Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A How can I figure out my main character's overall goal?

Put aside the character for a moment, and ask yourself how you want the story to end. Then work backwards to your character. If she is, in fact, your main character, she will have, or develop, a go...

posted 7y ago by Tom Au‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:09:15Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/27967
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Tom Au‭ · 2019-12-08T06:09:15Z (about 5 years ago)
Put aside the character for a moment, and ask yourself how you want the _story_ to end. Then work backwards to your character. If she is, in fact, your main character, she will have, or develop, a goal that is congruent with the story goal.

If you can't do this, maybe you should put your "main character" in a different role, and get another main character. For instance, if your "main character" has everything she wants and all the abilities to get them, maybe you should make her the equivalent of a fairy godmother or good witch of the north (that's perfectly fine), and find yourself a "Cinderella" or a "Dorothy."

Readers see a story through the eyes of a main character. Her success/failure ultimately reflects on the story itself. That's why she needs a goal congruent with the story's goal.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-05-08T20:14:20Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 1