Us humans experience so many emotions during a single day, and laughter is definitely one of the greatest ones. He performs his duties, and somewhat more than his duties, to his family, his community, and his business. Conflict ensues. He quarrels with no one. Yona Toyber, the matchmaker who arranges the marriage of Hirshl and Mina. His domineering mother manipulates him into a more suitable marriage, which he spinelessly accepts. What drives your characters? To determine effective goals for your characters, consider your story’s end game. Hirshl Hurvitz (HUR -shuhl), the weak-willed son of a wealthy shopkeeper. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. It’s hard to spin conflict out of a character’s desire to become an actress. “No matter what, you are probably to have to let bad things happen to some of the characters you love or you won't have much of a story. Either positively or negatively. They are a different person at the end of your story in comparison to who they were at the beginning. Save the galaxy from invading aliens? Defining characters’ goals in a plot-driven story is usually fairly simple. There’s nothing exciting about a character who easily overcomes a minor obstacle to achieve a simple goal. Flaws. © 2020 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Story goals may be a catalyst for conflict, but they can fail to fan the flames of your story’s plot if they’re not properly developed. My advice is to only use what serves your story. He falls madly in love with the family servant, Blume, who is also his cousin. They risk death to defeat the Dark Lord because their village is at risk, they avoid their attractive new neighbor because their last partner ruined their self-esteem, and they hide their sexuality because their parents would otherwise kick them out of the house. So what elements make up for an interesting character? Proactivity (or motivation). Are you writing a character-driven story that highlights your character’s personal growth and transformation? Whether those desires are to reconcile with our estranged father or to find the nearest coffee shop ASAP doesn’t matter. External conflict occurs when a character struggles to achieve their goal due to opposition from an outside force, typically another character. Who or what gets in the way of your main character? As I said, don’t bore yourself and your readers with long descriptions and basically giving a bio of your character. He nurses Hirshl back to health with gentle... Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this A Simple Story study guide and get instant access to the following: You'll also get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and 300,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. It sounds simple, but it’s harder than you think. Something always gets in our way. I can't wait to send you my upcoming stories :D. Please see your inbox to continue your subscription and to receive your free ebook. Nothing ever goes our own way the way we want it. Relationships. Go into each of these people and try to capture how each one feels, thinks, talks, survives.” - Anne Lamott.