Need not Want

[The quest: source]

I've been blogging on writing in a more literary fashion.  Recently, I've been hearing youtubers talk about what does and what does not work about certain recently released movies.  One point that stuck out to me was something I'll need to watch in my own writing.  It's that a good story needs to be driven by needs, not wants.  It's not enough for your character to want to win a contest, find love, or whatever other goal your character might have.  Not only that, but if your story is just a series of happenstances in which your character is just there, just happens to be where the plot needs him/her for the story to happen, your reader won't be sufficiently engaged.  If your character is not truly invested in the quest for whatever it is, not truly driven by their need, your reader won't be, either.

[source]

For instance, think of MacBeth.  The protagonist feels a driving need to become king, to kill whomever he needs to kill to gain power.  Whenever he flags in his commitment, his wife is there to push him through the sheer force of her need.  The reader may not love MacBeth or his wife, but audiences and readers for centuries have found the story compelling because of this all-consuming need.

Hamlet is pushed along by his late father's need for vengeance.  Because of his equal need to be sure of every step before he takes it, his story becomes a study in what not to do.  He's torn by two equal and opposite needs.  A character with a clear motivation, a driving need, fascinates and compels the reader forward.

[source]

Meanwhile, a weakly written book or movie might just feature a character who is and always feels like a puppet of the narrative.  He makes no choices, feels no real motivation, but moves forward because the story--not any internal drive, fear, passion, etc.--pushes him forward.  Such stories are forgotten as quickly as they appear because we feel no connection to a character that, himself, is not connected to the story.  It doesn't spring from his need, his fear, his loss, or anything reflecting the human condition.

Readers want clear motivation.  They identify with strong passions.  If your character's passions and weaknesses push and pull the story, answered by their mirror or foil in an opponent, your story will hold together and stay strong.

Out of Time

I've been mostly blogging about writing in a more literary fashion.  One literary device that should only be used intentionally is anachronism.  This is when something appears at the wrong time, as in a medieval prince wearing sneakers or an ancient Greek using a flashlight.  When you use it in such a way that both reader and you understand you're using it intentionally for humor or for such plot devices as time or space travel, the reader understands the clever twist and sees how it fits into your story, highlighting the differences between the anachronistic character, symbol, setting, etc. and what is going on around it. 

[source]

Many stories use anachronism for humor and/or meaning.  For example, Genie in Disney's "Aladdin" is so funny because he appears in a Medieval world, yet he becomes or references modern figures.  He is so charming because we as the audience and the readers all know everything he says or does is out of time.  His world becomes relevant and relatable for a modern reader because his behaviors tie our worlds together.  Twain's Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is all about a character that travels from the modern world  to the time of King Arthur.  The protagonist's knowledge and thought processes that reflect modern times make him our entry point to discover and understand the Dark Ages. 

[source]

Anachronism becomes a problem when it's unintentional.  Scholars or even people who know a fair amount about a time period, diagnosis, cultural phenomenon, etc. will lose interest in your piece fairly quickly if an anachronism (or similar issue) is clearly and obviously unintentional.  My husband was thrown out of Braveheart the novel, mentally, when a character struck a match long before matches were invented.  Similarly, he'll watch a movie with an eye toward cars, guns, and fashion.  If something is out of place, it frustrates him on every level. The story loses its pull and magic.

[source]

 
How do you avoid unintentional anachronism?  Know the material.  Study far more than you're ever going to use.  Know the time period, the culture, whatever it is you're writing about.  If possible, find an expert on the topic and have him/her look over your piece.  And if you're going to use intentional anachronism, make sure it's clear that you're using it and that there is a clear reason for using it.