Motivated characters make for strong stories. A really good way to see this in action comes from two movies I just watched, Thor and Unstoppable.
Thor had a weak story mainly because the most interesting character was Loki. Loki had an axe to grind, something to prove. He was driven. Thor’s goal was, um, what? He wanted to be king. Instead, he got exiled for being dumb. Then his goal was to get back his hammer and go home. But failing to get his hammer, he goes off to do other things until a killer robot sent by Loki comes after him. Thor wasn’t driving the story, Loki was. Don’t get me started on Natalie Portman’s character. If she wasn’t standing around looking pretty, she was running over Thor in the vehicle she obviously wasn’t capable of driving. She could’ve been a strong character, but when rescuing Thor from Shield is called for, it’s the man in her group that does it, not her.
By contrast, Unstoppable had the main characters actually doing something to drive their own story. Two men are off on a routine day of work when their lives collide with a runaway train. They make conscious choices to sacrifice themselves and go after it. With characters like that, Unstoppable suits its name. The female character we see most of is fighting like crazy from a distance to limit damage and help our heroes stop the train; very active and strong. Every character in the story had a goal they pursued and as a result, the story engine ran to the end.
Having trouble with your story? Look for the goals. What does your character want? Every character in the story should want something and succeed or fail in getting it. It’s summed up in the best story advice I’ve ever come across: “Your protagonist should protag.”
Recent Comments