So must the characters we create be motivated by what they want. The driving force of characters is their desire.Inexperienced writers, sometimes ill read in the great works of their own and previous times, often try to write novels with a relatively passive protagonist who wants little or has largely given up wanting. I have met more than one writer who says that his character doesn’t want anything—he just wants to “live his life.” That always brings to mind something Kurt Vonnegut said: “When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away even if it’s only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the meaninglessness of modern life still have to drink water from time to time.” The most interesting stories involve characters who want something badly. In Kafka’s The Trial, Joseph K. wants to know why he is being arrested, why he is being tried, what he is guilty of. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the central character constructs his life with the sole object of reuniting with Daisy, the woman he loves.
