Character Motivation Cheat Sheet: Ideas for External & Internal Motivation

July 29, 2025

Start with these ideas for character motivation, then adapt and grow them to fit your unique characters and story.

External Motivation

Goals driven by outside forces, tangible, and often visible to others.

1. Survival & Safety

- Escape danger
- Protect loved ones
- Find shelter or refuge
- Fight to survive in a dangerous world
- Secure food, water, resources
- Avoid death or harm
- Survive a natural disaster
- Escape war or conflict
- Find medical help or healing
- Avoid imprisonment or capture
- Escape poverty or destitution

2. Power & Control

- Gain political power or authority
- Win a political campaign
- Control a territory or resource
- Influence others’ decisions
- Climb social or corporate ladder
- Dominate an enemy or rival
- Win a war
- Prevent a war or revolt
- Stir up a revolution
- Control a situation or outcome
- Lead a group or movement
- Suppress opposition
- Maintain power once gained
- Enforce laws or rules
- Creating a vision for the society

3. Wealth & Status

- Acquire money or treasure
- Achieve fame or recognition
- Gain social status or prestige
- Inherit a fortune or legacy
- Maintain reputation or honor
- Buy luxury or comfort
- Gain influence through wealth
- Avoid poverty or financial ruin
- Obtain scholarships or sponsorship
- Gain favour through gifts or bribes

4. Love & Relationships

- Win someone’s affection
- Find companionship
- Avoid being alone
- Confess romantic feelings to a close friend
- Reunite with family or friends
- Protect a loved one
- Pull loved ones out of dangerous situations
- Save love interest from death
- Connect with someone for the first time
- Gain acceptance in a community
- Start or maintain a family or lineage
- Mend a broken relationship
- Find a mentor or role model
- Gain trust or loyalty
- Save a relationship from ending
- Support a loved one’s dreams
- Uphold family legacy, traditions, values or expectations
- Escape family pressure or conflict
- Fulfil a promise to a loved one
- Balance work and family life
- Seek family approval
- Resolve feuds or rivalries within family or close circles
- Incite feuds within close circles
- Prove someone wrong
- Protect family honour or seek revenge for wrongs
- Navigate betrayal within trusted relationships
- Defend family from external enemies or betrayal
- Seek revenge for a wrong, injustice or betrayal by allies, friends, or family

5. Justice, Betrayal, Revenge & Redemption

- Fight against societal betrayal or corruption
- Seek justice or revenge on behalf of community or cause
- Challenge betrayal by institutions or leaders
- Uphold social contracts broken by others
- Bring a criminal to justice
- Protect or clear someone’s name or reputation
- Uphold laws or moral codes
- Fight oppression or injustice
- Seek punishment or forgiveness
- Expose corruption or lies
- Protect the innocent
- Right a historical wrong
- Exonerate the falsely accused
- Resolve or escalate feuds and rivalries
- Defend territory, status, or power
- Confront enemies who caused loss or humiliation
- Survive vengeful attacks
- Overcome external threats fuelled by past betrayals
- Conceal mistakes or sins to protect themselves
- Keep secrets from their past

6. Achievement & Ambition

- Complete a quest or mission
- Win a competition or challenge
- Master a skill or craft
- Build or invent something new and/or lasting
- Fulfil a prophecy or destiny
- Immerse themselves in work as a distraction
- Achieve career success or recognition
- Build a professional reputation
- Gain a title or award or promotion
- Reach a personal milestone
- Set a new record
- Start a successful business or launch a project
- Innovate or lead industry

7. Freedom & Independence

- Escape captivity or oppression
- Break free from rules or constraints
- Travel or explore new places
- Live life on their own terms
- End a controlling relationship
- Choose their own path
- Discover the truth about their identity
- Abandon societal expectations
- Avoid debt or obligations
- Create a self-sustaining life
- Resist conformity

8. Mystery & Adventure

- Solve puzzles or uncover secrets
- Explore unknown lands or realms
- Embark on quests or journeys
- Discover hidden truths
- Encounter the supernatural or occult
- Face unexpected challenges
- Seek thrills or excitement
- Escape monotony or routine
- Find lost artefacts or knowledge
- Experience new cultures or ideas

9. Society, Community & Greater Good

- Fight for social justice or reform
- Protect a community or group
- Uphold laws or traditions
- Question or disrupt the community’s norms
- Start a revolution
- Promote equality and fairness
- Resist oppression or tyranny
- Prevent something from falling into the wrong hands
- Serve a cause or movement
- Protect an endangered species
- Volunteer or help others
- Maintain social order or peace
- Advocate for the marginalised
- Contribute to collective well-being
- Prevent global catastrophe

10. Supernatural

- Harness supernatural powers or abilities
- Defeat a magical or otherworldly enemy
- Break or fulfil a mystical prophecy
- Protect a place or object with magical significance
- Summon or communicate with spirits, ghosts, or other entities
- Perform magical rituals or spells
- Restore balance to a disrupted magical realm
- Prevent dark or evil supernatural forces from rising
- Rescue someone trapped in a supernatural dimension or curse
- Uncover hidden magical knowledge or artefacts
- Escape from supernatural captivity or possession
- Become or transform into a supernatural being
- Seek revenge through supernatural means
- Prevent a supernatural disaster or apocalypse
- Save a community or world from supernatural threat
- Break a curse or magical binding
- Find the truth about life after death or the spirit world
- Protect a supernatural secret from exposure
- Haunt or curse an enemy
- Bring someone back from the dead

Turn your idea into a novel with the guided novel planner

Internal Motivation

Deep emotional or psychological drives often invisible to others

1. Identity & Self-Worth

- Prove their value or competence
- Discover or accept their true self
- Overcome feelings of inadequacy
- Find purpose or meaning in life
- Escape guilt or shame
- Build confidence and resilience
- Embrace positive mindset or growth
- Pursue spiritual awakening or enlightenment
- Fight impostor syndrome
- Seek validation or approval
- Accept flaws and mistakes
- Become authentic and self aware
- Give themselves a break

2. Love, Connection & Social Belonging

- Feel worthy of love and acceptance
- Build meaningful relationships
- Overcome loneliness or isolation
- Forgive or seek forgiveness
- Belong to a group or community
- Express vulnerability
- Mend emotional wounds
- Support others emotionally
- Experience intimacy
- Find companionship and trust

3. Past, Loss & Trauma

- Heal from past wounds or trauma
- Overcome grief or loss
- Forgive or seek vengeance for past mistakes or betrayals
- Seek justice or closure from past betrayals
- Escape haunting memories
- Confront family or personal history
- Resolve inner guilt or regret
- Rebuild after emotional collapse
- Rebuild trust after broken relationships
- Accept loss or change
- Face personal demons
- Break cycles of pain

4. Growth & Transformation

- Change a destructive habit or belief
- Learn a life lesson or truth
- Heal emotional wounds or trauma
- Become stronger or wiser
- Find inner peace or balance
- Embrace change or uncertainty
- Develop empathy or compassion
- Let go of past pain
- Accept responsibility
- Pursue self-improvement

5. Freedom & Autonomy

- Overcome fears or limitations
- Break free from mental or emotional chains
- Assert independence in thought and action
- Resist manipulation or control
- Live authentically
- Set personal boundaries
- Escape toxic relationships
- Challenge authority or norms
- Make own decisions
- Take responsibility for life choices

6. Moral & Ethical Beliefs

- Stay true to personal values or faith
- Fight inner temptations or corruption
- Resist temptations to harm others
- Uphold a promise or vow
- Struggle with doubt or faith
- Seek redemption or forgiveness
- Act with integrity
- Defend the vulnerable
- Reject hypocrisy or injustice
- Follow a spiritual path
- Make ethical sacrifices

7. Security & Stability

- Achieve emotional safety or calm
- Avoid anxiety or uncertainty
- Protect mental well-being
- Maintain order and predictability
- Create a stable home or environment
- Avoid conflict or chaos
- Manage stress or trauma
- Build financial security
- Keep relationships steady
- Seek comfort in routine

8. Curiosity & Knowledge

- Understand the self and the world
- Solve a mystery or puzzle
- Seek truth or enlightenment
- Question authority or norms
- Explore new ideas or philosophies
- Pursue academic or practical knowledge
- Discover secrets or hidden truths
- Innovate or invent
- Satisfy a restless or spiritual mind
- Challenge assumptions