How To Write Believable Character Motivations In A Novel
Characters are the heart of your story. Their actions, decisions, and the emotions that drive them forward shape the plot and the reader’s engagement with the narrative. But for a character to truly resonate with readers, their motivations must feel real and understandable. A character whose motivations are clear, complex, and consistent becomes not just a figure on the page, but a person with depth and authenticity. When motivations are believable, they allow readers to connect with characters on an emotional level, even when the characters make choices that are difficult or morally ambiguous. A piece of advice I share with people I mentor a great deal is: your characters should live off the page. That also means that they have to have wants, desires and motivations that exist in the reader’s head as well as their own.
Understanding Character Motivation
Character motivation refers to the driving force behind a character’s actions, decisions, and desires. It is the reason why a character does what they do. Every action a character takes, whether it's pursuing a goal, overcoming a challenge, or reacting to a situation, should be informed by their motivations. At its core, motivation is about what a character wants and why they want it. These desires can be external (such as acquiring a job or defeating an enemy) or internal (such as seeking validation or overcoming self-doubt).
Believable character motivation stems from a deep understanding of who the character is—what drives them, what they fear, and what they value. A character whose motivations are grounded in their personality, history, and relationships will feel like a real person, capable of making choices that make sense given their circumstances.
Ask yourself the following questions about, at the very least, your central character:
What do they think they want?
What do they tell others they want?
What do they not yet realise they want?
This becomes a last question: What do they really want?
This provides a perfect arc for managing your character’s (changing) motivations across a book.
And so you must ground those (changing) motivations in the development of their character. A character’s motivations should be deeply tied to their past, experiences, personality traits, and their current psychological and emotional state. When motivations come from within the character—rather than being imposed externally—they feel more authentic and compelling.
Backstory and History
A character’s history is a crucial element in shaping their motivations. The experiences a character has had in the past—whether traumatic, formative, or joyous—will influence their desires and fears in the present. For example, a character who grew up in poverty may be driven by a need for financial security or success, while a character who lost someone close to them may be motivated by the desire for revenge or justice.
By exploring a character’s backstory, you can identify key events or relationships that shape how they perceive the world and what they want from life. If you understand your character’s past, you can make sure that their motivations align with that history, adding layers of depth and richness to their decisions.
Personality and Values
A character’s personality traits also play a significant role in shaping their motivations. Whether they are introverted or extroverted, idealistic or pragmatic, cautious or impulsive—all of these personality traits will affect what motivates them.
For example, an idealistic character may be motivated by a desire to change the world, even at great personal cost, while a more pragmatic character may be motivated by self-preservation or the pursuit of comfort and stability. Understanding your character’s values—what they believe is important or worth pursuing—helps make their motivations believable. A character who values loyalty, for instance, may be driven by the need to protect their loved ones, even if it puts them in harm’s way.
Know Their Psychology
Understanding your character’s psychology provides powerful insight into a character’s motivations. A character who feels unworthy or rejected may be motivated by a need for validation or acceptance. A character who feels threatened by the loss of control may be motivated by the desire to maintain power and stability.
Motivations rooted in these deeper psychological needs not only make sense but can also resonate strongly with readers, who may recognize similar desires or fears within themselves.
Clear Motivations Are Best
One of the most important aspects of believable motivation is clarity. A character’s motivation should be clear, specific, and consistent with their personality, desires, and fears. Vague or contradictory motivations can confuse readers and weaken the emotional impact of the story. Your character will have both short-term and long-term goals, and both can inform their motivation. A character’s pursuit of short-term goals may sometimes conflict with their long-term aspirations, creating inner conflict that drives their decisions and actions throughout the story.
By giving your characters clear goals—something concrete they want to achieve—you make it easier for readers to understand why they act the way they do. This does not mean that you have to sacrifice subtlety (although in many novels, being very, very upfront is best). Rather, what it means is that whether you are writing a literary novel or a fantasy epic or a romantic comedy, keep asking the questions:
What do they think they want?
What do they tell others they want?
What do they not yet realise they want?
What do they really want?
This arc will never let you down.
But Motivations Can Still Be Complex
In many novels, especially those with strong thematic or philosophical elements, it’s essential to bring complexity to your character’s motivations. Few people are motivated by just one thing, and even fewer make decisions that are entirely black-and-white. Let your character agonise over the morality of their motivations or having split loyalties.
Motivations can be complex in several ways. A character who appears to be motivated solely by a need for fame (external quest) may actually be driven by a need to prove their worth to others (internal quest). These internal motivations will be revealed more gradually, and will become the true heart o the character’s journey.
A character who wants to do the right thing but also has a personal desire (for example, vengeance) has to resolve the complex tensions in what they want. A character searching for their missing sister might also resent her for some wrong she did them, and this will make their search more complicated, and might even conceal some dark secret that drives the narrative. And so you can see how complex motivations often drive plot.
Test Your Character’s (Changing) Motivations
A strong character arc involves transformation of the character. Therefore, characters will often experience a shift in motivation as they themselves change. This evolution should feel natural, arising from their arc of transformation.
It’s important to periodically test your character’s motivations to show whether or not they are consistent with the start or have shifted.
Does my character’s behavior align with their motivations now?
Do their actions reflect what they truly want or fear now?
Where and what are the moments where my character’s motivations evolved?
Is there any moment where my character acts in a way that contradicts their established motivations? And if so, does that show a) inconsistency on my part as a writer b) complexity in the nature of the motivation or c) that the motivation itself has changed?
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