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YEARNING If conflict is the essence of story, then the goal is the impetus that propels the hero/heroine beyond the boundaries that would confine us mere mortals and brings about the fulfilling change that we all secretly long for. A goal is the prize or reward that your protagonist wants to obtain or achieve, no matter the cost. This goal should be urgent, important and it should create a need, a yearning within your hero/heroine that will propel them into desperate action to obtain. Your reader wants to become involved in the protagonist's struggle to achieve a specific goal, and she wants to 'worry' about whether or not the hero/heroine can actually achieve that goal. Make your reader care. To help illustrate this concept, I'll use examples to demonstrate what goals are and how they work. I'll be referring to "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum because it's a classic fairytale that most people know. In this story, Dorothy's main goal is to get home to Kansas. The fact that Dorothy does get home in the end would make for an adventuresome, but not very emotionally satisfying read, if there was no more to her journey in the Land of Oz than her finding a way of leaving it. But unbeknownst to Dorothy, and the reader until the very end, Dorothy is given more than an external goal to achieve. She has also been set upon an inner journey, a journey of self-discovery. She must learn the answer to why she wants to go home. Whatever drives the protagonist to take action, just make sure that the inner goal is as powerful as the outer goal. It must be urgent, unavoidable, and full of emotional appeal that will make your reader care until the very end. Remember, a journey of self-discovery must deliver on its promise of transformation. By the end of it the hero/heroine must be better, stronger, wiser or happier, but above all, the reader must believe and accept this change. In "The Wizard of Oz" , Dorothy is an unhappy teenager who feels that she doesn't belong. In the course of her adventures she must learn that not only is she loved for herself, but that there's no place like home. Her inner goal is to find this happiness and acceptance. By the end of the story the reader must believe that Dorothy has learned this lesson. Had Glinda the Good simply told Dorothy how to get home at the beginning, Dorothy would have returned home (as this was her external goal) but she would not have learned the lessons she needed to allow her to settle into living happily on the farm. As much as "The Wizard of Oz" appears to be an externally driven story filled with exciting adventures and harrowing escapes, it is in essence a character-driven journey of self-discovery. It is this character growth that makes your reader care. Dramatize this inner struggle. Ask what does your protagonist need? What does he/she yearn for, what are his/her goals? Raise the personal stakes by defining what matters most to your character, then ask, "How can what is happening matter even more?" A character's inner resolve is most sorely tested at the time when things seem to be at their darkest and most dire. It is here, at the Black Moment, when he/she considers either giving up or going forward against great odds. Consider Dorothy in the scene where she is sent to the Wicked Witch's castle to steal her broomstick. All seems to be at its most hopeless. Dorothy is separated from her allies, she is locked away and her dog is about to be tortured. She is wavering on giving up, but then she sees a vision of Auntie Em. Auntie Em is sick. Auntie Em needs her. If Dorothy fails at this final moment, then she can never tell Auntie Em that she loves her and that she didn't run away. At this dark moment Dorothy rallies herself and goes forth to confront the witch. The protagonist's main goal is often enhanced by a series of smaller goals. These sub-goals, or sub-plots, drive the action of the book. They should impact on your hero and force him to act – to make decisions. In "The Wizard of Oz" , Dorothy's main goal is to get home. In order to achieve this she must also accomplish several smaller external goals. First she must make her way to the Emerald City, then she must find a way to get in to see the mysterious wizard, who then sets her the final goal of stealing the Wicked Witch's broomstick. It is these smaller goals that create the plot and steer the story towards the climax. Don't forget to make these sub-goals character driven and show how the protagonist is beginning to change. Dorothy is no longer concerned with only her own happiness; she comes to care for the others' wellbeing as well. She also learns to stand up for herself. The next time she will encounter Miss Gultch in the real world, she won't be tempted to run away from home. The goal, either its achievement or its loss, should come to a crisis. And it is at this crisis that the hero/heroine must make a choice. By the time the story reaches the climax, the protagonist had better have learned the lessons that he/she was meant to have learned. Dorothy's blackest moment comes when the balloon bearing the wizard lifts off without her. At the climax Dorothy is in danger of losing her goal. All her suffering seems to have been in vain. She has striven against terrible odds, she has finally learned what is truly important – the love of family and home. She once had it all, she had come so close to having it all again, and now it seems lost to her forever. But then, standing upon the brink of despair, she comes to understand that her own salvation lies in her own hands. She does have the means of getting herself home. By uttering the magic words, "There's no place like home," and in utterly believing in them, she achieves not only her external goal of finding her way home but she also achieves her internal goal of finding true happiness. A good story should grip our imaginations and make the reader care about the main character and his/her fate. The mark of a good story is that it ends on an emotionally satisfying note. For this to happen the reader must believe that the hero/heroine was transformed by the ordeals suffered on behalf of the pursuit of the goals, and that the protagonist will be able to return to his/her ordinary life reborn with the new insights gained from these experiences. Bibliography & Recommended Reading List: |
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