I am not necessarily talking here about what motivates the writer, although that is part of what I’m thinking about today, as I have an unexpected day off. Well. Day with less planned than I thought up until Thursday. I also have a novella with about two chapters left to write for the finale. Motivation! now, to figure out just how to lay out the climactic scenes…
Which is where the real motivation questions come in. I have two characters who are motivated clearly, and I can follow what they want and therefore how they will try to accomplish that end. I have a third character who is fear-motivated, which may mean that he will not react rationally (also, not human any longer). I have a fourth character who hasn’t yet come onstage, and although the story has introduced him, it’s been through the lens of one of the first two characters, who didn’t know him all that well, and some time before. As I the author prepare to…
First, play fetch with the cat. Toast keeps bringing me her little crumpled bit of paper and I’m supposed to flick it off the desk so she can leap spectacularly after it, chase it noisily around the room, and finally bring it back to me, only slightly damp from kitty spit. Amusements!
The issue with being a pantser, of course, is that I’m flying through this story by the seat of my pants. I’m feeling my way through a thick fog, and sometimes I can ‘see’ while other times I cannot and that’s a problem for pacing as I write about what I know. I hate to spring surprises on my readers. I mean, they got sprung on me, but is that any excuse for inflicting them on the Gentle Readers? I think not.
Ooh, that’s the death gurgle of the coffeepot. I’m making mocha this morning. A spoonful of dutch-processed cocoa powder into a clean dry mug, first. Pour the hot coffee in slowly, tilting the mug to make sure the cocoa powder is dissolved into the liquid. Don’t put your cream in first, as I usually do when making straight-up coffee, or the cocoa will clump up. Once your cup is as full as you like, a dollop of cream and stir. Dark, rich, slightly-bitter goodness. So chocolately, and no sugar!
The answer to the story conundrum is to write it out, pushing through the awkward uncertainty, until I’m at the end and can look backwards over the plot. Much will become clear at that point, and instead of dithering around I can insert foreshadowing (more than that, that’s not enough. No, even more, readers need it thrice hung with a lantern) that will make it seem as though I knew all along what the mystery was, and gave them enough clues to pick it up (even if I didn’t, such is the textual sleight of hand) along with a few small red herrings. No, not that many red herrings, do you want the story to smell fishy?
As you might have guessed from the composition of this post, my tendency when faced with the unknown is to dither. At least, in writing. In person, it’s instinctive to research, but in it’s own way that too becomes dithering if you don’t wrap it up eventually and make a decision. I have to wonder sometimes how much is too much. Of both sorts of waffling around!
Oooh, waffles… I could make those for breakfast. I have blackberry syrup…
Mad Genius Club 
11 responses to “Motivators”
Motivation is one of those things that authors tend to overcomplicate. Because our characters exist as words on paper we forget their physicality. It can be helpful to ask ourselves how long it has been since a character has eaten or slept or bathed when trying to figure out what they are going to do next. After that, what do they need to do to ensure that they have their needs covered in the foreseeable future?
The big concepts–Revenge, Mystery, True Love, Spiritual Awakening–make terrible motivations in the long term. Those are things that people who have their basic needs covered have the luxury to contemplate at their leisure.
Even someone whose salary depends on arresting a criminal or unravelling a mystery will be at least as concerned with the nuts and bolts of the job as advancing the plot of the story. Someone who witnesses an uncanny event, as in the start of so many Urban Fantasy stories, may wonder what is really going on for a while, but that will generally be eclipsed by ordinary life fairly quickly, unless it keeps happening.
From the character’s perspective “the plot” of a story is usually an interruption of the character’s life, something to be dealt with and put behind him as quickly and easily as possible.
From the character’s perspective “the plot” of a story is usually an interruption of the character’s life, something to be dealt with and put behind him as quickly and easily as possible.
In Dorothy L. Sayers’ Busman’s Honeymoon, Lord Peter & Harriet just want their Honeymoon but it gets interrupted by a murder mystery. 😉
Oh, Dorothy Sayers had said that this story got started after she and other mystery writers complained about murder mysteries that got interrupted by romance, but one of them thought that to the characters their romance was interrupted by a murder mystery. 😀
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a scene where one of my characters was acclaimed as a king, and one of his first acts was to tell them to go off and have breakfast with a bit of mental irritation that they needed him to intervene on something so basic (“I’m not your mother” type sentiments.)
I love that top pic with the girl and the tiger (obviously for those who know me!) where’s it from?
Now, getting to the post!
As someone who is typically a panster, yes! Finish the book first! Leave yourself notes if you have to! Adjust from note point as you move forward (I leave the note in the middle of the written text with a flag so I can search on them later) and go back to clean it up AFTER it’s FINISHED. If I do a ‘mid book rewrite’ I’m not actually rewriting the story, I’m checking notes and check character voices to make sure those are consistent. I may insert minor articles up stream, but these rewrites are only allowed to take a day. I will however, some of the time, write the first chapter at this point. Sometimes it’s better to start at chapter two and not dither over ‘how we got here’ we can figure that out better once we know ‘where we are’.
When I DO plot. My plots would probably give any plotter a heart attack. My plots tend to be pick lists that I check off as I go. They are rarely executed in order. Heck, they are rarely WRITTEN in order! It’s just the things I need to go in there. And it ummm… grows.
Now doing a series, especially a LONG series (like say 18 books) does require plotting. Not of the individual book per se, but of the story arcs and how each book moves it along and addresses the main arc and the sub arcs. While that is more ‘open’ in what it allows in the books, it’s definitely ‘tight’ in what each book is expected to accomplish. Well, at least for me it is.
The image is from a series I was rendering in MidJourney recently, working out some story ideas.
It’s a good pick. Makes me want to write paranormal romance again!
I have to make a little chart with loose ends from books in the series to make sure they get tied up, and plot arcs, so I remember where things are eventually supposed to go, perhaps, maybe, if the characters will cooperate, maybe. Please? Pretty please?
Cat wants waffle syrup.
I find that assigning motives to bit characters to enliven them tends to make them less bit and more minor.
If you want sweet with no sugar try Monk Fruit, I use it in my mocha.
DO NOT get the stuff from your local grocery that is only a couple percent monk fruit and mostly Erythritol, that stuff is not good for you.
Pure monk fruit is strong, 1/64th tsp is about the same as a teaspoon of sugar, so measure, not guess.
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