Create Strong Character Goals
A compelling and engaging story is always about a main character who is trying to pursue something deeply important to them. In writing circles, we call this object of pursuit the “story goal,” and it’s one of the fundamental hooks in your book.
You want your reader to root for your main character. But what if your reader doesn’t know your character’s goals? Or worse, what if your reader doesn’t care if your main character succeeds or fails? If either of these two issues are present, then your story won’t keep your reader interested for long.
In this article, I break down the process of how to create a strong character goal and give you some discovery prompts to test if your character’s story goal is strong enough so you can be sure your readers will be hooked from start to finish.
Let’s hop to it!
WHAT IS A STORY GOAL?
A story goal in fiction is what your main character wants more than anything in this world. They believe, soul-deep, that this thing they want will solve all their problems. They believe this thing they want will change their life for the better. Their desire is so strong, they will walk through fire to attain it.
Except…
They didn’t understand that getting the “thing” they want would be so dang difficult. Worse, it turns out that they’re forced to change some of their ways if they want to succeed. If they’d only known that getting the girl meant they’d first have to ditch their egotistical attitude, then maybe they don’t want that girl after all.
So there! Right?
And yet . . . that girl . . . your main character can’t get her off their mind. Why? Why is she, like, always, in their thoughts?
GENERIC VERSUS SPECIFIC GOAL
Often, when we first map out our character’s goals, we might start with a generic overview. Example: My character wants to fall in love.
Great. But it’s probably safe to say that your character doesn’t want to fall in love with just anyone. They’ve got some standards, right? They want someone who enjoys camping beneath the stars, values honesty, is a safe driver, has zero allergies, and will laugh at their stupid jokes. Those criteria narrow the playing field a lot.
Fair, but if the mission to fall in love comes down to finding someone who ticks all the boxes, then where’s the conflict? Where’s the tension? I mean, there are eight billion-ish people in the world. With a little time and a little patience, odds are your character will eventually find someone to love. This can make your reader feel like the story problem isn’t really a problem, and they’ll start to get bored.
So, that’s why a generic goal doesn’t generate enough narrative drive. A strong character goal is supremely specific + supremely personal + supremely difficult to achieve.
What if we make that goal a bit more concrete and tangible? Something like: “My character can’t get Jennifer from accounting off his mind. Even though she’s married to her work, is allergic to practically everything under the sun (including the sun), and seems to have no clue he exists, he knows she’s the one.”
Ahh. Specific. We have a name and character description for the love interest, ensuring no other girl would fit the bill. We also have a sense that the character’s mission for love won’t be an easy job.
We love it when characters suffer!
The other benefit to creating a specific goal means the reader will know whether your character is successful or not. Your character might go on a bunch of dates with other women, and he may tell himself that he’s happy and fulfilled. But the reader will know better. The only person that lights up your character’s life is Jennifer from accounting.
CHARACTER MOTIVATION
Every goal has a motivation. No matter how inane the goal is, there’s always a reason behind it.
Samantha must get to work on time or else she’ll be fired.
Zach wants to lead his lacrosse team to the state championship because he’ll earn the MVP award that he’s missed out on three years in a row.
Liam is desperate to find the treasure his grandfather hid so that he can save the family home.
The WHY explains your character’s obsession, desperation, mission, one-track mind—this helps your reader understand and believe the character’s efforts.
If your WHY isn’t strong enough, then your readers won’t buy that your main character would bother with the struggle, the agony, the heartbreak, the rejection, the misery.
THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
If it’s easy or obviously possible for your character to be victorious with their mission, then you’re writing a flat, predictable plot.
And your reader will bail.
A mission filled with complications helps you create a tense and high-stakes plot, which is important in hooking your reader along for the 300+-page ride.
Your character’s mission to attain their story goal must be filled with ups and downs and fraught with obstacles and danger*. If your character’s mission isn’t the most difficult and soul-searching experience of their entire life, then your story will sag and drift aimlessly.
In other words, your readers won’t care if the character asks Jennifer from accounting out or not because they stopped reading.
*Don’t get hung up on the word “danger.” Danger is relative. A fifteen-year-old girl can feel like she’s in dangerous territory if she gets the lead in the school play over the school’s darling.
INTERNAL CHANGE + ULTIMATE GROWTH
Throughout the Mission Impossible, we’ll see how your character might come close to victory, only to be shattered by disappointment and re-routed by setbacks. We’ll also witness their emotional reactions to their struggle. They should be questioning, debating, resisting, and fighting various obstacles throughout the book.
The outer struggle is not for nothin’. In fact, the outer struggle provides opportunities for your main character to change and grow on the inside.
Eventually, your character will realize that they’ll never be victorious if they don’t change their ways.
VICTORY OR DEFEAT
Your character’s victory or defeat should be a detailed event that your readers can witness as it plays out upon the page. This event is a scene; it’s not buried in narrative or exposition.
Now remember, the story goal is important to your protagonist because they believe that is the thing that will solve all of their problems, improve their life, make everything better.
They will be wrong.
Let’s review the section on Internal Change + Ultimate Growth, because it directly applies to whether your character will be victorious, suffer defeat, or perhaps a little bit of both.
If your character is on a positive character arc, they’ll change the things about themselves that have made it impossible to attain their story goal.
If your character is on a negative character arc, they might see that they have things to change about themselves, but they choose not to, and so they fail to get their story goal.
Both of those arcs could also result in a bittersweet outcome. The character might change their ways but lose the thing they want, for example.
If the story goal was the real solution to all their problems, then there’d be no story. The true fix comes from making a change internally. And that takes work.
There’s something in their internal landscape that’s flawed—a basic NEED they’re missing. That is the main reason they can’t get the thing they want.
SETTING UP THE GOAL AND THE NEED
At the beginning of your story, your protagonist is all about the thing they want (GOAL). They tell themselves that if they just get [GOAL], then they’re complete. The journey that ensues ultimately teaches them that if they want the goal so darn bad, they’re gonna have to suck up some self-improvement lessons (NEED).
An egotistical guy won’t get the girl of his dreams. Or, if he does, he’ll end up losing her because his ego causes problems between them. If guy wants to keep the girl, he must change his egotistical ways. Depending on your story, the ending will either be sweet (he learns to treat her with respect and they become a couple), or the ending will be bitter (he fails to do both), or the ending will be bittersweet (he’ll be victorious with either the goal or the need, but suffer defeat with the other).
For the goal and the need to work seamlessly, they have to have a logical relationship with each other. For example, greed is a fantastic flaw for someone who is ambitious and is angling for a job promotion. However, greed may not pose that much problem for someone whose goal is to protect their sister from a bully.
As you set up a goal-need relationship, be sure to complicate your character’s mission with some false victories and false defeats.
False Victories—where your character thinks they’ve succeeded in getting their desire, and False Defeats—where your character thinks they’ve screwed everything up to the point they’ll never succeed.
The back-and-forth, up-and-down, will they win-will they lose pattern throughout your protagonist’s journey is not just to stymie your protagonist—it’s also providing opportunities for them to learn from their mistakes and begin to change as a result.
WHAT IS AT STAKE?
This circles back somewhat to the character’s motivation, but I want to emphasize this piece in another way.
There needs to be something at stake if your character succeeds or fails in their mission.
If your character doesn’t stand to lose or gain something (or someone) with all of this hoopla, then what is the point?
The strongest, most compelling goal that grips a reader is one that’s personal to the main character. It must cause unexpected tension and trouble. (Bonus Points if that tension and trouble affects not just your main character, but others they care about.) The character’s efforts to attain the goal must land them directly into their greatest fears. The Mission Impossible must test your character to see what they’re really and truly made of.
When the journey forces your character to walk through fire, then you know you’ve created a strong, believable goal that makes readers root for your character’s success.
DISCOVERY TIME
Test your character goals with these prompts:
My character wants {insert story goal} because {insert reason}
List out what makes this goal tangible + personal:
The idea or hope of accomplishing {story goal} makes the character feel {insert emotion}
When the character feels {write emotion from prompt #2 above}, then they believe all their problems will be fixed such as {list out what your character’s struggles are}
The character will no longer feel {negative emotion or limiting belief} once they achieve {story goal} because this is how it will fix everything: {insert your character’s justification}
If my character fails to achieve their goal, then {specify tragic, negative, or unwanted outcome}
Readers will understand what success or failure looks like for my character because their goal has this clear and tangible outcome: {describe it here}
CHIME IN! WHAT IS YOUR PROTAGONIST’S STORY GOAL? IS IT STRONG ENOUGH TO KEEP A READER ENGAGED? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS!
HAVE A WRITERLY DAY!