by Ane Mulligan  @AneMulligan

I read and study other writers, and one thing I’ve learned is characters need a motivation so powerful if the goal is not met, it’s a matter of life and death. In his workshop Quantum Story, James Scott Bell teaches there are 3 types of death:

Physical death: the character could die or is in danger of death. This is most often in thrillers and suspense.

Professional death: career, vocation, marriage, the last chance to succeed. When the trouble would end the character’s career, her marriage, or vocation.

Psychological death: feels like dying on the inside. Psychological death is important to comedy, where the trivial is a matter of life and death. One of the best examples is Seinfeld’s soup Nazi. The struggle is the soup Nazi hates Seinfeld and his friends. They always ask wrong. And if they don’t get the soup, the results are psychological death. They’re losers.

In The Secret French Recipes of Sophie Valroux, by Samantha Vérant, French-born American chef Sophie Valroux had one dream: to be part of the one percent of female chefs running a Michelin-starred restaurant. Just when she finds herself on the cusp of getting everything she dreamed of, her career goes up in flames, sabotaged by a fellow chef. Sophie suffered both professional and psychological death, when she loses her confidence as well as her career.

Tips on Writing Deep, 3-Dimensional Characters by @AneMulligan on @BRMCWC #Writing #Writinglife #BRMCWC Share on X

The next important tool is your character’s motivation.

You can actually plot a novel by the character’s motivation. If you know that and communicate it well, your readers will follow your character anywhere. Look at Scarlet O’Hara. Unlikable, we all were glued to the pages of Gone with the Windbecause of her motivation.

Now, let’s take that even deeper. Try giving your character mixed motives. Conflicting motives make characters complex and real.

Examples:

Security & control of her own life (this works well in Christian fiction)
Example: In my book, On Sugar Hill, Cora sought fame in Vaudeville, but fears being looked at too closely. To her close scrutiny meant abuse but love from afar (her audiences) was safe.

Belong & be her own person To belong, a person will blend into the culture. As one’s own person, we tend to throw off that which makes us alike.

Self-actualization by getting promotion but hating her career and wanting to open a bookstore/bakery/restaurant/whatever.

The most gripping motives reveal to us a character’s innermost core or their soul. We’re shaped by our hurts. When a character’s hurts are unique and specific, then that which propels them on their journey—motivates them—paradoxically becomes universal. The deeper you dig into what drives your protagonist, the more readers will be able to connect.

Example: In Chapel Springs Revival, the main character’s motivation was also her conflict. Claire’s motivation was respect/validation. Her lie was all that goes wrong is her fault. When she struggled for respect, she usually went overboard. Then, when something happened, she got blamed. So her motivation became her conflict.

Once you find the mixed motives, relay it to the reader in all the character thinks, says, and does. Make us privy to the character’s every thought. You want your reader so deep inside the POV character’s head, they are experiencing the story—not merely reading it.

Main characters must be merciful or compassionate not just for a single moment, but at their core, they are a person who possesses mercy or compassion. Empathy. In fact, empathy is perhaps the most noble character trait of all. Without it, we would never experience anything good, such as mercy, forgiveness, or grace. We need to show that our heroic character possesses this quality in their soul.

Make their mission matter. 

Whatever it is they’re after, everything depends on it. It needs to matter to them, personally, but it also needs to matter to the reader. We need to feel like it’s important that they accomplish whatever it is they’re pursuing. Otherwise, what’s the point of the story? If it doesn’t matter to us, the story itself doesn’t matter.

To help with this, make sure, as we ramp up to the climax, that we see the importance of the mission in terms of the character’s ultimate fate. For example, if they fail, we know they will “die,” one way or the other. Remember the 3 types of death? They either win or all is lost. There is no room for half measures. The fate of everything comes down to this moment and there will never be another chance for your character to win.

Finally, let them be afraid. 

Whatever it is that your character is facing, they need to truly fear it. It might be because their very life is at stake, or perhaps it’s the lives of others that could be lost if they fail. Whatever it is, however, there is no courage without fear. And whether you choose for them to hide it from the other characters in the story or not, we, the audience, need to see that they are truly afraid. That way, when we see them face their dilemma anyway, it not only makes your character more noble, but also more sympathetic and worthy of our devotion.

We Never Forget Experiences

Instead of merely narrating the story, make the reader privy to the character’s every thought.

Weave in sensory details. Have you ever been caught by a sudden waft of perfume that immediately returned you to a time and place from long ago? If that experience was unpleasant, what are your reactions? Include those in your writing. If it was wonderful, you get nostalgic, don’t you?

We want our readers to feel not simply read when they open our books. Using all of these combined tools will make them feel and experience your books.

Ane doesn’t just wear many hats—she owns the entire store. Author hat. Theatre hat. Artistic peacemaker hat. “Let me tweak that blurb one more time” hat. Somewhere, there’s a stage manager looking for her, because she accidentally rewrote Act Two while adjusting the lobby lighting. She lives in Sugar Hill, GA with her artist husband, a marshmallow of a rottweiler, and a neurotic rescued German shepherd. Find Ane on her website, Facebook, The Write Conversation,and Blue Ridge Conference Blog.