character motivation
Why they act
Character motivation is what drives a person in a story to act—their desires, fears, goals, or needs.
Understanding motivation helps explain why characters make their choices: The detective's motivation was personal; the killer had murdered his sister.
Writers distinguish between external motivation (what a character wants) and internal motivation (why they want it).
In acting, finding the character's motivation grounds performance in believable emotion.
- desireIntense wanting
- inner conflictPsychological tension within oneself
- moralityRight and wrong principles
- moral compassInner ethical guidance system
- personal growthIntentional self-improvement over time
ambition · power struggle · tragic flaw · society · family · found family · fear · survival instinct · revenge · unfinished business · curiosity · freedom · self discovery · identity · dark past · economic conditions · peer pressure · pride
- storytellingstorytelling, story, tale, narrative, narrator
- actingacting, act, performing, playacting, actor
- literary psychologypsychological depth, psychological conflict, inner monologue, stream of consciousness, subconscious
- screenwritingscreenplay, screenplays, screenwriter, screenwriting, script
- psychepsyche, soul, mind, ego, id
- back-storiesorigin story, origins, childhood trauma, family history, past events
character motivationdeus ex machina
Unlikely last-minute story rescue
coincidence · fate · circumstance · accident · random chance
character, motivation, characters, characterized, characterize, characterization, characteristic, characteristically, uncharacteristic