Screenwriting : Motivation by Aleksandr Rozhnov

Hello, Aleksandr Rozhnov. I totally get that problem. Because sometimes characters feel like they are cardboard cutouts, not people. In my opinion, in this situation we can drag our friends, relatives and acquaintances in the mix by borrowing their character traits. Or you can take the character traits from existing characters in the media and put the situations through your prism and think, how that particular character might react to this particular situation. For me, it sure helps.

The motivation I pick for a character depends on the story, Aleksandr Rozhnov. If the character's goal is win a huge underground street race, his motivation might be he needs the prize money to pay for a loved one's life-changing surgery.

Thank you! This question really got me thinking more deeply about character motivation.

I believe a writer’s personal experiences often play a big role.

And when someone connects with a character’s story, maybe it's because they’ve had similar thoughts or experiences—even if only imagined.

I’ll keep exploring this idea. It’s a great question that truly makes me reflect!

Title: Character Motivation – 90% of the Time, It’s Clear (and That’s the Key)

In 90% of cases, the character’s motivation is visible and quite clear. It’s often something deeply human like love or revenge — two of the most common driving forces we see on screen. But sometimes, the motivation is more subtle — professional ambition, a desire for validation, or even quiet rebellion.

Take the film Lord of War, for example. On the surface, the main character wants to become the world’s top arms dealer. But if you dig deeper, maybe his real motivation is to prove to his conservative family — especially his father — that he can do something bigger than just cooking soup in a modest family diner.

That’s how I see it.

I truly believe motivation must be vivid and deeply explored. The audience will only believe in your film if they can believe in your character’s motivation.

What do you think? Do you prefer loud or quiet motivations in your stories?

I like both forms of motivations, Aleksandr Rozhnov, but I prefer loud motivations. Loud motivations are easier to track throughout stories, and they're more exciting in my opinion.

i dont know much about screenplays..but I think a book is the same way. For me in my novel "The Necklace of Zedan " the good characters had traits of me and the bad characters had similarities to negative and harmful people in my life. I feel like writing with emotion from personal experiences can really make the readers/viewers feel the connections and emotions.

There’s just one thought I’d like to add, Mark.

You mentioned that you base your antagonistic characters on toxic or harmful people from your life — and I totally understand that approach. But there’s one challenge with this method: it’s often shaped by subjective perception. What we interpret as a negative action may, in a broader or more objective context, not be entirely negative.

Sometimes what we see as harmful, others might view as necessary or even admirable, depending on their values or perspective. So, when defining what’s "toxic" in a character, there’s always a fine line between subjective experience and universal truth — and that makes writing all the more interesting (and complex!).

I am a new writer, old guy (62), not too much to add for a more experienced writer like you, but maybe it helps. I have always thought about writing and recently was forced into a premature retirement, so here I am! The manifestation of my frustration was being sucked in to writing. Words and stories flew out at an unworldly pace; 45 days, 20 hours+ per day! The result was a pilot script for a 30 minute TV Dark Comedy with 4 episodes and a prequel. The pilot is polished and ready. My response to your question would be that it is not really enough to look at the story and characters from the outside and write about them. Initially, thats what I did....wrote my stories as a viewer, even though I lived them in some form. After the initial outpouring of content I went back and started to immerse myself in the craft, and to dig deep into the emotional part of this. I gave myself a PHD in character development by studying the hell out of Norman Lear. My main take away from Norman Lear was: "The most honest conversations never go straight at it." People don't say "I forgive you"", they say "You Hungry"? This concept seems basic, but I believe it is the basis for any good character or story development. If you delve deep into the humanity of any character or situation you should feel the connection whether you lived it or not....but what do I know?

What you’ve just described is called subtext. It’s an essential element of any good screenpla

Fascinating question! You've hit on something crucial - weak motivation kills even the most spectacular story concepts.

Your Matrix critique is interesting, though I'd argue Neo's motivation might be stronger than it appears on the surface. He's not just curious - he's existentially desperate. His entire identity as "Mr. Anderson" feels like a lie, he's pursued by mysterious agents, and Morpheus offers answers to questions that have been tormenting him. But I see your point about it feeling thin initially.

What makes motivation truly compelling:

-- Life or Death Stakes - Not necessarily literal, but something the character cannot live without or cannot continue living with

-- Personal Cost of Inaction - What happens if they do nothing? The consequences must be worse than the journey's risks

-- Emotional Wound - The best motivations stem from deep personal pain that can only be healed through the story's journey

-- Impossible Choice - When characters are forced to act rather than choosing to act (think Taken - his daughter is kidnapped, so Liam Neeson has no choice)

Examples that work:

John Wick - They killed his dog (the last connection to his dead wife)

Finding Nemo - Marlin's son is taken (every parent's worst nightmare)

The Pursuit of Happyness - Chris Gardner faces homelessness with his young son

Motivation should feel inevitable given who the character is and what they value most.

Motivation is obviously key to a strong character and story - they have to do it for a reason. Personally I like to explore the human condition, morality and expectations as this is a common theme that a lot of people feel and makes for compelling characters. Often times writing it helps to look within and find inspiration from your personal life or people around you - their battles and thoughts, helps make the story more real and can often lead to great characters no matter the genre - art imitates life or something!

The problem is, when we look inside ourselves or observe others in search of motivation, I believe it won’t work—because 90 to 95% of people are inert. They’ll never actually do anything. That’s just how our brains are wired.

And I think motivation has to be invented—unless you’re Spider-Man or Superman, where motivation shows up on its own and whether you like it or not, you have to fight. For example, if you give an ordinary person the choice between the red or the blue pill like Neo, 95% will choose the blue one. Because no one wants to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. Most are content with how things are in their lives.

So in my opinion, strong motivation needs to be imagined. When I write screenplays—like dramas, or in one case, a biopic—I build motivation carefully. In that biopic, for instance, the character is the first female military officer in the world, and she’s Ukrainian. That’s already a powerful internal drive.

But in most other cases, I feel that motivation must be created deliberately. For instance, I think of the movie Law Abiding Citizen. The character seeks revenge because the justice system is corrupt. But honestly, I believe all systems are corrupt to some extent. What can you do? You have to adapt to the system. And I’m not so sure many people would actually go as far as the main character did in that film.

What if we tried looking at humanity a little more generously?

I don’t think people stay still because they’re lazy or afraid of change — sometimes, it’s simply because the time hasn’t come yet.

It’s easy to say human psychology or morality hasn’t progressed much over the past few thousand years. And yet, isn’t it precisely because we’re human that we’ve managed to live as humans through all this time?

Motivation doesn’t always come from something grand. I believe it often begins in small, quiet moments — like when we start seeing things as they truly are, or when we suddenly notice something familiar in a new light.

Humans may not be inherently great, but our experiences, our memories, and our stories — they come together to form motivation, strength, even love.

Maybe “motivation” is just a word. But it shows up everywhere around us, in countless different forms. And maybe that’s why poets, writers, photographers, painters, and musicians exist — to capture that.

Do I sound too naive?

Something that helped me a lot is making it external. I used to have it a lot in their head, ie "because they want to," but that's usually not enough.

Doing it for love is common and emotional enough. Fear of something (losing someone, failure/rejection, social status or connection) is powerful.

Somebody needs to rewatch The Matrix and realize it's metaphorical and analogous for, like... all of life's choices.