Tuesday's Writer's Tip - From Idea to Finished Book WHY? #MFRWauthor #amwriting #Tips

Now you know when your story is taking place and where the action is. You also know what the character desires to obtain. Let's look at Why.

For me the why is this. A character wants something but why does she want this. This gets into motivation. Does he or she want revenge and this could be the why of a suspense or a mystery story. Perhaps some other kind of story.

Do they want love? Do they want money? Why they want these things is important and becomes part of their character, something I'll look at next.

I've looked at my stories and have found all kinds of whys. Also I've also seen Character A has a reason for wanting something and Character B has a reason the other person should not get their wish. These conflicting whys make for a good story. If there is no one or nothing to compete with the character who wants to obtain a goal, all you have is a sketch.

The Why of a story can change during the writing. What the character wanted when the story opens may not be what they end up wanting. Let's look at that revenge bit. Mary hates Joe. She believes he has harmed ehr or someone she loves. She wants revenge. In the course of the story she can learn a number of things. She could be angry at the wrong person. She could learn the one she wanted revenge for really deserved what happened to them.

There are many ways to play with the why of a story but if it's missing, the story is nothing more than words with no punch