: Re: Does it really serve a main character to give them one driving want? I often feel that we fall into a trap of believing that we must provide a driving goal for a main character at the outset.

@Angie602

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I think the problem is you misunderstand what a "driving want" is, based on many of your examples. A driving want is the compelling desire that moves the character through the story. It doesn't have to be the entirety of their existence though, and most of the time it isn't. It's just a foundation that you build into your character to make them realistic and have a purpose. Let me use your examples for simplicity:

How to Stop Time: Tom Hazard is looking for peace of mind more so than anything else. This is why he eventually moves back home to London and tries being a teacher. He's looking for his solace in the past. As a result, the events of the story help bring him towards looking to the present even if the antagonistic group keeps trying to force him to stay in the past.

Frodo: His driving want is to protect the Shire which requires him to leave so long as he has the ring, leading him to take it to Mordor to be destroyed.

Harry Potter: Harry wants a normal life, a better life, something that Voldemort stole from him. So Harry works hard at Hogwarts only to find out that now Voldemort is threatening to take even that from him. The entire story of the series is about a boy constantly trying to cling to that which he treasures at any cost, often being put into troublesome situations because of another man's sins.

Luke Skywalker: Luke just wants to be respected and free. Everything he does is a means to meet that end because different things come up that block his path. In the case of saving the princess, consider the freedom you can get by having royalty in your debt.

A Fault in our Stars: Hazel wants to be able to be a normal girl, even if just for a short while, but she struggles because she knows if she falls in love, she'll only hurt Augustus because she will die from her cancer.

Titanic: Rose wants to be allowed to choose her own path in life. As an upper-class woman of that time period, she had some choice, but much of her life was predetermined. Since her family went through financial issues, though, she accepted the engagement out of obligation to her family and because it would allow her to continue the life she knew. She did it because she thought maintaining that high-class lifestyle was what she wanted, but we see through the movie what she really wanted was the ability to decide for herself.

Just because a character has a driving want, that doesn't mean that is all there is supposed to be for the character. Your character can have other wants, but those aren't the character's core. That's like saying, "I'm hungry, so I want food, therefore my existence is now only to eat." It doesn't work like that. Just because you are hungry and have that as your present want, that doesn't mean the rest of your wants disappear. In fact, a driving want will only change if the want is fulfilled or something significant happens causing the MC to realize that what they want goes against their core beliefs. For example:
-In Fate/Zero, Kiritsugu Emiya wants world peace where nobody has to die through violence. Kiritsugu is simultaneously an assassin who gets hired to fight in a war for a supposedly omnipotent wish granting device. He intends to use that device to bring about his wish.

He then finds out that the only way the grail (the device) can grant his wish is by killing literally everybody else in the world because the only way Kiritsugu knows how to bring peace is through killing. This disturbs Kiritsugu greatly who is led to believe there is no other way, so he destroys the grail which still causes a great deal of fiery death and destruction because of his wish, thus forcing his want to shift from wanting world peace to wanting to live a life where he can atone for his sins which reach the heavens.

Also, you don't "shoehorn" the stories into the character. There are 3 main story-writing methods:

Character-Driven: Where you make a character and the events are influenced by them. (Character creates the stories)
Story-Driven: Where you write the story and your character responds to what happens. (Stories mold the characters)
World-Driven: Where the world is designed so that your character's actions still matter, but there are so many events happening off-screen that limit the range your character can influence at a time. (World molds the stories and the characters)

In none of these do you force the story into a character. This core misunderstanding may be why you think it is counterproductive when it's not. So, in short:
YES. It does serve the character to give them one driving want. Just because they have one driving want, that doesn't mean they can't have other momentary wants that influence their actions. The driving want just happens to be more critical to influencing who the character is at their core.

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