This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the 631st episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast.

I hope you enjoyed this week's episode.

What does your character want?

Desire versus Plot Goal versus moral intention versus need. We often hear that conflict is

story. What does that mean? If we walk it back we see that conflict is

driven by opposition. That opposition stands between the characters and

something they want.

Therefore, we could just as easily say desire is story.

But that isn't always simple to figure out either, particularly since story terminology includes many seemingly applicable terms, including the

characters want, desire, plot goal, and even moral intention.

Now in this podcast and in my books on writing I often talk about the thing

the character wants and the thing the character needs as driving factors in character arc and thus plot structure. But

desire and plot goal are also frequently used terms. So what's the difference?

Last week's episode touched on the important nuances in terms used to describe your character's pain points, your character's ghost versus wound versus lie versus weakness. This week I want to stay in that lane and explore some terms used to describe what the character wants.

Now once again let me note that there's often much variation and subtlety in how these terms are employed.

For instance, some people may use the word desire to encompass all of the terms that we'll be talking about today.

This points to the importance of not relying too much on specific terms and instead learning to understand the underlying principles so you can

quickly translate them into your own preferred verbiage.

Today I am sharing how I use these terms.

First, let's just briefly touch on the generalities of what want is within a story.

All variations of a character's desire will function as driving

forces of both that character's personality and the plot. Some desires may be low-key and used only to dramatize. the conflict on the scene level, but the want goal, desire, etc. creates the backbone of your story.

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