Fantasy Writing

Lesson Five: Struggles & Motivations

 riters need to know…
W

what their characters want

 nd what keeps the character
A

from getting what they want!

 When you know what your characters
yearn for, you don’t just come right out and
say what this is.

You show what your characters want by

putting in examples of this into little small
moments, into what fiction calls scenes.
T heif of Always
Name: ​___________________________________                                                  ​Date: ​________________________   
 
Teaching Point: ​Every fiction writer needs to know what his or her characters want and what keeps these characters
from getting what they want.

When you know what your characters yearn for, you don’t just come right out and say what this is. You ​show ​what your
characters want by putting in examples of this into little small moments, into what fiction calls scenes.

Struggles Motivations

Red Riding Hood ​doesn’t want to go to Complying with her mother

grandmother’s house alone

Hansel and Gretel​ are left by their

stepmother in the woods

Cinderella
● held prisoner by her evil stepmother and
stepsisters
● leave the ball at midnight or everyone will
know she’s a peasant
● lonely
● do a lot of chores

The Thief of Always:

● RIctus lured Harvey, an otherwise

reasonable boy, into the house
● Breaking the spell of the illusions and
realizing that everything was fake
● Fighting Mr. Hood
1. Draft on the chart
3. Self edit
2. Type your beginning (1 pg):
• 2017-2018 folder
• Match to story mountain

• Writing
• Fantasy
• Name’s Alt. Beg. 1

4. Peer edit
5. Revise