How to Create a Strong Goal for Your Novel's Main Character

[@LouisPhilippeStLaurent]

Has anyone here come to the same conclusion as me? This video isn't only good advice for character development, it's SOLID life advice! "If you have just an overall sense that something isn't right, it's very likely that's coming from an unclear goal." Every teenager on the planet should hear those words!! =)

[@anirudgoud5379]

The knowlege of one field can be in general used for other fields. Not as it is, but how it is. The problem solving mindset of engineering, the intricate knowledge of self and world in writing, human nature in politics, discipline in army... all these knowledge bits are part of a greater whole. We learn a bit and treat it as a seperate entity but ultimately they're all pieces of a single puzzle.

[@Carlos-to9yt]

That's so, so true. I'm a teenager myself and I see this all the time in the people around me and my friends. And my self! People just do what the others/majority/crowd is doing to fit in. I hope I didn't misunderstand you.

[@katyfive1]

@Mihael Keehl perhaps they were the wrong goals - the same with characters - sometimes achieving a goal makes you realize something new about yourself or life, which may lead you to a better path. Life is all about making mistakes and learning from them. All the best!

[@MeelisMatt]

no issue with being a kid or teenager is everybody around has right to voce their opinion but when you do everybody else is right. so it's you against the world. and if you are grown adult you already wasted time with those people who didn't flow with you.

[@teddymarkov6741]

You're advices are so good I almost feel bad for getting them for free! Thank you for doing this - it is really useful and nice to watch!

[@DanSZiegler]

Ellen, have you considered participating in Patreon?

[@edensylvester13]

haha I feel the same way

[@BudsCartoon]

1:20 - I'm going to start checking out more of your videos, that made INSANE sense in regard to what I'm writing. I'm writing a 150 year old story about a real, but unknown, character and real events. The story is wrapped up in a real murder trial that takes place 20 years later with the person, but the meat and potatoes of the story is their crazy life story 25 years earlier, all true but unknown to 99.999% of people, probably less. I'm working off a few dozen old newspaper clips, so I'm doing a LOT of character building and story twisting. I know up up against 'no defined goal,' besides survival against all odds. Their goals progress throughout, but there are a dozen built in incidents and two handfuls of amazing real characters. I have a general story line about their environment, the city, the politics, corruption, etc, and I hope I'm good enough to keep the meat and potatoes warm enough while the 20 year later murder trial unfolds intermittently.

[@SeattleCipher]

I have missed your videos, thank you for doing this on KZbin.

[@AnnaGlin]

honestly, I struggle to even begin. I wouldn't say I'm not creative, but storytelling doesn't come so naturally to me - do you think one can learn this kind of thing from scratch? and if yes, how?

[@EllenBrock]

Yes, you can definitely learn to create stories. For those who struggle with storytelling, the best thing you can do is to learn the basics: plot, characterization, scene structure. Then you will know exactly what you need to think of to fill in the blanks and it becomes more of a logic puzzle, which will eliminate that feeling of starting from scratch without direction. Hope this helps!

[@AnnaGlin]

Ellen Brock yes it helps, thank you very much :) I enjoy your videos, looking forward to more of this series!

[@kylereasterson5934]

That was a really great answer.

[@DaDunge]

Anything can be learned if one has enough will and determination to do so, some will have an easier time than others though. I disagree with Ellen on how though I would recommend writing exercises. Instructions are great don't get me wrong but at some point exercise is the only way forward. Remember if you write one page you're pleased with for every twenty you discard then that's a win. Heck the discarded pages a re a win to, because in realising they are bad you have trained your ability to tell good writing from bad one. When it comes to specific exercises there are tools for that on the internet.

[@calin6327]

Watch brandon Sanderson lectures

[@Eden-xy7gk]

Thanks for the advice, the idea of "a selfish goal" is genius, I never thought of it, my story feels so much more layered!

[@xelacremant7396]

Thank you SO MUCH. I am working on the final details of a novel I have been writing for years, and your advice helps tremendously in pinpointing where I need to makje changes. Literally all your videos have at least one tip that makes me think 'oh shit, she's right, I need to address that'. It's fantastic, it makes the work go so much faster. Thank you a million !

[@lilypond5158]

You are a life saver, I've always known that my character had goals but hadn't quite figured out her motivations

[@Mary-eo7ir]

I accidentally made all of my characters friends way more interesting and likeable than her.

[@hpwdesigns]

verifiedmartian not the worst thing ever. see: Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins, etc

[@turquoisesupreme3453]

I mostly look for my "driver" character and treat the rest of the cast as part of the environment. I also create a complimentary storyline that fills that informs the reader on details I may not have time for in the mainstoryline.

[@katiek2615]

Same

[@georgerobins4110]

I have literally written out/replaced uninteresting MCs before lol

[@GuytFromWayBack]

I accidentally my whole manuscript

[@samforsyth]

Ellen, I've participated in the previous blog post boot camp format which i really loved... but i have to say i think this video format is going to blow it out of the water. this was a great first post for the Boot Camp. thank you :)

[@EllenBrock]

Thanks Sam! That's awesome to hear from someone who participated in the text versions of Novel Boot Camp. It's always risky to change formats, so I'm really glad it has been well received so far.

[@Celestial_Wing]

Hey Ellen, can I send you one of my chapters to read and evaluate?

[@maryday6655]

You're so talented, Ellen. It's great to see you back! :))

[@caitrionatraynor9651]

Ellen - you're a legend!!! Thank you.

[@jessbreakwell8338]

This is a late show of appreciation but I've kept meaning to leave a comment to say thanks - thanks for the content (both videos and blogs posts) and the Q&As and Novel Boot Camp. I'd watched all your videos previously and just happened to stumble across your twitter when you announced Novel Boot Camp for this year. I tuned in every day, actually forced myself to sit down and write an opening for the “I stopped reading when” critiques, was grateful to get a response, and was actively thinking about writing (or actually writing!). While I was unsubscribing from handfuls of writing tips emails where I didn't really feel like I was learning anything, I was subscribing to your feed because your posts never fail, at a minimum, to make me think. And I appreciate that. I'm just very slow at ticking off tasks on my to do list, with writing especially, so Novel Boot Camp month was golden for me. Thanks, Ellen!

[@crownlessking6628]

I watch this with note pad and writing things down. To learn the lesson and see flaws in my drafts. Fixed two of my books just from half of this video. You are a goddess, thank you!

[@waynejones5635]

Great video. This is fills in some of the issues I have found in my own writing. Balancing the motivations with the goals can sometimes be a challenge in certain points of a story.

[@makt7448]

Your t-shirt really brings out the gorgeous colour of your eyes here. Great video. Thanks 😊

[@dallasdandigitalproduction393]

This is a really good series Ellen. Im a beginnng writer, so Im taking lots of notes.I signed up for a summer writng class at school, and found out today that it was cancelled. Ugh.So now I need to get motivated to learn to write on my own. Your vids have been helpful so far.

[@konata360]

I'm so glad I found this channel. I've had the nagging suspicion that something wasn't right with my novel, but now I know it has a bad case of "group goal." So, five months late, thank you so much Ellen! Off to revise :)

[@clubadv]

You are so awesome Ellen, thank you. You inspired me to write a scene to make a more decisive goal and even an increased and clear motivation. right now, he (and she) are just trying to avoid prison, but what what is fascinating is that my protagonist does posses a near "chosen one" like attribute. FYI, also tried one of the "masterclass" writing course and ask for a full refund. Not nearly as good a quality as your videos.

[@owinoakhart6725]

Good to see you again! Hope you are doing well. Love the videos!

[@unspokenproductions4231]

I have a character that parents have both died, his father before he was born and his mother when he was in high school. This in turn depresses him, as he failed to save his mother. I won''t reveal too much but something big happens and he's asked to help and he does it because he doesnt want to feel weak and depressed again from when his mother died (if he didn't help more people would die). This is basically his motivation for getting involved with whats going on but gets more reason through the novel.

[@sergiotorres9560]

Thank you so much for the tips I'll take notes!!

[@ameliac6931]

This video was really helpful and has already helped me think of some ideas to get my novel back on track! Thanks, can't wait for more videos :)

[@EllenBrock]

Awesome! Thanks for watching!

[@ariellestarr2549]

Thank for your advice, it have been very helpful. 👍🏾

[@66zkid]

Thank you so much, Ellen! I learn so much from your videos. (Sometimes on mistakes I've made.) Much appreciated!

[@angell504]

Omg thank you for this. My protagonist has a choir of 6 people as sidekicks with the same goal. I broke off into different story lines on each group member. None of the subplots help the plot, so now I can move forward. Thanks for this.

[@jacquelinestigman6432]

Hi Ellen, At first I thought you were a writer, but after watching a few of your excellent in terms of content, clear, and so helpful videos I learned you are a free lance editor. I am self editing my novel but will take a look at your site. Thank you for providing all this info.

[@bekahrraine1885]

I hope you come back again soon I love your videos and they’re so encouraging to me

[@julieelizabeth9911]

My problem is not that my protagonist lacks a goal. No, she has one. I'm just wondering if the goal is "good enough" or not. Is this a classic case of a writer experiencing self doubt or should I genuinely be worried that my goal is not compelling? How do I know that the goal I have in place is "good enough?"

[@solomongilmore2069]

Julie Elizabeth whats the goal? My protag has a simple goal too ( wanting to expirience friendship) but that goal ends up snowballing into bigger goals. Maybe there is a way for you to use their simple goal and have it progress into something more.

[@julieelizabeth9911]

Thank you for the reply! Her goal is to get into a photography program that could lead her to her dream job of travelling the world and making money with photography. Her motivation comes from having grown up in the same town with parents that settled for their lifestyle (the typical 9-5, a marriage that fell into complacency, etc.) and she wants to break out and experience something different. However the pursuit of this goal becomes pretty rocky and, kind of like you said, snowballs into other goals based on her backstory, motivation and personality. I guess I'm just wondering if I'm doing this right haha

[@annamelvina216]

Sounds like a solid concept to me

[@julieelizabeth9911]

Thank you so much! I needed that outside perspective! (:

[@saiyuriinuzuka6400]

I have recentlyfelt this way as well, AFTER I wrote a 15 page outline. My plot is the same. But I changed some characters motives and stakes. And that has completely changed how I VIEW my plot. Which makes it meatier and more satisfying. So this comment is a year later. I hope things have gone well for u! But u definitely r not alone in feeling that ur plot wasn't good enough.

[@jyjryu22799]

Im so excited! I prefer these videos over the lectures on the blogs, personally. Im looking forward to hearing more of the advice that you give. I actually wanted to know if wanting to be a part of something or thinking that you're superior and the only one who can accomplish something is enough of a personal reason for a character to be involved in something like saving the world.

[@echoecho3155]

Looking forward to the episode on plot-driving characters. That's something I've been trying to work on lately, as I've noticed it's kind of a fundamental element of fiction.

[@kingnolos666]

This was very helpful. While i think i naturally give my characters good goals, i have a hard time keeping them motivated consistantly. Its fun to try and figure out when they should be selfish. I have tried this a few times by accident and I'm excited to try it a few more times.

[@tori4444]

Yay! Always love your videos. Helps me narrow my focus on what needs to get done. I'm horrible with just spewing random ideas until its a giant nonsensical mess,

[@kujohedgehog]

I'm super early in my writing journey. Thanks for the pointers, I was really unsure of what to make my main character's goal

[@rivkabegun9411]

Thank you!

[@lovelyj1061]

Welcome back. You were missed.

[@thepaperlulu]

So happy to see a video from you again! I will check out your blog again, I know I enjoyed it last year. Reading your critiques of the work that was sent in was super helpful. :)

[@ZedAmadeus]

I'm writing a cartoon, and I felt pretty set... I was like _"I'M READY. LET'S GO!"_ and then I realised I didn't have any major conflict. I watched a video about how the conflict just needs to be the character's goal met with an obstacle. It doesn't need to be an altercation. So I thought... _"What's my goal?"_ and now I am ready to answer that! Thank you so much :D

[@DesertTiger16]

Very good video. It confirmed somethings for me and inspired more depth by watching. You rock!

[@ReinhardvonHolst]

Hi Ellen, I'm just finishing my third novel and yet only just discovered your wonderful videos. I'm going through them religiously and look forward to more. I hope to contribute some ideas to you soon and will check out your website as well. Peace.

[@vmarzein]

Very helpful. ty

[@melindawolfe4348]

Thanks, Ellen! Missed ya!

[@MANILABOSTON]

Nice to see you back.

[@mainplayer99]

Dear Ellen, your videos are fantastic! Thanks so much.

[@traymac11]

Awesome insight, thank you, Ellen! :)

[@AhmedAbdalaa]

welcome back to youtube

[@GeoffreyJohns]

That was a huge help to me

[@gracekim1998]

I’m glad I found this video. I’ve been struggling to give a group of OCs a new purpose

[@lucbranchaud1322]

Great to see you. Thanks for the video.

[@JaeStories87]

Would you be willing to do more vlogs with tips for Middle Grade fiction writing? There aren't many out there and your two were really helpful.

[@nstrisower]

Yay, a good series of helpful, practical tips for writing!! ^.^

[@julieorlandoworthychoices4823]

I recently came across your KZbin Videos! Love them! Thank you!

[@SW-tech]

Wow, your videos are tremendous. Thanks for making them.

[@Bamm09]

Thanks for the amazing tips!

[@Grifiki]

Hi. Nice to tune in again. Missed you Ellen. Jonto

[@tg4481]

Great tip! Very helpful, this channel is excellent!

[@GaiaCarney]

Thank you for creating this!

[@ZombieSirenMusic]

Good video. That's probably what's wrong with my book, a goal issue...

[@rickalvarado3543]

Good to see you back. xD

[@bighardbooks770]

Im writing short stories, still I get a lot from your advice. Thank you.

[@christinabriggs1782]

Thank you for your advice. Love it. It's helping me so much.

[@paulaiello2071]

Not one of Ellen's best videos, in fact she should re-do it. Again, with all of the zillions of fiction novels available of which she has read many, there should be many examples she can provide to reinforce this point which I agree is very important. I didn't understand the diff between goal and motivation or when she said if your novel just doesn't seem right. Oh well. I do love almost all other videos and appreciate the help she has given us writers.

[@cosmic-fortytwo]

I totally agree with this comment. The video needs more examples of what is right. What stories work? She spends a lot of time talking about what doesn't work, with little explanation of what is correct.

[@peanutbutter1966]

I love your videos they are so helpful.

[@DanSZiegler]

Hi Ellen. I just discovered you on KZbin. Great videos. I am learning so much! The trouble I am having is: I am working on a novel and have a clear idea of about the premise and what I want to happen in the novel. However, I'm having trouble thinking up characters to drive the story. I'm feeling 'guilty' that I know quite a bit more about what I want to happen in the story, and very little about who I want in the story. I thought that I might try approaching this by writing out what I want to happen in the story, then work backwards and figure out who, or what type of person, can make those things happen and drive the story forward. Does that make sense? What do you, or the others, think? Any help would be appreciated!

[@mikejandrews]

The most successful writers start with characters, and then the characters drive the story naturally. If you start with a story and then try to figure out who should do it, then you will run into problems. "Plotting" can be detrimental to the creative process. Stories are organic beasts. Let them breath. Let them live.

[@mejzzwejz713]

I saw this was posted a year ago but maybe my two cents are good for someone. What I love doing is these 'what personality type are you' quizzes on the internet and taking those for different characters. Also I read on what zodiac sign description entail, and do other silly personality description quizzes and such. After a bunch of those you can often distill the traits you like and just scratch the rest. It doesn't matter that most of these quizzes are nonsense, you're there for the inspiration and not for the Truth.

[@martyr_lightsilver1833]

imbecilik I prefer a fare balance of both. As a more logically minded person, I find that the plot should be somewhat flexible to the characters needs, but not fully control them.

[@TinthiaClemant]

@@mikejandrews I disagree. I've worked on stories where I write what I want to happen and characters pop on the scene. Try it and see if it work.

[@tonynivens5929]

Add to your point 1 that if the protagonist is able to just go with the group goal we haven't written enough personal conflict against him, just group conflict. If we write enough personal conflict then he has to have big personal goals to ballance it, ie. something to keep him going when doing the right thing is personally costly.

[@tonynivens5929]

BTY, love your videos. Glad to have new ones.

[@snafu176]

AHA! Now I see I might have crafted my protagonist to be too altruistic. I didn't quite spot what was a tad bland about her but having heard this, I think that's it. I´ll need to go back and check if her underlying motivation is visible enough. She has one, but it of course needs to be conveyed to the reader. Once again, thanks for offering your knowledge, Ellen. Your direct and competent advice is actionable and super valuable.

[@imapow]

good to see you agein.

[@peachyjane2666]

You're a saint!!! Thank you :)

[@upliftingthoughts]

My protagonist is named Bill Hole so his theme is the problem you are pointing out!

[@aneotacrof]

Useful. Thanks♡

[@DaDunge]

1:42 Who in a group is the protagonist? Does there really need to be a specific protagonist? I feel that a group of equals can probably make for a more interesting story than a protagonist and his/her backup. After all we see this all the time in TV series. Who's the protagonist in stargate? In star trek? I would say that every character of somewhat importance need to have goals of their own. And one more than the protagonist, the antagonist (if there is one).

[@libertyunderlaw]

"Only one."" I generally find this plot annoying. Really, he's the only one? Also, auithors who use this plot use some pretty goofy sequences to eliminate all others and therebyt ensure that the hero (or the team) is the only one.

[@STUNTSTHEREALONE]

what do you mean by "goofy sequences"?

[@libertyunderlaw]

By "goofy" I meant hard to believe or that it's painfully obvious that the author is setting up the good guy or good team to be "the only one." As an example, in Torpedo, the USS Tower is chasing rogue German submarines and is ordered to work with a fleet. However, one ship is torpedoed, one doesn't respond to a missile fast enough and the third has an engine blow out.

[@WordsAndWhimsy]

Great series! Any advice on writing query letters?

[@TheGreatDevlin]

Excellent

[@santh123456789]

Bingo! That's what I did. My protagonist lacks that personal motivation.

[@smix86]

Hello Ms. Brock, Thank you for your passion in helping aspiring writers. Your advice is very insightful. You give principles and explain them. Does your advice come from the sheer amount of novels you have read and experience in editing or are there principles of plot construction?

[@coralreeves4276]

Hi, Ellen. I'm late to this whole thing and have only started writing a novel. I don't know if you'll ever read this but I have to ask. What if I have TWO protagonists have different goals but both are still relevant to the events of the story? I mean, they start out seemingly different but around the middle, they find out they want the same thing? Loving the videos btw; I'm binging you in between my day job.

[@DaDunge]

But it really only has to be there initially, for an example take Buffy. Her original selfish goal is the be left alone, to not have to be the slayer. But then after a couple of seasons she's no looking for that any more. Not sure she has a selfish motivation any more except hurting her enemies as much as possible before they eventually kill her, but since at that point the audience is already invested in her it works.

[@ralphbougher62]

Fredrik Dunge This is helpful. At 25,000 words my protagonist is about to resolve the selfish goal (being reunited with her father) but the main conflict is still in its early stages. A point I'm still wondering about is working with multiple threads with sometimes chapters long intervals between moving the protagonists personal story forward. During those times the story as it pertains to the overall conflict is expanded. I want these threads, but seem to be at risk of creating competing protagonists. At a later time all this groundwork is to be resolved... but I don't want to end up with a different ending because I lost the main character in a soup of similar also rans.

[@johnmcquilkin]

Your videos are very informative! Thank you. :)

[@msventurelli]

It's as if you made this video specially for me! Haha! Thank you, I really needed to hear that :)

[@didutasev4427]

Hi Ellen, First I want to thank you for all those videos. They have been a bible for me dirng my slef-learning process. In this video you say not to confuse the group goal with the main character's one. I saw a video about the circular story structure where they said your hero should be reacting in the first act, and then start doing things as planned (become proactive). So in my story there is a group of guys who are doing an investigation on their own, and the hero is being selfish at the begining, not wanting to get invloved in the investigation. Later on, as his friends drop off one by one, due to specific reasons, he finds himself leading the investigaton. In the beginning he was reacting, just following the other in their investigation, then he became proactive, leading the investigation, and eventually investigating on his own. So there is a group goal, which becomes his personal goal when he becomes proactive (gets involved). How do you think this could work out? Thanks in advance PS: This could be a suggestion. I don't think you have a video about reactive characters in the beginning of a novel :)

[@MusicawROteAcROssDeeOceana]

Hi Ellen. Thanks for your service to writers ( novices). What tips do you have for present versus past tense writing?

[@valentino1000]

Thank you

[@wadeintoyourimagination7101]

You're back! :D

[@Grifiki]

Love You!

[@PuppetIsland]

Ellen, these are brilliant videos, also really found your Blog post super helpful. I am confused about something - if your character gets a call to action from a vision or an outside source how does this mix with thier goals? If the refuse the call how does this work with the fact you are trying to create a character with a goal?

[@AmericanActionReport]

Ellen, you spoke of goals that change. A year ago, I wrote and posted to my blog a novella, the three main characters of which all had separate goals but united into one goal. One was a Hollywood actor/director whose goal was to make an action adventure movie that involved scuba diving. Another was a college student who wanted to learn different levels of scuba diving. The title character as an island girl who had to hide the fact that she was a fox fairy; on her island, foxes were killed as an invasive species. When the authorities discover that she's a fox fairy, the goal of all three main characters is to get her off the island without getting caught. Is that an acceptable change in goals?

[@renukar2965]

Hi Ellen, your videos are very useful, thanks. My question is, in 3rd Person omnesient POV, can I have 3 POV s in one chapter by separating the scenes by two lined spacing?

[@813infinityfilms123]

Thanks!

[@lostinwriting]

What would be your analysis of the book (Netflix series) The 100? am I the only one who thinks the plot is so complex that you simply lose oversight of things?

[@justinfever9787]

Very Good Ellen, this helps my synpes fire! LOL.

[@gvilla79]

is it practical to jump between 1st person and 3rd person point of view? I tend to see my story jumping between.

[@shhimreading906]

would you consider the protagonist trying to get home a strong goal? like Dorothy in the wizard of oz. That's a strong goal, right?

[@DaDunge]

3:45 Heroes journey, the chose one has to go through the refusal of the call. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero's_journey#Refusal_of_the_Call

[@icarusablaze1831]

Would the protagonists wanting to get rid of his/her flaws be a solid goal? For instance if the protagonist begins the story being a coward and socially awkward, would becoming brave and outgoing be a solid goal?

[@DaDunge]

Yes and no, it's a great real goal, but a bit to selfless to be the goal that the character admits to themselves in the beginning.

[@VinnieMTG2024]

thank you :)

[@romanexile6156]

hi Ellen , I want to write a book but I suck at tipping, what can I do?

[@amberdent651]

I agree with you on having a personal incentive beyond a group incentive. The reason people don't connect with a group or broad goal is because that never happens in real life. Any situation where people come together, each individual has an individual reason for being there. If there isn't incentive, humans won't do it. Even the most religious person that does care about people on the whole would not help people like they do if it wasn't for their belief in God. That's a personal incentive. No one would overthrow an evil dictator without a reason--I don't want to because I'm putting my life on the line and I need something more than "because he's evil". Maybe it's my safety, maybe it's my family, maybe a friend or family member was killed by this dictator and I want revenge. Whatever it is, humans MUST HAVE INCENTIVE. It doesn't make a character worse, but it makes them human, which is how we relate to them.

[@nevonacreighton2832]

You're so pretty!

[@drewstanton9108]

high my name drew. I am a beginner at this.I would like to write my self. and be good with it. any advice for me. thanks so much. I like you vidoes a lot. thanks again.