The article Digging Up the Depths of Desire by Ellis Avery (here) in Saturday's WSJ was worth reading, although I liked the secondary title more; Motivated Characters Motivate Readers. I love this section of the Weekend Journal. I look for it and read it each week. Sometimes I don't care for the advice, but most of the times I do. Today's was a positive.
Ellis Avery says that it's important to point out to readers the characters motivation to make the reader care and continue to read. I agree and for the most part I've tried to do that in my novel Toe the Line. I haven't done that enough in On the Edge so it's a good thing I read this article prior to my second edit. It gives me something to add in and will definitely add to the story. It's not that there isn't any motivation, it's just a tad disjoint and disparate. I need to fine tune it a bit. As she says:
"Finally, because it will keep you from getting stuck with a two-dimensional character, give him or her a stack of desires, and reveal those desires one at a time. Before the grandmother begs The Misfit for her life (in Flannery O'Connor's story A Good Man Is Hard to Find), she wants to impress him with her perspicacity; she wants to find a beloved old plantation house; she wants to smuggle her cat on a car trip."
I have a stack of desires for my main character, I just need to shine a bit brighter light on them and make them a tad more prescient.
Like I stated above, the Weekend Journal always has an article on writing, usually they are pretty good, they're always worth a once over.
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