Sparkleninja, yes your MC needs a motive. But you knew this. Take a breather, focus on your exams, and then when they are done think where your MC will be at the end of the story. Why did he want to end up there? (Or not want, if this is a tragedy.) Not how he ended up there, but which of his choices lead him there and why he made those choices. Were they selfish reasons or choices he made on the behalf of others? And if this motive is still elusive, ask yourself: Is he your MC? Or is someone else in the story (who has a motive and is just as, or possibly more, dynamic as your current MC) your real MC?
“[name_f]Every[/name_f] character should want something, even if it’s just a glass of water.”
Yes I get it you were being ironic when you asked that bc of course you know your MC needs a motive
right now my MC’s motive is no less than to change the world, but, like, without getting up from the couch, you know?
@superllama and [name_f]Wanda[/name_f], haha thanks. I was more so just screaming into the void there but it’s nice when the void screams back!
I am still laughing at this
I wish I could draw
So, I’d like to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, starting on a completely new story.
I have characters, their goals, a general plotline, etc. My biggest problem is figuring out a way to get the story up off the ground. I have no idea how I want to start the story/introduce the MC. I’m having trouble coming up with just the right hook to get the reader interested.
Does anyone have any tips on creative ways to start a story/interesting ways to introduce the MC? The story will be in third person, if that helps.
There are lots of ways to do this.
One way is to foreshadow the literally most dramatic thing in your story. Like, I once read the example “He met her three times, twice before the end of the world and once long after.” Now if that isn’t a hook!
Then there’s in midias res, if my latin doesn’t fail me, “in the middle of things”. Start with a very action-y scene, explain later. Kind of like the book version of slow motion - close up - freeze frame - "Hey. Y’all might be wondering how I ended up here.
You can start with dialogue. Some writing tips say not to do that, but if it’s a really “hooking” piece of dialogue, why not? Maybe a reaction to something that get’s the plot going, like “Wtf, why would you do [thing]?” or “XY just got murdered.”
A boring start. The hero’s journey always starts with the everyday life, so tell us something about their day. This is a good way to show how their life is different from the readers’/most people’s - they live on a space station, they’re blind, they’re a talking dog, whatever.
This list is far from complete but I’m running out of time, bye! 
That was very helpful, thank you! 
I think I managed to figure something out— I’m going to introduce an important character who was originally supposed to show up later as the opening, and then introduce the MC through their interaction with one another.
Tmw you thought you had plenty of ideas for nanowrimo but you’re not even halfway through and you’re almost out of ideas.
Hey, at least you’re on schedule, unlike certain people with a sidecut and a very descriptive profile picture 
Lol I’m about to not be on schedule if I can’t figure out what to write. The sort of good news is my friends say I was this stressed out for the last 2 years and I finished both times so maybe there’s hope?
Oh hey maybe you can tell me how to do that? Oh wait, I figured it out, by actually writing instead of going on nameberry :oops:
Srsly, if you need plotting help just ask here and I’ll pull something out of my, uhm, head.
One of the characters in a story of mine has spent her life not questioning tradition. This would make sense if she was ordinary in her world, but she’s actually been oppressed in the name of this specific tradition. (The conflict comes when she begins questioning it, but that comes later.) Is it realistic that she’s always believed others up until now? I thought it was, because she’s a people pleaser and it seemed consistent with her character, but would it be more realistic if she HAD questioned the fairness of it? She just didn’t show it at all for years? I mean, it’s not like she’s totally cool with it. The situation makes her unhappy and causes a lot of pain, but she thinks it’s her fault for being born different. But still. What do you think?
HEy classicbookworm, I think it makes perfect sense for her to not question it growing up. If she is raised to believe it’s her fault, she’s likely to go with it.
Thank you!
Honestly, I have no idea how I did it, lol.
Right now, I’m going to try and go in a different direction for the beginning which unfortunately means I have to cut out one of my favorite bits dialogue I think I have ever written, but it will hopefully give me more ideas. It should also give me a better flow in the beginning. Of course, I won’t cut the dialogue until after NaNoWriMo because it’s a good 500 words lol.
[name_m]Just[/name_m] going to “scream into the void” as [name_u]Abby[/name_u] put it, but I wrote 3000 words last night and my character “wrote herself” in a way and now I have to scrap half of my ideas for the next part of the book sighs
Hate it when that happens. I’ve had at least three characters “rename” themselves. Thankfully, they did a good job.
Having trouble nailing down exactly what my MC’s motive is. I think I have an idea but I’m not sure if it’s good/strong enough. Right now, he’s helping the other characters get rid of the group of people who want to kill them, but why? He doesn’t know the others in the beginning, so why does he trust them? Are the bad guys going after his family? I like that idea because he is close with his family, but I would have to show that and I’m worried that showing a healthy, functional family would be boring. But if he’s not protecting his family, what is he doing? Does he want to return to his normal life? If so, I’d have to show the normal life of an American teenager, and no one finds that interesting. Why is he leaving to help these people?
Sounds like protecting his family is the most realistic way to go. Probably you don’t have to show a ton about his mundane life to give the impression that he loves his family. A few short scenes depicting them should be enough.
Or, maybe they aren’t that healthy a family. Maybe they struggle a lot to function as one unit, but he loves them anyway. This might get in the way of your main plotline and would require more time spent developing the family dynamic, so I’m more hesitant to suggest it.
I think giving brief impressions of his family would probably be enough, and it would make perfect sense that he wants to protect them. The trick is making those impressions endear the family to the readers. Maybe he shares a piece of advice from his dad, or one of the people in the group he’s helping reminds him of a sibling?
I was initially thinking, oh, is his family still around? Because I would think that if he’s helping these other people because of his family, it might be powerful if they had tragically been eliminated. But I don’t know, I think a boisterous, loving, close family is something admirable and so much fun to write. I don’t find them boring at all, but maybe there’s a way to cast the family in a certain light that it’s unexpected? Like, I’m thinking of this series that’s one of my favorite, surrounding a family unit of 7 siblings, but all 7 are orphans who “adopted” each other and chose to create a family, and legally changed their last names to O’[name_f]Malley[/name_f] when they came of age. They chose each other. Wouldn’t necessarily have to be that itself, but if you could create a unique dynamic for this close-knit, healthy, functioning, loving family, that might solve your problem?
I love the idea that he might discover that his family is in danger, but, for some reason or other, they can’t know that they’re in danger. Seems to me that it’d add a sort of feverish passion behind his actions?
Is he a bit of a dreamer and do-gooder? Because if I realized people were in danger and needed help, and I had the guts, I’d totally drop my life and fight for a good cause, especially if I could see injustice and such taking place before my eyes. Depends on his character, though. 
It’s a totally different dynamic, but what if they force him to help them, for some reason?
[name_m]Just[/name_m] some ideas.