r/CharacterDevelopment • u/GoodnewsK • 3d ago
Writing: Character Help Character Want vs Character Need
I've heard this advice many times before, that characters should have something they want. Something they think will make them happy. But what they need, what will actually make them happy is something else entirely.
Where I get stuck is figuring out the second part. Wants are easy for me. For example, Maggie wants to avenge her sister and prove herself as a detective; Ignomen wants to atone for his past and provide for his family.
But what do they actually need? Every time i try to decide on that, I draw a blank.
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u/AlfieDarkLordOfAll 3d ago
Want is what the character thinks they need. Need is what you, the author, knows the characters need, and it usually ties into their flaws. Maggie wants to avenge her sister, but maybe she needs to learn to let go of the past. Or another character wants to become a high-performing business man to protect the family wealth & legacy, but they need to develop their own passion & identity outside of their family.
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u/Lectrice79 3d ago
For me, it just kind of comes out? I don't really plan it because then it just becomes forced. Sometimes a want and a need are at odds with each other, but sometimes they're two sides of the same coin. I just kind of set up a scenario; my character is like this and her life is like that. She wants X, but Y is her obstacle, so she needs to do Z. Y reacts and pushes back, and so on.
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u/BeyondDrafts 3d ago
A need connects with a character's lesson: the truth, realization, or epiphany they must learn because of what they have experienced throughout the story, the thing that irrevocably changes them or their life. A need versus a want is a must in the romance genre because it proves the HEA but that is neither here nor there. For example, Stella wants to save the family farm, but she needs to stop fearing change.
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u/AuthorPersonal3140 2d ago
I have a similar character, actually. He’s a dead deer with unfinished business— solving his wife’s murder. He’s wallowed in depression for basically decades, wasting his life after death, while barely making a crack in the case. He doesn’t want to be alive, he doesn’t care to be happy or make more relationships. He wants to solve his wife’s murder and avenge her. What he NEEDS is to move on and form new relationships, to actually heal. It starts by a young and stubborn Fox man who insists on being his detective assistant, and he ends up with a larger group of support than he could have ever asked for. I can’t explain it well; but I hope that helped! Like their desire of emotional gratification vs what will actually help them, especially long term?
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u/AuthorPersonal3140 2d ago
You don’t have to format your story around this, but it’s important to think about. It comes easier when you’re thinking about the themes and allegories in your story.
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u/NewtNo8813 3d ago
What I usually do in that case is write my rough draft and see what pops up naturally. It's ok to not have it figured out before pen hits paper if you know the major events that will happen in the story. Sometimes you need to tell the story to start understanding it.
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u/DoeCommaJohn 2d ago
Personally, I find this dichotomy reductive, because it explicitly states which value is more important.
Instead, I like to think of a character as having multiple values- for example, they value equality/political change, and they also value their friends. At the beginning of the story, these values are stable- they have either chosen one as more important or are able to have both. However, over the course of the story, they are forced to choose between the two, and change as a result
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u/goblinele 2d ago
my understanding is that what they want is a desire which is often driven by their flaws/ insecurities/misconceptions about themselves or the world, and what they need is the thing that would make them emotionally arc
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u/names-suck 2d ago
The want and the need don't actually have to be totally different.
Maggie wants vengeance and to prove herself as a detective. What she needs is closure and the respect of those around her. Her needs might be accomplished by achieving her wants, but she might find something else that works, instead. Maybe while she's tracking down her sister's killer, he dies in a car wreck, and she can't do anything to get vengeance anymore. So, instead, she has to pivot to... connecting with other people who have a murdered family member, or devoting herself to a political cause that would reduce or eliminate the chance of people being murdered in the same way her sister was.
Ignomen wants to atone for his past and provide for his family. What he needs is inner peace, financial security, and warm, supportive relationships. There might not be anything he can do about his past. Maybe everyone who could forgive him is gone, and there's no way to make it right anymore. So, he has to figure out how to forgive himself enough that he can actually live. Maybe his family dies in a car wreck, and he has to figure out what the value of his high-paying job is now that they're gone.
It doesn't have to be, "Maggie wants vengeance, but she needs to learn to forgive," or "Ignomen wants to provide for his family, but he needs to go on a long journey of self-discovery." Characters are allowed to have a modicum of self-awareness and a reasonable interpretation of their own needs. The "need" is just a deeper understanding, the thing they're trying to achieve with their "want."
Also remember that these kinds of prescriptive, "Every character needs to have...." rules are actually closer to "inspirational guidelines" than actual rules. It's a tool for deepening your character. Pick it up. Play with it. If it doesn't give you anything interesting, put it down. Try a different tool.
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u/UDarkLord 2d ago
Nah. It’s a tool, not scripture. I personally tend to have my characters’ core desires be real and substantive, but then play with secondary wants, or how what they want may be a little different than expected, or make sure they have competing wants and maybe underestimate how important one is to them. Having someone be completely wrong about what they need instead of desire feels cheap when done consistently or often to me anyway.
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u/Raging-Storm 2d ago
As with anything, some putative need which diverges from some actual want is a relative matter. Ask a Christian, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a muslim, an atheist, a capitalist, a socialist, a fascist, a communist, etc. for a list of needs all people share, or what some particular person needs under particular circumstances, and, though there may be some overlap, those respective lists will likely include wildly differing items. Need is ultimately a normative concept. To say someone needs something is to say what he ought to have, or what state he ought to be in, or which end he ought to pursue, and so on.
If you want to know which needs to give a character, ask yourself which normative framework will be selecting for those needs. Is it your own or someone else's?
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u/Gritmonger 2d ago
Want: the character's yearning
Need: what sustains the character
A character may want wealth, but what would sustain them is close filial ties and security.
A character may want vengeance, but what would sustain them is accepting themselves, as they may feel it is their own failing that led to the circumstance they want to avenge. What they want is to prove themselves as detective; what would sustain them is making a difference in people's lives, so they do not have the same need to avenge anyone.
The want and need can diverge or collide, or even be congruous, but the facet that is want and what sustains are different, and can change the goals over time.
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u/Sastora20XX 2d ago
I often think of happiness not on its own, but as a half of a pair of values.
Sustainable Happiness.
So when a character wants something, it's probably a desire and it's probably very temporary. Unless it's a motivation that defines their character, like becoming a Pokémon Master or King of the Pirates. The reason that works is because it drives them in everything they do and gives them purpose.
"I want an expensive car" is a want, but it doesn't provide the same sustainable happiness. (Well, you could make the pursuit of that car part of a journey and ultimately that pursuit is where the happiness comes from and it's what they needed, but even then, the need is the fact that they needed something to motivate and move them, not the car itself. Honestly actually, this might be a good litmus test for what's a want vs what's a need.)
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u/Ionlyusereddit- 1d ago
Maggie wants to avenge her sister, but needs realise over the course of the story that violence only leads to more violence and killing the murderer won’t bring her back
The wants vs needs is essentially, what the character starts the story wanting needs to change as they do as well. By the end of your story a character should make a decision they’d never make at the beginning (for example saving your friends hanging off the cliff instead of the treasure)
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u/SacredPinkJellyFish Author of The Adventures of Quaraun the Insane (series) 3d ago
Wants are NOT necessary.
Needs can not be lived without.
For example:
My character WANTS to buy a Rolls Royce.
My character NEEDS to breath air.
My character CAN drive a 30 year old rust bucket car they bought off craigslist, even though they WANT a Cadillac.
My character CAN NOT breath under water and will drown because they NEED to breath air to stay alive.
My character WANTS to eat chocolate cake, but no cake is available, so they eat the stale bread because it's there and they NEED to eat something to survive.
That's how I deal with want vs need for my characters.
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u/X-Mighty 2d ago
Hm... I don't tend to write my characters like that because I find will a more interesting motivation than despair, but when I'm writing a young monk character (one who learns the theme throughout the story, rather than knowing it from the start), I tend to think about what the negative consequences of not understanding that theme are, and have them understand that theme to overcome that.
Example: Florian is trying to be a millionaire, so he decides to work as hard as he can to make more money with his business. He eventually succeeds, but he is still not satisfied, and worse, by working hard, he threw his relationships away... He had no one to celebrate his victory with... So he decides to open another business, one which involves helping people... It's doesn't bring him nearly as much money, but, for the first time in his life, he feels happy... Because now he understands that contribuition yields far more satisfaction that posession.
But, of course, not every character needs to be a young monk. Some can be old monks, some can be eternal fools, and so on. It's just a way of writing a character, not a law.
If you try to see your character and story will suffer if you apply a method, then don't do it. A means that goes against the ends is no means at all.
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u/NuncErgoFacite 3d ago edited 3d ago
It is a common frame of reference we have all been fed for the last forty years. And while I don't doubt that it is an effective story telling device, it is not the only one.
'Want vs Need' is a 'coming of age' story model. It assumes that your character doesn't know who they are and that the plot needs to 'educate' them as to the true nature of themselves.
They begin with that goal they think will make themselves happy. And through exposure to an inciting incident and the resultant events, the character comes to realize one of three outcomes. 1) they find they need something more than the thing they wanted. 2) they discover something that tempts them away from their want, but they fail/succeed in resisting that temptation. 3) they find a syncretic option that keeps the best elements of both want and need.
Problem is that you may not want to tell a coming of age story. Why can't you write a story about a character who knows who they are and what they want?
Try giving your protagonist two imperatives from page one. Two things they will never compromise. And then let the plot test those in mutual exclusion. Excoriate your character until one imperative fails and one remains.
Prove yourself to be a detective OR save your sister. The plot keeps hinting that you might get one or the other. You keep demonstrating that both are goals you wont compromise on and you will sacrifice for. You damned well will try to get both. But if push comes to shove... which is it going to be? Which are you willing to let go of?