I’ve been studying lately secrets to making my characters not only unique, but the kind of heroes that cause readers to cry over them. I’ve discovered three secrets that hold the keys to great characterization. Last week I talked about Secret #1: Compassion.

Secret #2 is…Strong motivation – The key to every hero’s guarded behavior is his motivation, or his noble cause. Even if we don’t discover it until half-way through the story, we need hints of what it might be.

Braveheart does a good job of this by setting up the death of his wife. We need that if we’re going to stand beside him through all the warfare.

But, let’s take Jason Bourne – we don’t know much about him. We do know, however, that he was shot, and that it seems like someone is out to get him. We like him, so his freedom is enough of a motivation to justify his actions.

I really love Mission Impossible 3, because the story starts out with a foreshadowing scene where we see Ethan’s fiancé held at gunpoint. For the rest of the movie, we know the story is about him freeing her.

Give us enough of a hint at his motivation to make us believe it and cheer for him, and we’ll stay with him through the good and bad, regardless of what he does!

Next week, in Notes, we’ll be talking about Secret #3!

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