There is a belief that characters are merely a tool. They are cogs to move your plot from point A to point B. If the plot needs something to happen, then the characters need to change to fit the plot.
Another way to write fiction is character driven. The plot isn't what you work out first; strong and interesting characters are your first step. Then the plot merely follows them as they get themselves into trouble and reach for their goals.
What makes a strong, interesting character? Two things stand above the rest: motivations and goals. To define these, I'm going to use the definition Randy Ingermason uses in his
Snowflake Method:
The character's motivation is what he/she wants abstractly.
The character's goal is what he/she wants concretely.
Once you've settled this information for at least one of your characters you can set your sights for the story.
For example, we have a protagonist who really wants a cup of coffee. This is his goal. His motivation will be that he's really thirsty and craving coffee.
Using just this character we know that our protagonist will leave his location and go to a coffee shop and get coffee. After all, he wouldn't make it if he wants a really good coffee.
This is a very boring story idea as there's no conflict, so we need to add an antagonist for our plucky hero. So we add conflict, in the form of a pedestrian toll both on the way to the coffee house. This is an obstacle but to make it more interesting, we'll have a guard on duty. Now, remember, this is a character driven story, so our guard needs a motivation and a goal.
Our guard is going to be motivated by his duty. He has a job, and he intends to do a damn good work. That makes his motivation and goal closely related.
With this knowledge we now know our plot is going to involve a meeting between our coffee drinker and our guard, and our coffee drinker is going to have to make a decision: pay the toll, or try to avoid it somehow.
From our motivation and goal we can extrapolate further information. Is someone driven by thirst likely to remember the extra money for the toll? That's a decision only you can decide.
Workshop Assignment:
Create an outline for a short story using two characters. Remember your characters should have a motivation and goal. Explain in each point of the outline how the motivation or goal of one or the other character is affecting the story.
We will then discuss the posted plots and work on improving our character driven plots.
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