CharacterFoundational
Motivation
The reason a character acts.
Principle
Action convinces when desire has cause.
Takeaways
- Motivation can be conscious, hidden, contradictory, or mistaken.
- Readers need enough motive to read choice as character.
- Unmotivated action feels like authorial manipulation.
Overview
Motivation is the causal interior of character action: what a person wants, fears, believes, owes, or refuses. It gives behaviour continuity without making it predictable.
Examples
- A character steals not from greed but from terror of being useless.
- A public betrayal is motivated by a private debt.