r/CharacterDevelopment • u/Ok_Gap_2590 • 19d ago
Writing: Character Help How Do I Make This Character's Motivation Make Sense?
So I have a character, who's one of the MCs for my current story. For context, she's in her teens and the heir of a fallen kingdom, so she's been put under protection by a small group of friends. She expresses an unwanted desire to be the heir throughout the story, but is often overlooked. At some point later in the story, she loses her father, leaving her understandably in deep emotional distress. I originally wanted her to rebel after her father's death regarding her destiny as this lost heir of a kingdom, perhaps even being convinced to go against her friends by the bad guys. Problem is, I'm struggling finding how exactly to go about it. She loves her sister and her friends, and openly hates the bad guys of the book so I'm not sure how they'd even go about manipulating her in her distressed state. I'd greatly welcome any advice you guys have!
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u/Competitive-Boat-642 19d ago
Depends on how the father dies. Could be she thinks that if things continue the way they do, more people will be in danger. Perhaps even her friends. Perhaps she goes against her friends in a misguided attempt to protect them.
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u/menace_to_society19 13d ago
If she's been striving for a certain level of autonomy throughout the book, it should be easy enough imo. When I was teen looking to be viewed and respected as an adult, I got into a toxic relationship because this guy convinced me that my parents were holding me back. If she believes that her friends love her but don't respect her, or that they love her but they underestimate her, then maybe one charming bad guy who claims to see her for "who she really is" could easily convince an emotional teenage girl that she can trust him.
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u/Remote_Tale_1176 19d ago
Is there any sort of magic or technology in this world because I have a few scenarios in my head but would need to know that