100 Things You Should Know About Writing (Part 1)

6) How to Use Story Goals

Another example of this method is where a character always had this secret goal or dream, and then, for whatever reason, decides to go about making it a reality. One can argue that this is an example of method #3, but it's more of a combination. I'm putting it here simply because the goal exists before the inciting incident, but is only acted on after the inciting incident happens.

2) By having the goal be implied, but keeping it unstated. 

This can be a tricky one to manage, but it can be done. It works this way: 

The main character never mentions the goal per se, but it's what the audience wants. And because the audience wants it, it's the story's goal, and they're going to read to see if it happens. 

An obvious example of this is pretty much (but I know, not completely) the whole boy-meets-girl subgenre in romance. Very rarely does one half of the couple-to-be say: "I want to be with him/her forever and ever and we'll have lots of beautiful babies." Good thing too, because that would be weird. 

However, we as readers know that the characters should be together, and we want to see if (or how) that happens. 

Horrors and disaster films also make use of this method, since the goal of surviving isn't something that needs to be stated or explained. 

Note: Often, the unstated goal is often not the only one in a story. In romances, there will often be another goal, either brought in by methods 1 or 3, which serves to drive the story and to keep the main characters together when they wouldn't do so otherwise. This is especially important in stories where the main characters don't get along in the beginning. 

In disaster or horror films, survival could be the unstated goal while finding a solution to the disaster or horror scenario would be what drives the story.

(Personally, I find most stories where the unstated goal is secondary to be better reading.)

3) By having the inciting incident be the catalyst for a goal. 

I kept this one for last because it's my favorite method for bringing a goal into the story (and it's also arguably the most common way to bring goals into the story). With this method, the main character is basically going about his/her normal day when something happens that changes everything. (If you put this in your blurb, I'll kick your butt.) 

Obviously, that something is the inciting incident, and as a result of it occurring, the main character makes a decision (or is forced) to go after a goal. 

Once this happens, the course of the story is set and the reader needs only to strap in for the ride. Of course, it can still end well or badly for the main character, but the point is that what determines this is whether the goal is achieved. 

Of course, this doesn't mean that the goal has to be achieved for a story to be liked. This, I'll leave up to your creative license.

One last thing I want to address before leaving you to write:

Problems with your goal? 

I'm going to give you a few things to think about (but by no means do I want you to assume these are the only ideas out there.) Without further ado, the issues I find most often related to goals: 

1) The writer thinks something is the goal, when if fact it's something else. This especially happens because the writer thinks the character motivation (more on this soon) or desires and the story goal is the same thing. Yes, a character might want something badly, but unless at least the main plot is about him/her going after that thing, it's not the goal. 

For example: The main character wants to explore the world. 

If the story is about the character running away and traveling around the world: Yes, this is the goal. 

If the story is about the antagonist destroying the main character's life and the main character traveling the world to track down the antagonist so he/she can kill the antagonist... 

Then no, exploring the world isn't the goal. Avenging the destroyed life by killing the antagonist is the goal. 

2) The goal isn't strong enough to carry the whole story. See this is the thing with the goal. It's actually connected to a character's motivation. I am going to get into motivation in Section 11, but basically, character motivation is the reason why behind the reason why, behind the reason why a character does something. No, this isn't a typo. And yes, I know it sounds strange.

But in connection to goals, it works like this: A character will set the goal for a specific reason within themselves. 

Going back to the revenge story I used as an example above. 

The character wants to track down and kill the antagonist. 

Why? 

Because he/she wants revenge. 

Why? 

Because his/her life was destroyed. 

Yes. But why? 

Because all the guy wanted was to live a normal life, maybe see more of the world, and to do so with the people he loves. And the antagonist stole that chance away. 

If you've stopped short of knowing all three why's to the goal, it's not going to be strong enough to support your story. And moreover, it won't even attract the reader enough for them to read more than a few chapters in. But as I said, this is a lesson for another day. 

Wow. I have to say that the response to this book has been phenominal. Since starting, I've received over 360 reads, 25 votes and this book is now ranked 619th for non-fiction on 抖阴社区. So really, I just want to give you a huge thank you for your support. It truly means a lot to me. 

Now, if you've read the recent chapters, you'll know the next bit. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions about this section or writing in general. I will answer you to the best of my ability. If the subject hasn't been covered by previous sections and it inspires me to write a new one, I'll dedicate it to you.

Topics coming up in 100 Things to Know: 

The Real Truth Behind Tension

Beginnings

What Type of 抖阴社区r are You? (Dedicated to JoyCronje)

Character Motivation