to your story.
Good luck to you writers - I’ll do a blog next week about research and how it helps to develop plots and characters. In the meantime, if you’d like to read an excerpt from A Warrior’s Taking, which will be released next week, visit the “Coming Soon” page of MargoMaguire.com
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Isabel Says:
Very nice, Margo, makes so much sense. I have to keep telling myself “because” when I’m working on my character’s GMC. Thanks!
Woo-hoo~ Sarah’s books comes out a week from today, congrats!