I've been watching these amazing Creative Writing videos by Youtube's architectus777. In it he mentioned the two most important things when designing a story's structure: Desire and Goal. You can watch the first of his 12-part video series right here, where he'll explain the concept better than I:
Basically, when planning a story, your main character must possess two things: A goal, which is what will or will not be reached by the end of the story, and the desire to achieve it, which is expressed at the story's beginning. Without desire, what will drive your character to action (and your readers to continue on)? And without the goal, how can there be a desire? These two things are interchangeably the most important aspects of the storyline.
Obviously this can't be done without a main character either. :P
I really want to thank the creator of these videos, and the writing books that influenced him, because this simple explanation really helped me get inside my main character's head. A stubborn one, he is.
Now I have a clear idea of my character's desire and goal. And there can be multiple desires and goals, and each one correlates with the character's attitudes and opinions. Azhar has one main goal driven by a single desire, but those things are manifested by a combination of attitudes, both conscious and sub-conscious urges and feelings that give way to his actions, sparking the adventure.
How exciting! :D
Never stop being creative! It's desires and goals I'm after tonight. Maybe I'll mix some sleep in with this new writing inspiration I have...
"We ought not to desire the impossible." - Leonardo da VinciBook Working Title: Azhar, Prince of Red Fire
Day in Progress: 13
Words Achieved: 1,570
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