Character motivation is the reason behind what a character wants and does, the drive that makes their choices believable.
Where the term comes from
Merriam-Webster defines motivation as a motivating force, stimulus or influence, an incentive or drive, and dates its first known use to 1873. The idea in storytelling is much older. In the Poetics, Aristotle writes that character is that which reveals moral purpose, showing what kind of things a person chooses or avoids. He adds that speeches in which the speaker chooses or avoids nothing do not express character.
Wikipedia explains that characterization can use direct methods, such as description or commentary, and indirect methods that invite readers to infer qualities from a character's actions, dialogue and other details. Motivation works mostly in that second way. Readers rarely need to be told what a character wants; they watch the choices and work it out.
An example
Edmund Vasko is a harbour pilot who refuses a rescue order during a storm. In a weak draft, the narration states that he is a coward. In the revision, we learn through small details that he keeps his late brother's boots by the door, that he checks the tide table twice and that he lies about it when asked. The refusal now has a reason the reader can feel: his brother drowned following the same order. When, in the last act, Edmund finally takes the boat out, the reader understands what it costs him. His motivation is not "to be a hero" but "to never lose another person to the water", and the story tests that line from both sides.
Common mistakes
- Giving a character a goal but no reason, so their choices feel arbitrary.
- Choosing a motive that is too thin for the scale of the action, such as a murder over a minor slight.
- Stating the motivation outright in a monologue.
- Keeping a single motive for the whole book, so the character never wrestles with a competing want.
- Changing the motive when the plot needs it to change, with no event on the page that explains it.
How to check your manuscript
For each major character, write what they want, why they want it and what they will not do to get it. Then find the scene where each answer shows in a choice. If a decision cannot be traced to a motive, either change the decision or find the missing reason. Check that motives conflict somewhere, since that is where scenes get their tension. For related terms, see protagonist, antagonist, character arc and conflict.
In Musael, world and characters lets you link entries by relationship, so the people who share or oppose a want stay connected.