Tracie Peterson on Character Motivation

I was talking to an editor friend the other day. We were sharing stories about problem areas in writing—areas in which even experienced authors fall victim. One of the biggest issues turned out to be the issue of character motivation.

Many times you get a great idea for a story. You have an incredible setting in mind, a wonderful action packed plot just churning in your imagination, and itching fingers to hit the keyboard. Yet somewhere in the midst of writing the story, it starts to fall apart. The pacing drags. The setting seems stale. The wonderful ideas you had for edge-of-the-seat action grinds to a halt, and you're left wondering what went wrong.

Two words: character motivation. (Or maybe better said the lack thereof.)

Your story characters have to have a reason for the choices they make and the things they do. They need to be driven, as everyone is, by internal conflicts and external goals. There has to be more to the character than a pretty face and a desire for a happy ending. They need flaws and faults, issues and miseries, joys and dreams. Without motivation, the actions of a character will seem trite or implausible. Without motivation choices and decisions seem forced or completely off-track. The story always suffers when there is a lack of motivation.

Ask yourself one important question for every character in your story: Why?

Why does this character exist? Why do they do what they do? Why do they make the decisions and choices they make? Why should this character continue to be in the story?

To know the motivation of your character, you have to know the character themselves. You have to be able to recognize if they do something out of character. And, if they do something out of character, you as the author need to help show the motivation so that the reader can accept this wild choice.

For example: Let’s have a historical setting where a mousy young woman who has obediently lived in her overbearing father’s house and adhered to every command and demand, suddenly run away from home. Why? She has to have a reason, and that reason needs to be proportionate to the degree of her acting out of character. She isn’t going to run away simply because her father has yelled at her or forced her to give up something she enjoys, or better yet—decided to marry her off for his own personal gain. This is a woman used to doing what she’s told. She fears her father and knows that she would be without means of support if she went against his wishes. So what motivates her to run away from this marriage? It needs to be something important—something big to make her break with her nature to do as she’s told. There needs to be a substantial fear to counter the fear she already has for her father, otherwise she has no believable motivation to run.

Same would be true of a hero who suddenly acts like a villain. Or a loving mother who suddenly leaves her family. They need to have solid reasons for the choices they make. If not, the story will be weak. Character motivation is crucial to any story and often this one thing is the difference between a good book and an incredible book that you will come back to time and time again.

Tracie Peterson edited the Heartsong Presents series for 5 years and has taught numerous classes on romance writing. She is the author of over 70 books, including bestsellers like A Lady of High Regard.

I'm heading out of town for a long weekend, but you can find me guest blogging in the next day or so on Kaye Dacus's site where she is talking about writing the romance novel. - Becky

Calling Patty Hall

Patty Hall! You were the first to correctly guess the author of the sample query letter I posted last week, and I would love to send you a copy of S. (Sandra) Dionne Moore's Murder on the Ol' Bunions. If you will e-mail me at: sdowns(at)barbourbooks.com, and let me know your mailing address, I'll get your book in the mail to you today.

The End of a Long Journey

Do you remember the good ol' days before computers? Nothing intimidated me more than cranking a fresh sheet of paper into the typewriter at the start of a new writing project. I'd stare at that unadulterated page and hope against hope that the letters...then words...then complete thoughts...that formed as I typed would texture my fiction world with an artistic splash of contrast and color rather than sullying the 8.5x11 virgin field.

Some of those first-word jitters eased ever so slightly when the computer age ushered in push-button deletions. But the sight of a blank page/computer screen, and the thought of needing to fill scores of similar blank pages in order to complete an understandable (and hopefully entertaining) story, would all but give me permanent brain freeze. There's nothing quite so intimidating as the first step of ANY long or challenging journey.

And there's nothing quite so thrilling. . .and unsettling. . .as typing The End.

Frankly, each time I've finished a book, after the initial Wahoooos and Snoopy dancing, I found myself adrift and wondering What now? What's next?

Yesterday, our family wahooed and Snoopy-danced as Courtney, our youngest of five, walked across the stage at Case Western Reserve University's convocation center to receive her Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. We celebrated the end of a long and successful education-journey for Courtney.

Today, I imagine she's feeling a little adrift at the idea of closing the door on a successful college career and taking that first step into the work-a-day world. My mother-prayer today is that Courtney takes plenty of time to savor her successes before she cranks that virgin sheet into her typewriter and types "My Future" on the title page.

Road Trip

Wow! Have you seen the price of gas these days? Late next week I'm heading to Iowa for a graduation. I love a road trip, but I'm not looking forward to the dent this one will put in my bank account.

Road trips are always fun because there is potential for exploring places and their history that you wouldn't see or learn otherwise.

One year while driving across Nebraska, my mom and I got off Highway 80 and found a Pony Express landmark to explore. We also saw a reconstructed sod house as a bonus. (You just never know what you'll find off the main road.)

I'd love to someday do more research about my family's history in both Kansas and Mississippi, travel the route of the Oregon Trail, or research pioneer life on a Montana ranch. Just thinking about it makes the ideas for writing start to flow. But in my desire to go west, I'm bypassing some great history and adventure right in my own county.

Ohio is rich in history. Right here in Tuscarawas County we have two original settlement sites of the first white missionaries who came to minister to the native tribes. There is an outdoor drama that relives the story of a tragic massacre involving the first Christian Indians.

Other history in the area involves the Ohio-Erie Canal, former stagecoach stops, old mills, Fort Laurens, a German separatists communal village, the Underground Railroad, the National Road, birthplaces of General Custer and Clark Gable, a 1928 Spillman Carousel, a canteen stop along the railroad during WWII, and more.

So why do we often think we need to go exploring history miles away from home? This summer, especially when the conservation of money and fossil fuels is so important, let's take another look at the treasures in our own back yards. You may just surprise yourself and find the makings for a terrific story.

And it doesn't have to be historical. Just around here we have Amish tourism, alpaca farms, buffalo farms, pick-your-own orchards, Christmas tree farms, Warther's carvings museum, government built water conservation lakes, cheese makers, a small town philharmonic orchestra, coal mining, etc. There is bound to be some sort of modern industry or hobby or such to write about.

So do you have a story that was inspired by something in your own home town?

Cover Letter Query

I received a few follow-up questions from an ACFW/Ohio member who participated in the Barbour tour a couple of weeks ago, and I thought here would be a good place to respond. If you, too, have a burning question you'd like for us to address, please don't hesitate to e-mail us or pose a question in a comment box.

Also, if you are the first person to guess the author of the sample query letter below, as well as the published title of her book, you'll win your very own copy of this fun cozy mystery.

What do you like to see in a cover letter for the proposal? What do you not want to see?

Memorize this fiction-author mantra: STORY REIGNS SUPREME!

Here's a bullet list of items that comprise the cover letter I want to read:

+ Keep it short. You should be able to provide a good overview of everything I need to know in less than a page.
+ Let me know the manuscript's current stage of completion and how much time you anticipate you will need to finish the project.
+ Following your opening paragraph, lead off with a short summary of the story. The more concise you are in your ability to summarize your plot, the more impressed I'll be. Hook me in 75 words or less.
+ Provide a brief author-introduction. I don't need your life history, just a simple overview of your writing credentials. If you are not yet published in full-length fiction, tell me what you're doing to develop your writing skills. Are you a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers organization (ACFW)? Have you taken writing courses? Entered contests?
That's it. Short. Sweet. To the point. Let your sample chapters and the detailed synopsis that follows do the rest of the editor wooing.

Below, I've provided a sample cover letter from a mystery proposal I found impossible to resist. The results are now in published form. A copy of this book is yours if you post the first correct author/title answer in a comment.

Happy proposing,

SKD

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Dear Mrs. Downs,

I submit for your review a proposal for a cozy mystery tentatively titled (BLOG-READERS, YOU GUESS TITLE FIRST/YOU WIN). Written in first-person point of view, this is a work in progress with a projected word-count length of 61-62,000 words. I anticipate completion of this mystery project within the next two months.

“This murder stuff is killing my bunions,” says LaTisha Barnhart after her first day of walking around and investigating the murder of Marion Peters. When LaTisha becomes a suspect, the ante is upped and she is determined to clear her name and find the real culprit.

She's burping Mark Hamm's bad cooking to investigate his beef with Marion, getting her hair styled at a fancy salon to see what has Regina Rogane in a snarl, and thinks Payton O'Mahney's music-store lease might be the reason he's singing out of tune when discussion of Marion's murder arises. LaTisha’s thinking she just might use the reward money to get her bunions surgically removed, but she's got to catch the crook first.

My writing credits include "Handled with Care" in Chicken Soup for the Horse Lover’s Soul, and the introductory story in Living Miracles: Stories of Hope from Parent’s of Premature Babies. I am also a member of Penwrights, a very active critique group, a member of the E-loop, The Writer’s View, and a long-standing member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). I am currently Zone Director for ACFW’s MidAtlantic zone.

Thank you for your time and I hope we will be able to work together on this project.

Cordially,

Jane Q Author

Update to Friday's Post

When I posted on Friday, Jodi was sick with a nasty stomach bug. It got so bad by Friday evening that we thought we were going to have to hospitalize her for dehydration. Thankfully God answered our prayers for her to keep some liquids down and she rested well on Friday night. I just couldn't bear the thought of having to take her to the ER! Needless to say, taking Jodi on her first flight early Saturday morning did not seem like a good idea. Our doctor advised against it, too.

Doug and I caught the bug on Saturday evening, and it is nasty. Our sweet little girl is obviously a little trooper because she seems to be able to handle this better than we do! She is keeping more food and liquid down today. And to top it all off she is getting her first two teeth!

We're trying to rest and recover today and eat very small amounts of food for some nourishment. Unfortunately, the difference in airfare is too high for us to reschedule a flight to Colorado later this week, and I'm not sure we'd be up to it anyway. It's exhausting to go up the stairs! We are so disappointed that our trip didn't work out and that I won't be able to attend CCWC this year.

I am planning on ACFW in Minneapolis in September, so hopefully I will see many of you there!Thanks for your prayers as we recover! I'll post a fun picture of Jodi last week sporting two ponytails!