Character Motivation and History

Building the Invisible Past

According to Hirohiko Araki in Manga in Theory and Practice, of all four fundamental pillars of narrative (Characters, Story, Setting, and Theme), characters are supreme. Formidable characters can carry a story on their backs and erase the immediate need for a complex plot.

🎯 The Character’s Engine: Motivation

The most important part of a character is their motivation. What does your protagonist want to achieve? If you cannot answer this clearly in the first few paragraphs, readers will not be able to empathize with them.

Basic human desires: Most motivations arise from palpable emotions (revenge, curiosity, protecting family, self-preservation, the search for affection).
The Empathy and Bravery Factor: Even if the motivation is seen as antisocial by society (such as revenge or rule-breaking), the reader will root for the character if they show bravery in their actions and if they are fighting something more vile that normal laws cannot reach.
Avoid Active Cowardice: Readers viscerally reject protagonists who act cowardly by betraying friends to save themselves, or heroes who fall into traps out of pure stupid negligence. Flaws are great, but petty cowardice discourages the reader.

📝 The Hidden Sheet (Up to 60 Questions)

Araki suggests that the author create an invisible history sheet for the character with about 60 items before even writing the action scene. Details from this sheet will rarely reach the reader in writing, but they serve as the backbone for everything.

Maintains cohesion: Prevents a fearful character from magically performing dangerous maneuvers without a strong emotional justification (which would cause the author to lose credibility).
Influences the surrounding world: Knowing their favorite color, hobbies, educational background, or whether they have pets will directly shape how the character decorates their house or how they spend their free time in mundane dialogues, giving the feeling that they exist beyond the script.
Action as a consequence: By having the gears of personality 100% defined in your mind, you just place the protagonist in a hostile setting. How will they respond to that aggression? The answer will naturally emerge from their own sheet and motivation.