What is the one thing in writing that gives a character the chance to connect with its audience? What is the one element that quietly moves the plot forward?

Motive.

And one of my villains… is lacking it. Hence the writer’s dilemma! You see, I never like to think that I have writer’s block, because that would imply that I am out of ideas. Quite the contrary, I have tons of ideas and know how Silver 2 will end. The problem is, I don’t have— what’s that word again?

Motive.

I’ve come up with different reasons for the villain to have motive, but most of them don’t make any sense within the context of the story. All characters need to have motive, let’s take a look at some examples so that you know what I mean:

Bruce Wayne becomes Batman because his parents are killed when he’s a child.

Poseidon doesn’t allow Odysseus to return home because he was insulted by Odysseus’ pride.

Darth Vader wants to find the rebels so that he can wipe them out.

Tom Hanks’ character in Cast Away just wants to survive and someday go home.

A motive doesn’t have to be complex, it can be very simple and straightforward. The dilemma I’m experiencing, is that I don’t know —why— the villain is doing what he’s doing. Ironically, I know the motives for all the other characters in the story. I know what Cindy wants, I know what Jonas wants, I know what Jadie wants, I know what -redacted- wants. But this new antagonist has me stumped for the time being.

So how does one solve the literary crisis?

Create the back story to the character first. Normally, this is a process I do after I have already established the motive, but in this case, it is necessary for me to start the process here. Where does the villain come from; what did they want to be when they grew up; what stopped them from achieving their goals; who is this person now; why would they care about what’s happening in the present? If you know who the character is, you can figure out the motive after.

But what happens if you’ve written the back story and you still don’t know what the motive is? Well there’s an answer for that too, it’s called… wait for it… sleep. That’s right, go to bed and forget about everything you were writing about. Sometimes, a good night’s rest is all you need to write a compelling motive, for a particularly interesting antagonist.

Happy writing!