Whenever you read any book on screenwriting or watch almost any YouTube channel you are often told the same thing over and over again. “Show, don’t tell”. “Don’t use voiceover.” The one that I have heard most of all though is “If you want to write a good character, he needs to have a good goal.”

All of these are told repeatedly by writing professionals and popular YouTube content creators, but when it comes to goals, the question is why do we need them? Why couldn’t a character just wander around and see what the world ends up putting in front of them? That’s pretty much what James Joyce did when he wrote Ulysses! Life is full of coincidences, isn’t it? You may have even wondered if making your character stick to a goal could limit your creativity.

Some people think that by not having goals the story becomes “authentic,” claiming that many times people don’t know what they want. In that case, why should a writer give a character a goal? Shouldn’t art imitate life?

All of these are valid concerns, my friends. That is why I’d like to briefly explain why your characters should have goals. my reasons will relate to conflict, story pacing, and (in a larger context) acting

Conflict

When you write out goals for your character you are making it way easier for yourself in the long run. Sure, for a short script, you could get by without a goal but it would also be difficult for your character to have any meaningful change in his life.

This is because (a) he is an inert individual who goes where the wind takes him, and (b) any change that does happen in his life occurs outside of his own decisions, making everything in the story meaningless. Maybe that is what you’re going for if you are trying to tell a story based in existentialism or nihilism, but to a lot of people, the story will seem pretty boring. Why? Because nothing can or will happen.

Most people have some kind of desire to better themselves or the lives of others, which becomes manifest through goals. Those goals can be external (actionable) or internal (needed), but most great characters have at least one of each of those attributes.

Once you determine your character’s goals, it becomes easier to determine your character’s decision-making process, his throughlines (for “character continuity”), and what kind of obstacles he must face throughout the script, which could create conflict that is internal, interpersonal, and/or environmental.

Pacing

When you can determine these conflicts it makes it much easier to write content. Your character is trying to figure out how to achieve his or her goal while avoiding as much pain or effort as possible. That sometimes takes a lot of thought, depending on how difficult the conflict is to overcome, and even opens the door for dilemmas, which makes the character choose between two or more mutually exclusive options to reach a goal. This can also convey a lot of information about a character and his or her values.

Further, when you know a character’s external and internal goals it becomes easier to identify what should be his or her super-objective, acting as the primary motivation for a character(s) in any story. Once you have a super-objective then it’s easier to make smaller goals to help your character reach his main one. They are like stepping stones that lead to your main conflict toward the end. This keeps your pacing in check because when your character is always pursuing some goal they usually will encounter some adversity, which helps keep the audience more engaged.

Acting

A goal helps your audience stay engaged, yes, but more importantly, it helps the actor who is playing the character. If you ever direct a movie that you wrote, you are bound to have an actor ask you questions about one of your characters. the actor will ask questions about what a character wants in a scenario, how he would go about getting it, and other questions about the feelings of your character or the tone of a scene. When you have a clear goal for your characters in each scene, then it makes it a lot easier for you to give your actor good notes and for him or her to understand your character, which will lead to better performances most of the time.

What I am saying is this: goals are important not only in life but especially in stories. Goals are what give a screenplay unity and make your writing and story feel purposeful not only to your cast and crew but to the audience especially.

If you would like me to clarify some of my comments, or talk about this topic more in detail, I’m happy to have a dialogue in the comment section. Thanks!