: Re: Character motivations facing death? Would it be boring/unrealistic/silly/cliché if most characters only had this main motivation for most of a story: saving humanity/their country/their familly/themselves.

@Sarah872

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Self-preservation is an instinct we all understand, so that works. Readers will accept it. But it's ultimately self-focused if you leave it at that. Most people have more tangible reasons for why they want to survive, outside of fear for themselves:

You don't want to say goodbye to the ones you love.
You still have something to offer the world. Something is unfinished.
You think there might be a chance. We haven't exhausted all options.

Each character might have a different motivation, so dig into those. That's where you'll find conflict: when one person decides to hoard food in case he miraculously makes it through, and another just wants to feed her family.

The question you need to ask each of your characters is this: what are you living for? Only in the face of death will they know the true answer.

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