[Silas]

I'll start off by introducing myself since I'm new here. My name is Will and I'm working on my first novel. I've been lurking the forums for about a week just reading old posts, but now I have a dilemma of my own.

My book is a fantasy and I'm trying very hard to write realistic and interesting characters and I think I'm doing well so far. Where I'm stuck is tying character conflict in with the world conflict. I've often seen it done by way of a characters relatives, but that feels overused. And theres always the fantasy books out there where the character's motivation to save the world is "a sense of adventure" which I'm steering clear of.

My main character has no family, no friends, and really no motivation. I've been stopped in my tracks for the last few days just trying to think of a motivation for him to want to "save the world". I know this is a broad question, but I was hoping for a few suggestions to at least get me started.

Thanks :)

[The Lord of all Things Inane]

Welcome, and I know you will find good advice here. The people here are pretty great.
CDN

[N.S. Barrett]

My main character has no family, no friends, and really no motivation. I've been stopped in my tracks for the last few days just trying to think of a motivation for him to want to "save the world". I know this is a broad question, but I was hoping for a few suggestions to at least get me started.

Thanks :)

Well, people who live in a world usually want to save said world to save the things in it that are important to them personally. Forgive the tautological answer.

My question is why your character has no friends and no motivation. Is he unfriendly? Is he lazy? Is he a maniacal killer?

You can be tempted to think of being lazy, a loner, etc. as a lack of motivation, but actually there are things going on there that a person actually does care about that lead him to be like that. He could be a loner because he values his own thoughts, his art, or something that he gains psychologically from being alone. That's important to him. Now, it may take some tangible intrusion for your character to realize that he cares about saving the world. I think of the Ents in the LOTR movies; they didn't care about Sauron until he started cutting down their trees.

Likewise if he's lazy, it's usually because he wants to enjoy a particular thing without having to work for it. That thing is a motivation for him. See Peter Gibbins in the movie Office Space. He works really hard for the stated motivation of being able to sit around all day and do nothing.

If your character is a killer, killing is likely enjoyable for him, and is a motivation. There have been a few SF stories I have read where a character raises people like chattel so he can kill them, then he gets upset when someone else comes in and kills his slaves before he can. Your character might want to save the world only so he can destroy it himself.

Clausewitz said that the Conqueror is always a lover of peace: he would prefer to take over land unopposed. I always thought that interesting. It shows that at the center of every unjust pursuit is a normal, ordinary desire. And without that ordinary, albeit misguided, desire, we would never be able to write about lazy or perverse characters. They just wouldn't fit into the structure of drama.

If none of this rings a bell, maybe the issue is that you simply haven't thought of solid motivations for your character. You might be going about the story having thought of a really compelling plot, and all you need to do is fit some Everyman into it. If this is the case, I have two things to say:

First, you really can't ignore character motivations, even in the most plot-driven story. You need to at least show the reader some warm-cuddly in Everyman's life, if for no other reason than to make him seem real. In this regard, you can often get away with even the most cliche of romances (see Goodkind).

Second, it's possible that the all-star plot isn't really that good. My opinion is that the most compelling plots are not those where you're taken to some faraway cave with a mystical creature. As the reader, you're really just seeing the author's words on the page, not the actual adventure. What drives me as a reader is when I can put the story in terms of what I'm familiar with myself as a human being. And the author can really send me for a whirl when he puts these things into a conflict that I've never thought of before, or leads me to question some assumption I've made about them. This kind of thing will always involve deep characterization and compelling, realistic motivations. And that gives the legs for a really unique plot to stand on.

[kmtolan]

My main character has no family, no friends, and really no motivation.
Thanks :)

Bingo.

Your character might at this point be more of an idea or place holder until you fill him or her out. They can stumble into a world event in the unfolding, or be a victim of it. Or perhaps a good friend or family member. I doubt this is an often-used device because too many heroes tend to spring out of the ground without any background. Often, the world event smacks them right in the face, and gets things spinning. I always drag in friends and family - they are a wonderful source of both drama and introspection.

Kerry

[txshusker]

I'll start off by introducing myself since I'm new here. My name is Will and I'm working on my first novel. I've been lurking the forums for about a week just reading old posts, but now I have a dilemma of my own.

My book is a fantasy and I'm trying very hard to write realistic and interesting characters and I think I'm doing well so far. Where I'm stuck is tying character conflict in with the world conflict. I've often seen it done by way of a characters relatives, but that feels overused. And theres always the fantasy books out there where the character's motivation to save the world is "a sense of adventure" which I'm steering clear of.

My main character has no family, no friends, and really no motivation. I've been stopped in my tracks for the last few days just trying to think of a motivation for him to want to "save the world". I know this is a broad question, but I was hoping for a few suggestions to at least get me started.

Thanks :)

What in your world is worth saving and how does it relate to your character?

Stephen Donaldson's Covenant character starts off much like yours. He's been cut off by every living human soul due to his disease - his growing bitterness, mental need to isolate himself and society's disgust for him all hammering at him. His ex-wife ignores him and does not let him see his son. he is totally alone. He is summoned to the Land, the same acerbic, dislikable man.

His journey then, both physical and mental, shows his internal growth and his burgeoning love of its people and the Land itself, and thus, by the end, he's willing to sacrifice himself - bodily and soulfully - for the Land and its people.

So he starts off with no motivation except to live through it and ends up a very different individual, wanting to save the world... all within the tale of epic fantasy.

I'm not saying you copy that, of course... but it was one take on yor initial inquiry.

[Laer Carroll]

A lot of good suggestions about the WHY of saving the world.

Another crucial question is HOW? One individual saving an entire world? How is that even remotely possible?

The world today has about 7 BILLION people. It covers a huge planet of oceans, land, lakes, mountains, deserts, etc. All tied together very piecemeal with a global communication system.

Dial back a few centuries to the Napoleonic war. We still find an enormous geographical area, such as Western Europe and the eastern Atlantic. Horatio Hornblower was crucial in rescuing that world because he played increasingly pivotal roles in sea battles.

Frodo in Lord of the Rings was a savior because he sought to destroy a small but powerful super-controller of several other rings of power.

I'd worry less about motivation than "saving the entire world." The plot has to focus on some crucial actions and limited arena to work.

[Silas]

My question is why your character has no friends and no motivation. Is he unfriendly? Is he lazy? Is he a maniacal killer?

My character has been shunned by society. He has learned to live without depending on other people, and in the process, has developed a resentment for them.

Also, thanks for all of the great suggestions, NS. I knew if i posted my problem someone would help, but this detailed breakdown of my dilemma is more than I'd hoped for.

Stephen Donaldson's Covenant character starts off much like yours. He's been cut off by every living human soul due to his disease - his growing bitterness, mental need to isolate himself and society's disgust for him all hammering at him. His ex-wife ignores him and does not let him see his son. he is totally alone. He is summoned to the Land, the same acerbic, dislikable man.

This character is very much like mine in that he is totally isolated and disliked by society. My character prefers to be isolated, and lives that way until the world conflict drags him out of his shack in the woods.

Another crucial question is HOW? One individual saving an entire world? How is that even remotely possible?

I was using the "saving the world" cliche to represent my "world conflict" which doesn't actually threaten the entire planet, just my characters' world. Although my book is a fantasy, I really want to focus on realism, so this question is very relevant. I'll have to give this some deep thought.

Thanks for all of the responses, guys. I knew you all would be helpful! I think I've found a good way to bring my character into the main conflict without it seeming cliche or unrealistic.

[N.S. Barrett]

My character has been shunned by society. He has learned to live without depending on other people, and in the process, has developed a resentment for them.

You got resentment, there you go. You've got a character that presents what I'd call a dramatic question. The resentment doesn't sit well with the reader, and in a good way. They will ask themselves whether the character will end up resentful at the end of the book, and as long as you dangle things in front of them that cause them to question even further, they'll read on.

I remember studying a short story called "The Cathedral" in a writing class I took. It was about a guy who was prejudiced against blind people interacting with a blind person. He ends the story having drawn a picture of a cathedral with him, realizing without the author ever saying it outright that blind people are "ok". Very good structure to the drama. Ask a question, raise doubt, resolve the question.

[Lucanus]

Pick up a Hero of a Thousand Faces. Your guy sounds like a blend between an "Unwilling Hero" and "Loner Hero" archetype if I remember the different classifications right. It's been a few years since I have read it. My point in saying that is that do not fear there is a definite way of making this guy work. Think Bilbo Baggins. It took a bunch of dwarves and a wizard to push him out of Bag End but he went and did a pretty decent job of playing the hero. :)

[Ramirez]

Most motivation is driven from self. Some characters are selfless, but often these characters aren't as interesting to read about. The notion of saving the world makes one ask "What is the world to the character?". Think about what the character cares about and what the world is in their eyes. Money is always a good motivation, one that nobody can ever doubt. Deeper than money is life. Tell man he'll die if he doesn't save the world (which is often the case, seeing as he relies on the world to live in the first place) and he'll do anything within his power to save the world in order to keep himself from death.