Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25236
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25236
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I think this is a great question, and I commend you on your self-awareness.

If you're having trouble conceiving of a drive for your hero on your own, I suggest you go through some of your favorite books — books that you enjoy, books which click, books you re-read — and try to pick apart what the hero's drive is.

Some examples off the top of my head:

- _By the Sword,_ Mercedes Lackey: The heroine is a mercenary. Her primary drive is to stay alive and employed so she can continue to feed/clothe/shelter herself, and then secondarily when she becomes captain, to lead her people with the minimum number of casualties. So **survival** and **responsibility.**
- The Sherlock Holmes stories: **Solving the puzzle.** That's it. That's all Holmes needs. He has to solve the puzzle. Might be a crime, might just be a mystery, but without a puzzle, his mind tears itself to pieces.
- Any given romance: **Love.** A loves B, B loves A; A pines for B, B is married to C; A and B met on a train and have to reconnect, et cetera.
- The Harry Potter series: I'm sure there will be discussion of this, but generally, Harry wants to **survive** Voldemort and the Death Eaters and their repeated attempts on his life, and stop Voldemort from taking over the world. He also wants to avenge his parents, but I never read that as his main purpose. **Passing high school** is not an inconsiderable drive for him either.
- The Belgariad: **fulfilling a prophecy** and averting the end of the world.
- The Maggie Hope mysteries: **It's her job.** Maggie is working for the British government during WWII, and has various assignments. Protect the princess, get such-and-such smuggled across the border, find the murderer. Even if she might not have had personal stakes in the problem, she's been ordered to do something.

Now go through some other books and see if you can figure out what drives the protagonist.

Original score: 3