Storytelling Challenge: Character Motivation

Saw this on Twitter. What 3 potions would you drink?

I would take brown, white, and yellow!

As a matter of fact, there are some, already written in our soul, needed to be unfolded by ourselves, -like a curtain in a window being moved to let the light get inside-  and they represent the true meaning of life in one specific human being.

Hello, hello, who is the one making all that noise?

The director’s task is to recreate life, its movement, its contradictions, its dynamic and conflicts. It is his duty to reveal every iota of the truth he has seen, even if not everyone finds that truth acceptable. Of course an artist can lose his way, but even his mistakes are interesting provided they are sincere. For they represent the reality of his inner life, of the peregrinations and struggle into which the external world has thrown him.

Andrei Tarkovsky

Remember the importance of the Now. It is your power place, the place of transformation. The past is gone. You only have Now to choose how you will be, who you will be, and that choice will create your tomorrows.

P'taah (via miraculousunderstanding)

Inspirational

Por que, Juan, por qué? -preguntaba su madre- Por qué te resulta tan difícilmente ser como el resto de la Bandada, Juan. Por qué no dejas los vuelos rasantes a los pelícanos y a los albatros...

Mira Juan -dijo su padre con cierta ternura- El invierno está cerca. Habrá pocos barcos, y los peces de superficie se habrán ido a las profundidades. Si quieres estudiar, estudia sobre la comida y cómo conseguirla. Esto de volar es muy bonito, pero no puedes comerte un planeo, sabes? No olvides que la razón de volar es comer.

Juan Salvador Gaviota. Richard Bach.

Let me fly 🌅🪽 !.

U.S. cities with the happiest workers More: http://nbcnews.to/1vsaFSM

How To Write Friendships Pt. 2

🦢        ―        &. FRIENDSHIPS . ( steps to develop friendships )

4) Give Them A History That Shines Through.

By no means do you want them to seem like they just met each other yesterday, if your two friends have known each other for a while now. What you need to do is throw out hints that these friends have known each other for a while ― you need to make the readers curious about these two friends and their history with each other.

And even if your characters meet within the timeline of the story, sneaking in hints that these characters are learning more about each other is a great way to develop your friendship.

Here are a few ways to show that:

1) Give Them An Inside Joke.

2) Give Them A Silly, On-going Argument.

Friends aren’t always going to agree on everything and their points of conflict don’t always have to be some dramatic issue ― they can be arguing over which one is better: Star Trek or Star Wars, they can argue over whether pineapple belong on pizza or not or maybe they argue over who is the taller one.

Giving them a silly, ongoing argument will make the characters feel real and simultaneously reveal different shades of their personality. Not only that, but it also offers a window into how they handle arguments between themselves. Who is the one that gets really worked up? Who is the one who makes all the great points?

3) Utilize Nonverbal Communication.

When you can start communicating with someone without words, that's when you really know someone. For example:

Let your characters be comfortable sitting in silence with each other

Use gestures and facial expressions to convey meaning to each other

Give them an unspoken rule

One friend asks a question, the other answers with silence

They can predict what each other are going to do

5) Create A Glue.

What is keeping your friends from parting ways? Without something to keep them together, your characters might grow apart. What is the glue that keeps this friendship intact? This can be a character, a goal, or the two of them are just thrown into a situation where they can't get away from each other.

One friend is the gardener of the other

The two of them must deliver a secret message to a Jedi

They both go the same extracurricular club 

They are toys who both have been captured by an evil kid who likes to torture toys

One friend can't  achieve his story goal without helping the other friend win a cart race

6) Create Meaningful Scenes.

Now that you have all the key components to an amazing friendship, it’s time to develop it through your story. Insert a few key friendship moments in your novel and show your reader the power of this relationship. 

Here are some ideas:

One friend gives the other a gift

They play a game together

They share a jacket 

They eat food together

They teach each other something

One friend gives the other a foot massage

7) Don't Make Their Relationship Perfect.

People aren’t perfect, and your friends can’t get along together all the time. But that doesn't mean you should stuff in a bunch of contrived conflict between your friendships. Instead, set up situations that will naturally occur because of who these characters are, and what they believe.

Maybe their differences get the better of them, maybe they react differently to a pivotal event in your novel, maybe one of the friend's internal demons gets the better of them, and the other friend has to call them out on it. This only results in more tension between them. This is an especially brilliant method to enhance a character arc.

Or simply make their friendship a more complex. Perhaps your two characters look out for one another, but they are always being compared to one another, and they need to overcome their deep feelings of jealousy for each other or they work well together, but one friend is keeping a lot of secrets from the other.

These complications and character differences not only add to your story, but watching these characters overcome these obstacles and still come out as friends makes your friendship feel more real, deep, and deserved.