I thought this was a really great observation from the FirstShowing article: "There are three motives of story that matter: having something that you hope for, having something that you fear, or having a burning question that you need answered. Any one of them is sufficient. If you can have more than one of them running at one time, or all three [...] then you are maximally engaged, all three motors running." I'll definitely be using this while writing from now on.

Yes, this is particularly true of the first two. Many people make the mistake of having a goal, but not identifying the motive for it. Case in point, many stories focus on a goal of obtaining money - whether it's robbing a bank or through some other means. The problem with this is money is always the means toward something else. In other words, why is the money important and what purpose does ultimately serve? Whatever it is, that's the dividend. If my character is robbing a bank because they need the money to pay for treatment for their dying mother, now you've just created a goal (money), a motivation (helping a sick parent), a dividend (making her better) and a consequence (death). They're all inter-related and ultimately provide direction for the character to move in towards a purpose - otherwise, the act of robbing a bank is pretty meaningless. Throw in a big over-arching thematic question will help shape the story: How far would you go to save your dying mother in need of expensive treatment? Robbing banks may become the answer - or it may lead to a bungled attempt such as in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead which results in the taking of another's life with a spiraling storyline that adds irony to the initial purpose.

Thanks, Jordan, for highlighting that excerpt from the FirstShowing interview with Spaihts. And thanks TBBB for your explication of how that can work. What I like most about this observation are two things: (1) Using the lens of those three 'motives' helps a writer create layers to a narrative which in turn makes for a much more textured story. Great movies are like that, where you can watch them again and again, and they keep revealing new layers of meaning. Some of that just derives from the magic of storytelling and filmmaking, but some of is the result of a conscious awareness on the part of the writers, the director and the actors about their understanding of what is going on in this scene as it relates to the overall story. (2) Look at the terms Spaihts uses: Hope. Fear. Burning question need answering. All of those are grounded in emotion. So it's not only motives, it's motives steeped in emotional meaning for the characters. This is very much in keeping with my own understanding of how to approach crafting a story. One of the first questions I ask of a Protagonist is, "What are you most afraid of?" Two others: "What do you want [conscious goal]" and "what do you need [unstated or unconscious goal]". Combine those and you get what their hope is. And the burning question? That's perhaps my favorite question of all to ask in the formative stage of story development: "Why does THIS story HAVE to happen to THIS character at THIS time?" It is an existential question, a philosophical question, a psychological question, all wrapped up in one. It the focus point of everything that has happened in the characters life up to FADE IN and why now -- this precise moment -- their story begins because the universe is in the process of creating a set of circumstances which is going to COMPEL them to answer that question. Now as always, a caveat: All of this thinking must be scalable to the type of story. A big dumb comedy is not going to have the depth and layers that a character drama is. But the simple fact is nothing that happens in a script has any meaning unless it's rooted in inner life of the characters. And so the idea hope, fear, and burning question needing an answer -- terrific tools to approach developing any story.

Oh man. The poorly photoshopped photo of Spaihts against the Prometheus backdrop. Makes it look like somebody shaved off one side of his face.