How can writers fix stories that don’t seem to be going anywhere? When they have hundreds of pages of content, yet their readers fail to see a real story developing? The majority of the time, the problem is that their main character is not actively pursuing a GOAL.

Story Goals

In every story, the protagonist should be trying to accomplish something. If the main character isn’t pursuing anything, readers don’t know what they’re supposed to root for. For instance, during a romance, the main character often strives to find connection. Alternatively, in a superhero comic, the main character is always trying to defeat a villain. They’re DOING something. They WANT something. Any goal that spans the entirety of your story is called the “story goal” or “super objective.” In the climax of the book, the protagonist will make the final steps towards completing that goal, and in the end, they will either succeed or fail.

Scene Goals

Story goals are usually created in response to the book’s inciting incident. Therefore, the super objective doesn’t exist for the majority of the exposition. However, individual scenes need goals as well. Without goals, scenes often fall flat. So what should characters do during the exposition? This is where “scene goals” or “individual objectives” come in. In EACH SCENE, characters should be pursuing something. After all, even in everyday life, humans rarely do anything without a reason. Even when eating, our individual goals are often to either stop hunger or enjoy a pleasant taste. Similarly, characters shouldn’t do anything without a reason. When creating individual scenes, new writers may find it beneficial to first decide their protagonist’s scene goal and then write the scene with the goal in mind.

Examples

There are a plethora of stories that demonstrate this concept. For one, Harry Potter has a story goal and individual scene goals in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. His story goal is to prevent Voldemort from getting the philosopher’s stone. Most of his scene goals help him prepare to complete the story goal. He goes to classes to master his skills, giving him a fighting chance. At the beginning of the story, though, Harry’s goal is simply to survive life with the Dursleys. Goals can, in fact, evolve.

In The Hunger Games, Katniss initially wants to care for her family. This goal is supported by scenes where she fight to get them food and supports them leading up to the reaping. In fact, the pursuit of this goal is the very reason Katniss volunteers for The Hunger Games. When The Hunger Games start, Katniss’s goal then becomes survival. In different scenes, she has goals of protecting herself, hunting down food, and finding Peeta to be her ally.

Why It Matters

Readers desperately want something to care about. If the characters in a story don’t know what they want, then readers don’t know what success will look like. Then, they stop caring. How boring would The Hunger Games be if Katniss didn’t care if she survived? She wouldn’t do anything, and she would probably die as soon as she stepped off the platform. Would there be a story if Harry didn’t want to defeat Voldemort? Sure, there would still be potions and magic, but ultimately, there wouldn’t be a point. As such, books without goals aren’t interesting stories. Rather, they’re snippets of moments that don’t matter in the long run. Those types of books send readers running in the other direction. So, writers should strive to maintain both story and scene goals while crafting their novels.