Help with character WANT.

HueyFilms

HueyFilms

Active member
Hi Guys,

I'm trying to write a story about a character who acts irrationally in many ways to achieve his want: To control something.

My first question is... Is this a strong enough want?

Second... How could I show that this is the characters want other than him outright saying something to the effect of: "I just want to control one thing in my life...

I'm having trouble because this is such an internal want and its a short form so I don't have 20 minutes to build character...

Any ideas?
 
Yes, the desire to control is certainly a strong enough motivation. Epic stories are built around larger-than-life villains whose goal is to control something -- the world, the universe, the end of time, or even just control one single person.

It sounds like you've got a character who feels his life is run by others, and is just looking for one little thing he can have complete control over just so he doesn't feel completely powerless. That's not a bad motivation.

And I don't see a thing wrong with him saying exactly what you wrote: "I just want to have control of one thing in my life..." It's a desperate desire, which is great.

I don't see any problem at all. Good luck!

.
 
I agree with david. having a character express his want verbally and is definitely as straightforward as you can get, which can be a good thing within the time restraints of a short. It's simple yet effective.

To express it visually however, you could try to show your character miserably failing to control ANYthing and/or EVERYthing (i.e. basically screwing up a lot) through short snippets of action. This is a way to set-up the goal (especially if it's a comedy).

Just my 2 cents...
 
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