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Your protagonist is the hero of your story, and if the reader is intrigued by them, that is likely to carry them through the entirety of your book. But, if your reader doesn't feel like your protagonist is compelling, it's going to be much harder for them to feel invested in continuing with the story all the way to the end. You have to consider if your protagonist is someone that the reader really wants to “hang out” with for hundreds of pages.

But knowing if your protagonist is effective or not can be so difficult for you as the author to see. In working as a professional developmental book editor, I've edited hundreds of manuscripts across my career, and I've discovered the key to making a compelling protagonist — crafting a strong character objective for them.

Today, I’m going to share exactly what a character objective is, why it’s so important, and how to write a strong character objective for your protagonist that will get your readers invested in their journey. With this knowledge, you can turn back to your own work in progress and make sure that your protagonist is as engaging as possible — someone that the reader is excited to follow for the duration of your story.

What is a Character Objective?

Now, what is a character objective, actually? You may have heard this term thrown around but aren't actually sure what it means. Put simply, the character's objective is the thing they are seeking to achieve — some goal that they have at the present moment when your story is taking place — and they are actively working toward it.

We need to have a sense of the character’s objective from the very beginning of the story. Otherwise, if they're just aimlessly moving about your novel's world and we don't have a sense of what they want, then it's going to be difficult for the reader to feel invested in that character.

Everyone wants something, right? It's human nature. So try to drill down: What does my protagonist want above all else? Once you establish that, it's going to be much easier for the reader to feel invested in the plot, because we're going to understand how each event or development either brings that character closer to that goal or pushes them further from it.

Knowing what they want, what desired outcome they have for their life, is also just going to make them much more well-developed as a character. They're not just this empty shell or robot-type figure; they're an opinionated, thinking, feeling human being, which is what you typically want your protagonist to feel like.

You'd be surprised how many times I'll read a manuscript all the way through to the end and still not have a firm handle on what the protagonist actually wants. If the protagonist doesn't have a clear, established character objective, then it's going to feel to the reader like they lack agency in the story. We're only going to see them responding to plot events that befall them rather than actively work toward something that they personally want. We want to see that personal motivation factor tied into the events of the story.

Now, it's very often the case that you as the author, as the visionary for the story, as the creator of these characters — including your protagonist — know exactly what they want, and it's very clear to you. But often, it's not actually coming through on the page as clearly as it could.

How to Write a Strong Character Objective for Your Protagonist

Have your protagonist articulate their objective in some way in the story. You’ll be surprised how much work that simple line or two in your manuscript is going to do. That simple revision is going to turn on a light bulb in the reader’s mind, because now we have a much better understanding of the character's intentions behind their actions.

But stating your character’s objective just once isn’t enough — you’ll also need to weave that objective throughout your narrative. So, I want to talk through three tactical steps to take to create a good protagonist objective and incorporate that objective into the story effectively:

1. Recognize Weak vs. Strong Objectives

You want to make sure when you are articulating your protagonist's objective that it is as tangible, concrete and specific as possible — it should be something that, by the end of the story, we can definitively say, “Yes, they achieved that,” or, “No, they did not.” A character objective shouldn't be something so vague or nebulous that we have no means of tracking it over the course of the story, because then that's not going to make your plot feel propulsive.

This concept is really best Illustrated through character objective examples, so let's go through three examples of weak objectives and then use a prompting question that can help you take that weak objective and transform it into something strong, concrete, tangible and specific.

Example of a weak character objective: My protagonist wants to feel happy in life.
Prompting question: Ask yourself, “What will make my protagonist happy in life?”
Strong character objective: My protagonist wants to move to Hawaii.

Now, both of those statements — the strong and the weak objectives — are expressing something that the character wants, which is important for us to know. But one is a very specific, tangible objective: move to Hawaii. By the end of the novel, we will know whether they did or not.

Let’s look at another example of a weak character objective.

Example of a weak character objective: My protagonist wants to feel validated.
Prompting question: Ask yourself, “Who are they seeking this validation from?”
Strong character objective: My protagonist wants a promotion at work.

Again, a promotion is something that we can easily see them work toward over the course of the story and see if that pans out for them or not.

Let’s look at one final character objective example.

Example of a weak character objective: My protagonist wants to feel like they belong.
Prompting question: Ask yourself, “What will give them a sense of belonging?”
Strong character objective: My protagonist wants to locate their birth parents.

Do you see how both statements are interrelated, but one is a specific means of achieving this broader feeling that the protagonist is seeking?

Too often, I see authors articulate the objective as just that broad, overarching feeling, but a feeling or desire is not necessarily the objective itself. So really try to drill down that bigger-picture thing that the character is seeking into a step that they want to take to achieve it.

2. Thread the Character Objective Through the Narrative

As the story develops and gets more complex with more things are going on, make sure that the protagonist is continually thinking back to that objective and registering if they're getting closer to it or further from it.

Remember that if the protagonist expresses at some point early in the story that they have this objective, the reader is going to automatically expect some follow-up on it. So don't just abandon that objective and never talk about it again. If the protagonist says, “I want to move to Hawaii,” we should see them follow up on that in some way or another. And if you've plotted your novel effectively, we should see a series of obstacles get in the way of the protagonist reaching that objective: Does their boyfriend or girlfriend express that they don't want them to move to Hawaii? Does their boss say that they can't work from Hawaii and they have to get a new job? Put those obstacles in place.

Then, by the end of the novel, remember that we will expect to see some kind of closure regarding whether that objective was met or not. That's going to give us a sense of payoff that we waited all this time to see — whether or not the protagonist is going to reach their goal. We want to know how that ends up for them, and also how it makes them feel if their objective was met or not.

Remember that your story doesn't have to have the standard structure of the protagonist overcoming an obstacle in achieving their goal. Many successful stories do follow that structure, and there are many alternatives you can take if that doesn't make sense for your story. For example, your protagonist could achieve their goal, only to realize that it actually wasn't what they wanted all along and that it didn't give them the feeling they thought it would. Perhaps they do move to Hawaii, but they realize that home is not actually in paradise, but where their loved ones are.

Alternatively, your protagonist could just not achieve their objective and realize that maybe they're actually better off because of it. Or, you could have them not achieve their objective and actually be in a worse place because of it, if you have more of an unhappy ending.

Regardless, do you see how all of these outcomes provide closure on the protagonist's objective, one way or another?

3. Clarify When Objectives Shift

In many stories, the protagonist's desires or goals change because of the events that happen to them in the story. After all, in your plot, their circumstances are likely going to change drastically. In the case that these new circumstances cause them to shift their objective, make sure the reader is always oriented to the new character objective.

For example, perhaps initially their desire is to receive a promotion at work — but then something terrible happens to them with a coworker in the office, and they realize that actually they just want to get a new job entirely. That's totally fine, so long as the reader is always aware of what the protagonist is working toward.

The bottom line here is that the reader needs to know what your protagonist wants to feel connected to them. Otherwise, we won't be able to register what all of their actions are adding up to or where they're coming from in making the decisions that we see them make in the story. Remember that their actions should have an intent behind them, whether that's the initial goal they set at the very beginning of the novel or it's a new goal that emerged for them over the course of the story.

I hope this helped you better understand the importance of character objectives and how it can transform your protagonist into a much more compelling figure. It can be so valuable to learn how to write a strong character objective, so try to write out your character’s objective for yourself, and then you'll see how you can bring it more to light in the story.

Thanks so much for reading and happy writing!