Over the last several months, I’ve been writing on and off again about the internal plotline, and I’ve mentioned how one of its major components is the character’s abstract want, which many in the writing world don’t really talk about. Many of us were discouraged from focusing on the abstract, and for good reason, but the truth is, some of the most important components of your character are abstract–they exist within the character’s mind and soul.

In order to be effective though, these things have to show up concretely. A character who wants to be free, but then never takes any action toward that, doesn’t do much for a story. It also calls into question whether that character actually wants freedom that bad.

If someone wants something bad enough, he will take action to get it. If he doesn’t, it’s just wishful thinking.

Sometimes, this abstract want is referred to as the motive, but to me, a character can have a lot of motives from one scene to the next. This abstract want I speak of, is something the character wants deeply and desperately, something the character will go to great lengths to get or, in some cases, keep. It’s the driving force for almost all of the character’s major decisions (and even many minor decisions.)