Seven Universal Motivations


I hesitated over this title. A motivation is the why of what you want to achieve. It is what drives your actions. In crafting stories, classic plots include the revenge plot or searching for love.

But wind back to the heart of the story, of why it’s being written, of what journey the protagonist is on, and the motivation is far simpler. Primal. Maybe some people would call it the theme of the book.

Paul Ekman identified seven universal facial expressions. Whatever the culture, we recognise these seven emotions on others’ faces.

Anger

Fear

Disgust

Happiness

Sadness

Surprise

Contempt

These are the emotions that readers can’t ignore. They experience them, we experience them, viscerally.

Advice on writing, especially on plotting and character development, can become pretentious, and with that, lose its effectiveness. The rawer the emotions we connect to, the stronger the story. Go back to the basics.

Which of the seven emotions defines your protagonist? Is it an internal definition? (that is, are they angry?) Or is it an external emotion? (that is, is everyone or a significant person in their life angry with them?)

Does their emotional motivation (internal and external) change through the book? What emotion do they end in?

I find it fascinating to look back at books that have hooked me and see how it is the power of a primal emotion that lures me in and calls me to re-read a favourite book; to experience, again, the impact of a particular, primal emotion and (because I read for hope and positive vibes) the healing of it.

PS Anger, sadness, surprise and fear are common emotional starting points in plots. Disgust has been overlooked, but I suspect that as it is used increasingly in marketing and political activity authors and readers will want to explore it in fiction. Google the psychology or marketing of disgust and you’ll find intriguing research. Don’t blame me if you fall down that rabbit hole, though!

*** For those of you who read my newsletter/blog for new book releases, Doubt is out September 15 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09217RKG6/


7 responses to “Seven Universal Motivations”

  1. You always share such interesting things, Jenny. You always make me think. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Not long until release day now. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Danni

    • Danni, glad you appreciate the spillover of my busy brain. Currently on hyper-mode with release day approaching.

      Jenny

  2. Looking over my Science Fiction trilogy I find I have hit on all of these. There are some gradations of those emotions and one that doesn’t fit easily into one of the others, hope. Of the gradations, grief is a powerful emotion and self-contempt can be quite powerful as well. And some of the lesser versions of these emotions can help when you need a relief from the stronger emotional scenes. So consider adding amusement, cheer, annoyance to your tool chest as well.

  3. Jenny (commenting on my own blog post – I know, it’s odd) Sometimes something glitches and I post as “anonymous”. Anonymous on my own blog. The irony. I’ll catch the gremlin responsible one day!

    • Fascinating; so is contempt a less strong version of disgust? And (thinking of the deadly sins) where might jealousy fit? Lear, etc.

      • I could lose days chasing down research on the lesser used (from a plotting sense) emotions. For me, the difference between disgust and contempt is that with disgust the person/object eliciting the emotion is so repulsive the disgusted person refused to include it in themselves (in their sense of self, in their life). Whereas with contempt, the contemptuous person keeps the person/object of their scorn in their life, even makes use of them.

        Great question about jealousy and Lear. I’m not sure. Maybe it should be its own primal emotion, or maybe it fits under contempt? i.e. this person is less than me, how dare they have anything I lack?

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