Characters and Motive

Characters and motive:

I am frequently asked how I create characters and this is a piece of the answer that I came up with as to how I see the character I'm trying to create.

Categories of motive: External
Survival-safety
Fear of world
Fear of losing basics, food, warmth, shelter, health, pleasure
Pleasure
Hedonism, sex, great food, culture, games; actually anything that character enjoys
Dominance
Tyranny, power, social standing, competition, respect and admiration
Acquisition
Greed, wealth, power, material collections (great art etc), gaining possession of things, material collecting
Curiosity
Voyeurism, learning, searching, solving mysteries, investigating, knowing what’s below the surface of the iceberg
Mastery
Perfection, excellence, conquest, discipline, achievement, challenge
Reproduction
Children to hand possessions and name down to
Sex or possession of a beautiful wife, family building

Internal Motives
Autonomy
Isolation, self sufficiency, freedom, non-confinement, affiliation, conformity, security, cooperation, loyal, clean
Love
Ownership, connection, comfort, security, not being alone, passion, sex, approval, giving
Revenge
Justice, righting wrongs, on a vendetta, recompense for grievance, seeking validation for point of view
Guilt
Denial, responsibility, shame, punishment(avoiding, or courting), seeking redemption, forgiveness
Identity
Self-centered, self esteem, self knowledge, is he aware of his strengths, weaknesses, does he avoid conflict, is he confused as to what he thinks, want peace at any cost, seeking escape or confrontation, trying to avoid anxiety, or death
Spirituality
Fetishism, religion, transcendence, transformation, Seeking growth, fearing decay, aging, seeking learning, wisdom, maturity
Ambition
Insecurity, wants to become more secure through money, to allay anxiety, fear, failure, inferiority, stress, wants vindication, can rationalize success proves self, or can try to succeed as an apology for past failures.

Is the person’s motivation primarily internal or external? These are some of the questions I ask myself as I create the character and try to make that character natural and as normal or abnormal as a real person might be. As you can see motive is a far reaching and diverse thing.