Hot take: My main character's motivation fell apart halfway through a draft

I was writing in a coffee shop in Austin, and realized my protagonist had no real reason to chase the villain. I had to scrap three chapters and start that arc over from scratch. Anyone else have a plot point just collapse on them?

3 comments

3 Comments

betty_sullivan3123d ago

That's a brutal spot to be in, but it's smart you caught it. How did you figure out the motivation wasn't working? Was it a specific scene where the character's actions felt empty, or did you just step back and realize the logic wasn't there?

sandra_anderson11d ago

Oh man, that dead brother thing hits way too close to home. I once gave a character a huge fear of dogs, then had him casually pet a stray in chapter three like it was nothing. Total facepalm moment. You just forget your own rules sometimes when you're in the writing zone. It's like your brain shorts out and you only see the scene right in front of you, not the whole picture. Good on you for catching it and fixing that character's voice.

val_craig3723d ago

Had that happen with a side character in my last project. I gave her a dead brother for backstory, but halfway through I realized she never once acted like someone who actually lost a sibling. Her grief was just a line in her bio, not a real thing. Had to rewrite all her dialogue to make her colder and more reckless.