Motivation. What makes you tick?

Why do you do what you do? What makes it worthwhile? If someone stopped you on the street, could you answer? Have you thought about it? It's amazing to discover the passion you have when you stop and consider why you do things. Otherwise, why do anything? We all have our reasons, and for the most part they are powerful indeed.

Stories are the same way. Without clear motivation the people inside fall somehow flat, they just don't seem real. Audiences seek characters they can connect with, even if they don't actually like them. It's part of human resonance, where we seek out commonality. As a voracious reader, I many times really despise a character, but mainly because I have a really strong resonance with their motivations and actions. It works the other way too, where I love a character but can't somehow get a connection. Jurassic Park was like that--I absolutely loathed the little girl, but specifically because of how much I understood her motivations... still didn't make her any less whiney.

Show, demonstrate, layer the story with motivations and audiences will love it. As hard as it is to understand Batman's motivations, we all understand grief and the desire for vengeance. Those small parts blend together and create something far larger and powerful. We long for a story to make us feel, taste, and touch. Place us within their motivations, and we will fill in the gaps ourselves. After all, storytelling isn't a one way process; the audience is as much a part of the story as the teller.

- M