Want versus need is one of those things
that sounds super straightforward until
the second you try to sit down and
actually pinpoint what each element is
because then you start to question
what's the actual difference between the
two and that's where things get kind of
muddy.
First things first shout out to all of
these wonderful authors of these books
that I'll be referencing throughout the
video. If you want to help support me
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do you, I mean preferably by doing the
first one. Second things second stories
are in art form so of course the only
rule is that there are no rules. This is
all info that I pulled from research but
a story can absolutely break all of
these guidelines and still work really
well because again it's art. Third
things third? What is want? When it comes
down to writing strong characters,
motivation is essential. Stories put
characters through hell and if we as
the audience can't believe that the
character has a strong reason to stick
around through all of that we're not
gonna be able to stick around either
that's where I want comes in. Want is
easiest to pinpoint because it's
external not just in the way it's
presented but also in conflict. The
obstacles characters face when fighting
for their wants are gonna be all outside
things like dragons,
Voldemort, deadlines, you know those
terrifying things that smack you in the
face when you least expect them. Because
you know deadlines... never see those
coming. So when it comes to want we're
talking about the A story. The action
sequence. The flashing lights. The want is
the premise of the story and should
always be clear as day because it's
gonna be the driving force behind
everything the character does and thus
the driving force behind the plot itself.
Because of this direct tie to the
premise, the want will often be very
specific to the character and not at all
relatable. Take for example the Hunger
Games. If we boil Katniss's main want
down to its most basic form we're still
left with her wanting to survive a
battle to the death. That isn't very
relatable, at least, I hope it isn't
relatable to you. But that's okay because
it's a very strong driving force that
keeps the plot moving forward and
I bet there wasn't a single member of the
audience in the theater sitting there
thinking "I should just walk out, I mean,
it's not like I'm ever gonna be in a
fight to the death" because the want is
rich with intrigue and questions.
We can't relate but we're interested to see
how the character handles the situation
anyway. Now wants don't have to be
relatable but they do have to make sense.
There should always be a very strong why
and the character's wants shoud tie into
their roots and their history. For
Katniss it's clear why she wants to
survive, I mean, survival is generally
something we all strive towards. But
there is a deeper driving force as well
that Suzanne Collins slips in there
which is Prim. Prim: just try to win if you
can!
Katniss: I promise
Peeta: If I'm gonna die I want to
still be me.
Katniss: I just can't afford to think like that. Ihave my sister.
This makes for a very
powerful why which is part of what pulls
us in so quickly. Another aspect of a
strong want lies in the specifics of it.
The want should be easy to envision.
Lisa Cron writes: "Remember that what your
protagonist wants doesn't have to be
logistically possible ... it just has to be
concrete ... that means creating the rules
of the world in which the action takes
place and solidifying not only what is
and isn't possible, but why." And as
Jessica Brody puts it in Save the Cat
Writes a Novel: "My hero wants to be happy
is not a good enough answer. The most
effective character goals or wants are
concrete and tangible. The reader should
be able to know if and when the hero
gets what they want." Let's take for
example How to Train Your Dragon 1. On
the surface it may seem like Hiccup just
wants his father's approval or he wants
to be accepted as a true Viking but how
do you measure that want? It's too
general. But then we're given something
more honed in and character specific.
Hiccup: "please two minutes I'll kill a dragon my
life will get infinitely better"
Hiccup: "I'll cut out your heart and take it to my father.
I am a Viking. I AM A VIKING!"
Hiccup wants to kill a dragon. That's
something measurable and you might be
thinking 'well yeah Megan but that was
only for like a tiny part of the story'
Well that's the thing with wants is
wants tend to change a lot throughout the
progress of the plot.
Sometimes a plot is singular and
specific and the character goes all in
and think, often falsely so, that
getting that want will be the solution
to all of their problems. But generally
there's kind of an overarching want that
character then pursues with more smaller
more tangible and specific wants that
change the plot advances. This is
especially common in serialized things
like TV series where each episode might
have a specific small want, each season a
more broad one, and then the entire
series may have an overarching
all-encompassing want that they all sort
of fall into and contribute to. As an
example the 100: Clarke's main want is
obviously to keep skykru alive but
although that's a little measurable, I
mean if they all died she would have
failed, it's not super specific. But we
get tons of other small wants throughout
the series. For example she wants to get
to Mount Weather, she wants to save
Jasper, she wants to contact the Ark.
These are things that are much more
measurable but they do contribute to the
overarching want that we see throughout
basically the entire series. Okay, so that
was pretty straightforward, but then what
the hell is a character need? Don't they
just need the same thing that they want?
No, it's not that simple. Aaaand the word
"want" has now begun to not sound like an
actual word to me because I've used it
too often.
So the inciting incident of a story
generally comes with a problem or an
opportunity that ties directly into the
main characters wants. But the character
doesn't know when they set out on this
adventure towards the want is it at the
end of the path they're actually gonna
find the need often the need that they
were either in denial about or didn't
even know they had. In the Anatomy of
Story John Trube writes: "the need is what
the hero must fulfill within himself in
order to have a
better life. It usually involves overcoming
his weaknesses and changing or growing
in some way."
So whereas wants are very specific needs
are almost always broad categories, overarching
themes that ring true to all of us
and fill out the heart of the story and
they will often sound cliche when put
into simple terms, but they're at the
core of most of the stories that you
know and love.
So unlike want, need is much harder to
pinpoint because it's all internal. Need
is the B story and it drives theme. In
Creating Character ARCS K.M. Weiland writes:
"The thing your character needs is
usually going to be nothing more than a
realization. In some stories this
realization may change nothing about his
external life but it will always
transform his perspective of himself and
the world around, him leaving him more
capable of coping with his remaining
external problems." For example think of
Ready Player One. Wade wants to find all
of the keys, the Easter eggs. He wants to win
this great prize that is the game. But
through his struggles to achieve this he
makes connections with other people, not
just in the game, but in the outside
world. And he comes to the realization
that he needs these connections to
thrive. So in the end he gets the want
but he then sacrifices part of it to
satisfy the need by shutting down the
game for two days a week so that people,
himself included, can have more human
connections. Which by the way he should
have shut it down for like two days
every nine days or something cuz the
poor people who just happen to have days
off that fall on the days of the shutdown
they would be just out of luck and they
wouldn't be able to play and I know that's
a dumb complaint to have about a story
but you know... So basically think of the
need as the moral message. In Save the
Cat Writes a Novel Jessica Brody says:
"The life lesson is the inner journey
that your hero didn't even know they
were on that will eventually lead them
to the answer they never expected." That's
what the need is. And again when
summarized in a single line these will
often sound cliched and kind of cheesy.
For example in the Lion King Simba's
main want is to put his past behind him,
to turn his back on his problems
and just run away from them.
Singing: "It's our problem-free, philosophy"
But his need is to confront his
past, face his mistakes and embrace
responsibility by taking his place as
king. If you want to get practice with
kind of pinpointing the needs of
specific characters it is a good idea to
kind of watch kids films because they
are generally a lot more on the nose. But
these types of messages are hidden in
things that you wouldn't even expect.
A lot of writers shy away from big
thematic revelations that show the
characters need because they're
concerned about sounding preachy but
when done properly this can be the final
hit that drives the nail into the
audience's bone and ensures that they
carry the story with them for years to
come. You just have to hit the nail on
the head without, you know, hitting the
nail on the head. Which is where it gets
a little complicated. The reveal needs to
be layered and abstract. It needs to be
shown and never told. Basically unless
the story is geared towards children you
should never outright state the need,
that's what will come off cheesy. Rather
you should show it through actions and
the character's decisions so that it can
be something that professors turn into a
really annoying essay question one day.
Now it should be noted that, and
especially in series, the character may
not always choose the right path at this
point. They may end up going with the
want and ultimately failing.
But generally speaking most satisfying
stories end with the character going
with the need over the want. Whether
that means they get the want as a reward
or they decide they don't actually want
the want anymore
or they learn to live without the want. There are a lot of different ways this
can play out, but almost always
satisfying endings will result with the
character ultimately choosing the need
and the need will get priority in the
climax. K. M. Wieland writes in creating
character arcs: "Sometimes the story will
have to end on that bittersweet note of
interior gain and exterior loss but
other times once the character has
embraced the thing he needs he will then
be more empowered in his pursuit of what
he wants allowing him to harmonize both
his inner and outer goals in the finale."
And it's also worth noting that having
the want and need interact together and
conflict with each other really adds to
the complexity of a story and generally
pulls audiences more in. The more
difficult the decision, the more on the
edge of our seats we're going to be.
Whereas the obstacles the character faces
in pursuing their want we're all
external, the obstacles the character's
gonna face in terms of realizing their
need are going to be internal. For
example in How to Train Your Dragon
three Hiccup's main want is to find the
hidden world so that dragons and Vikings
can live together in harmony. And the
main thing sort of fighting against this
is the dragon hunters and the fact that
he has to actually find the place. These
are external obstacles. But what hiccup
needs is to realize that dragons will be
safer on their own. He needs to let go.
And the obstacle he faces in terms of
this realization is of course his love
of Toothless and his love of this colony
that he's watched grow over years and
years. Hiccup: "I was so busy fighting for a world
that I wanted, I didn't think about what
you needed. Lead them to the hidden world.
You'll be safe there. Safer than you
could ever be with me."
Want to bawl your eyes out over that? Go
watch this video which apparently some
people watch sometimes just a cry. Link
in the description down below. Okay so
that was it for general needs so now
we're gonna talk about moral needs
versus psychological needs. What there
are more needs??? Yes I was also concerned
and slightly exhausted but it's
interesting I swear. Ambitious stories
will sometimes give a hero a
psychological need as well as a moral
one. In John Truby's The Anatomy of Story
he states: "A psychological need involves
overcoming a serious flaw that's hurting
nobody but the hero. A character with a
moral need is always hurting others in
some way (his moral weakness) at the
beginning of the story." Later on he goes
on to say: "In good stories the moral need
usually comes out of the psychological
need. The character has a psychological
weakness that leads him to take it out
on others." A good example of moral need
is (I believe) Breaking Bad. Walter White
wants to leave money to support his
family and this drives him to do
ever-escalating things that get worse
and worse which eventually lead to this
moral need of him needing to realize
that it's not worth it. That he's
ultimately doing more harm than good. And
his psychological need is (I think) that
he needs to learn to let go. To come to
terms with the life he lived and accept
the legacy he wrote before the diagnosis.
So that was it for this video. So comment
down below what's your favorite
character arc??? Because I want to annales...
because I want to analieze.. ah why can't
say analyze today? So comment down below,
what's your favorite character arc because I
want to analyze what the want and need
is. Again make sure to go check out this
how to train your dragon video I did.
I'm super proud of it, I really like how
it came out. I'll link in the description
down below. And if you're interested in
something a little more writing based,
you can check out this video on
prologues. If you like dark dystopian
books, new adult ones that play with
cliches of the genre, check out Aletheia.
It's available in hardcover, paperback,
and ebook. And thank you so much for
watching! As always I will see you in the next video!
 
 
