20.07: Motivation and Goals

20.07: Motivation and Goals

Author: Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler February 16, 2025 Duration: 21:11

Do you know what your characters want? And is there a deeper desire underneath that one? 

A character's motivations can help make them "relatable," drive the story's momentum, and create obstacles. Additionally, characters/ desires can serve different parts of themselves, which can help make them complex and multifaceted. But what is a good character motivation and how do you share it with your readers? 

Homework: Write a scene from a secondary POVs character. Pick a concrete goal for them that is NOT the protagonist's goal. How does that change the way they react in the scene?

P.S. Want to come write with us in 2025?! Our retreat registration is open, and we are starting to fill up! We are going to unlock our creative processes in Minnesota and explore Story Refinement as we cruise down the Mexican Riviera! Learn more here

P.P.S. Are you tired of ads?! You can join our $5 tier on Patreon and receive ad-free episodes each week!


Sign up for our newsletter

Credits: Your hosts for this episode were Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Dongwon Song, Erin Roberts, and Howard Tayler. It was produced by Emma Reynolds, recorded by Marshall Carr, Jr., and mastered by Alex Jackson.


Join Our Writing Community! 

Patreon

Instagram

Threads

Bluesky

TikTok

YouTube

Facebook



Our Sponsors:
* Check out HomeServe and use my code homeserve.com/excuses for a great deal: https://www.homeserve.com
* Check out Talkiatry and use my code Talkiatry.com/WX for a great deal: https://www.talkiatry.com


Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/writing-excuses2130/donations

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It’s a common piece of advice: if you want to be a writer, you should write. But what happens when you’re staring at the blank page, or when the business side of publishing feels like a maze? That’s where Writing Excuses comes in. Each week, hosts Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler gather not just to talk about writing, but to dissect it. They move quickly, respecting your time while packing episodes with actionable discussions on technique, from character voice to plot structure. But this podcast understands that a writing life isn’t just about craft-it’s also a career. So conversations naturally pivot to the practicalities of the business, navigating careers, and sustaining creativity in a demanding field. You’ll hear five distinct professional perspectives blending into a single, focused conversation designed to get you past excuses and back to your work. It’s like a regular, invigorating workshop session delivered directly to you, meant to equip you with tools for both your manuscript and your professional path.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 500

Writing Excuses
Podcast Episodes
NaNoWriMo 2018 Mini-Episode 2 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:35
Your Mini-Episode Hosts: Amal El-Mohtar and Maurice Broaddus, with Special Asides from Mary Robinette Kowal We're a week in to NaNoWriMo. If you're scared of it, Amal is here to tell you that it's okay to feel that way,…
13.44: Alien Characters [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:36
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Dan, and Howard As writers of speculative fiction we are frequently tasked with writing a species or race of alien people. In this episode we talk about some of the tricks we use to c…
NaNoWriMo 2018 Mini-Episode 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 5:18
Your Mini-Episode Hosts: Brandon, Mary Robinette, Dan, and Howard Back in 2017 we recorded a bonus episode for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and then forgot to air it. Here, then, in the spirit of never throwi…
13.43: Characters Who Are Smarter Than You Are [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:36
Your Hosts: Howard, Mary Robinette, Dan, and Amal Many of us write characters who know more than we know, and/or who think faster than we do. Writing those characters is tricky. In this episode we talk about our own tric…
13.41: Fixing Character Problems, Part II [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 22:38
Your Hosts: Brandon, Amal, Mary, and Maurice This is the second of our pair of episodes in which we talk about how we, your hosts, fix the problems we've identified with the characters in our work. Credits: This episode…
13.40: Fixing Character Problems, Part I [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 16:07
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard This is the first of two episodes in which we'll talk about how we, your hosts, fix the problems we've identified with the characters in our work. Credits: this episode was reco…
13.39: What Writers Get Wrong, With Wendy Tolliver [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 17:48
Your Hosts: Brandon, Mary, Dan, and Howard, with special guest Wendy Tolliver Wendy skis, and snowboards, and writes YA novels. She is also the parent of three, one of whom suffers from mental illness. She joined us to t…
13.38: How to Find and Use Alpha Readers [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:19
Your Hosts: Brandon, Valynne, Dan, and Howard We begin by making a useful distinction between alpha and beta reader: the alpha reader is an industry professional, while the beta reader is a stand-in for the eventual audi…
13.37: What Writers Get Wrong, with J.Y. Yang [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:07
Your Hosts: Dan, Mary, Aliette, and Howard with special guest J.Y. Yang J.Y. Yang is a Hugo-nominated short story writer from Singapore who identifies as non-binary. They joined us to talk about this non-binary identific…