: Re: Fleshing out the character motivation from the plot I decided to give a try to the snowflake method. The idea is that you gradually expand the story from a blurb into a full draft. This question

@Sue2132873

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I haven't read the Snowflake Method in-depth, but my intuition is that your concrete goal is too abstract it you haven't figured out the justification yet.

Why does this character specifically care so much about this specific act? Why would they continue to focus on revenge for this act for an extended period of time? If they found out that the perpetrator was someone close to them, would they still be so focused on revenge? If you ask why enough times, you may end up with a much more fleshed out character.

For example, let's say you have a character (call him Smith) who wants to take revenge on the people who burned down his family home. Why wasn't he home when it burned down? He was away at school studying something completely unrelated to farming. If he wasn't interested in farming then, why does he care so much now? Now he feels that he betrayed his family and this is the only way he could make it up to them. Maybe he's ashamed that he secretly wished for a fire and this helps him hide his grief. Otherwise maybe he's pretty sure it's Todd's fault and the thing that's really driving him is that he's hated how Todd made fun of the farm ever since he was little.

In some episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Kira Nerys is defined by her quest for vengeance. As long as she's finding the perpetrator of a crime, she doesn't have to deal with her grief. Javier from Les Miserables is focused on Justice, but the effect on the plot is similar to Vengeance.

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