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.

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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.

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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.