Took me 5 years to realize my protagonist had no real goal

I was writing this fantasy novel for years and kept hitting walls. My beta reader finally said "what does your main character actually want?" and I froze. I had action scenes and cool worldbuilding but the character was just... there. Turns out I was so focused on plot events I forgot to give her a real motivation. Now I spend 10 minutes before each chapter asking "what does she need right now?" Has anyone else had that moment where a simple question exposed a huge gap in your writing?

3 comments

3 Comments

abby18919d ago

Ngl I kinda disagree with this take. Some of the best books I've read had characters just vibing through a cool world. Not every story needs a super defined goal right from the start. Sometimes the journey itself is the point.

perry.karen19d ago

The Wandering Inn series totally pulled that off for me.

noah_webb19d ago

Six hundred pages into The Wandering Inn and I still wasn't sure where things were heading... but that was part of the fun for me. The way Erin just builds her inn and meets people, without some big destiny hanging over her head, felt really refreshing. Sometimes you just want to hang out in a cool world with characters you like.