Character external goals
This article I wrote originally appeared on Suite101. Why Characters Need Super-Objectives for Their Story Arcs External goals are the backbone of your character’s story arc, and they give the reader something active to follow. But what exactly are external goals, and why are they so important? What is an external goal? This has been called by different things: Super-Objectives, Character Purpose, Character Direction, or simply Goal. They all mean the same thing—your character has an overarching objective/goal/purpose for the book that he is trying to achieve. An external goal has a definite ending —a point at which the character knows when he has either succeeded or failed. It can’t be a vague desire or hope. It has to be a concrete, solid, physical something the character is striving for. In Getting into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn from Actors , Brandilyn Collins states the character’s Super-Objective in terms of action . A character’s external goal