Character motivation: EVADING RESPONSIBILITY (DARK)

EVADING RESPONSIBILITY (DARK)

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HELPFUL TIP:

To understand why your character is driven toward a certain goal, get to know their positive and negative traits, as well as any significant emotional wounds that might be motivating them. Then you can explore the various kinds of conflict that could block them as they move toward their goal.

Leaving dependents to pursue other interests and goals
Skipping town to avoid responsibility for a crime
Running a family business into the ground and taking off to start fresh
Accruing a huge debt and leaving others holding the bag
Trying to unload a failing business on an unsuspecting buyer
Stealing a group's resources and leaving when those resources are needed (if the group is to survive)
Abandoning family members or friends in their hour of need if doing so will improve one's own situation
Leaving someone who is pregnant
Evading a loan shark or other debt collector
Framing someone else to take the fall

There are five basic human needs that, when missing from a character's life, could motivate them to pursue this goal. The following needs are all possibilities, but only one of them should be the primary driver for any given character. For more information on the relationship between human needs and outer motivations, please see this Character Motivation tutorial.

Esteem and Recognition: A character who was constantly told they were a disappointment will struggle when things go wrong as it reawakens negative feelings of failure. Cutting and running is the quickest way to avoid this emotional pain.

Love and Belonging: A character may choose to leave rather than face responsibility (as a father, husband, daughter, wife) because they believe they are somehow defective and loved ones are better off on their own.

Safety and Security: When threatened, a character may take the coward's way out and do whatever is necessary to save themselves.

Physiological Needs: A character under threat of death may trade the lives of others for their own.

EVADING RESPONSIBILITY (DARK)

HELPFUL TIP:

NOTES:

FORMS THIS MIGHT TAKE:

HUMAN NEED DRIVING THE GOAL (INNER MOTIVATION):

HOW THE CHARACTER MAY PREPARE FOR THIS GOAL:

POSSIBLE SACRIFICES OR COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS GOAL:

ROADBLOCKS WHICH COULD PREVENT THIS GOAL FROM BEING ACHIEVED:

TALENTS & SKILLS THAT WILL HELP THE CHARACTER ACHIEVE THIS GOAL:

WHAT'S AT STAKE IF THIS GOAL ISN'T MET?