Agendas

"I want what I want and I want what I want when I want it." This simple phrase is the key to all good stories. Want, desire and agenda are the backbone to what drives a character's choices. Often as writers we tend to try and figure out our characters' goals, their life purpose that is hopefully fulfilled through the story. However, a life "goal" for the character is often daunting, and sometimes too much of a bill for the purchase of your story. Allow me to elucidate.

James is an average 14-year-old boy going to Saberwood Middle School. He has a crush on his classmate Melissa, who does not share his feelings. By any means necessary he will try and woo his true love to his heart, initiating crude (if albeit kindhearted) gestures of affection towards her. He is very much into basketball as well, and hopes someday to become an NBA all-star. Also at the same time, his mother is struggling with cancer and he prays earnestly for her recovery. Through the entire story James does whatever he can to win the heart of Melissa, and at the end he finally manages to get a quick hug in the hallway and his day is made.

In this silly little story, James' life goal is to become an NBA all-star, not become the sweetheart of Melissa. However what he wants in the story setting is Melissa and nothing else. Everything borders on her: his failures, his victories, his moods, his performance. His want for Melissa to love him back is so strong that it overshadows perhaps greater and more important desires in his life (such as his basketball career and his mother's illness.) In the story, James' passion is for Melissa to care about him, and it is this want that drives the story.

In your novel, your character may not be the most important person in history. He may not be Harry Potter, but rather like Bilbo Baggins. He may have a great big life goal, like making something of his life better than his father's past, or fulfilling a lifelong dream to become a world-renowned scientist. These are great life goals, but maybe you as the author don't want to write such a grand-scale story. Maybe your story is like James', where the entire plot revolves around the puppy love of two 14-year-olds.

Sometimes, stories don't NEED to be epic and grand-scale to be great. Your book doesn't have to extend into a 7-book series, or have 40-page chapters, or involve a massive universe of complex beings and history and lifestyles. The fact is, my friends, your characters and what they want affects everything. If your character wants a girlfriend, he doesn't have to save the galaxy in order to achieve that. Find something for your character to WANT, and let him achieve that.

The same goes for the enemies, villains, antagonists etc. They don't WANT what the hero wants, so they will fight against him. They may not be the most evil beings in the universe, but simply have contrasting opinions and desires than your hero.