I've been thinking a lot about what makes a character good. What really makes the character latch onto the reader's mind and burrow in and drives the person to read on. For some markets and age groups, just a simple desire and the drive to obtain and fulfill that desire might be enough. It's not enough for me. I want to understand the character. I want to know where he or she is coming from. What drives them to get out of bed in the morning and put on their crime fighting shoes, or their evil villain cape (and no, just looking good in a cape doesn't work).
That's what I'm going to be working on before I rewrite the first draft for the increasingly muddled novel of pieces and sorts that I sort of completed for NaNoWriMo. It's a complete mess. The first 60 pages makes some sort of sense, but I worry that it's just too slow thematically. And I'm struggling to find the right voice for the female lead still. So it needs work, but that's not what I wanted to ramble about today.
What is it that makes our heroes and villains get up in the morning? Villains, I'm finding, are easier to deal with. It's a sinister desire. They have a want for control, for accumulation of both money and power. They may want fame with that power. That I can understand and potentially write about. It's the less ominous and more subtle motivations of the heroes that I'm still working on.
For instance. What motivation could a wizard private investigator have to save people he hardly knows? There's the standard, "it's just doing what is right" nonsense, but I don't buy it. There must be a reason for it. Even for the police officer type characters; if I want them to have any depth, I need to give them a reason for upholding the law? Questions I'm asking myself are almost self-searching. Why does a person uphold a law? Is it a sense of duty or honor to a meta-morality? Is it self guided or selfish? Even then, I'm having issues buying it. In my world, there is nothing that is 'just because that's the way it is'. The world I'm trying to portray is not black and white, it's grey, and that's my hurdle.
A private investigator might be doing it for money. Or because of something that shaped them as a child. Or for the love of adrenaline rushes. Or for lack of anything else they think they could do. Or because they can see links and solve puzzles that others can't. Or because they are tenacious and love to dig up info. Or as a favor to a friend. Or because they like the person who walks in the door. Life isn't always complicated. In my experience, heroes usually are focused, layers yes, but looking forward instead of hung up in what can't be changed.
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