Mission Objectives

Okay, quick question. In each scene of your short story or novel, can you tell me the objective for each of your characters? In other words, what are they planning to do?

For example, say you have a scene that takes place in a math class. Better yet, social studies. That class always put me to sleep. Your teacher’s objective might be to get through the class without any trouble from the known gang member who actually decided to show up that day. Your main character and her best friend’s objective might be to continue the conversation they started before the bell, without getting caught. And the known gang member? He has a thing for your main character and is trying to get a rise out of her, especially since she’s pretending he doesn’t exist.

Now that you know each of the characters’ objectives for the scene, you’ll be able to write dialogue and action that keeps readers glued to the page. Plus you can make sure some of your character’s objective clash (like the main character and that hot gang member) so the scene is dripping with conflict.

Obviously this is perfect for those of us who write outlines first. But don’t worry if you don’t. You can always go back after writing your first draft, and figure it out before moving onto your next one.

For more information (and there’s a whole chapters worth), be sure to check out Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets A Novelist Can Learn From Actors. I told you last week this is an awesome book.