Character MOTIVATION

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I just read a super post on Absolute Writes Query Letter Hell by GinJones. She says characters exist BEFORE the story begins, at least they should feel that way. Here’s her take:

The character should be causing the plot, not the other way around.
She [the MC] had a life and she was doing stuff, and goal, motivation, whatever you want to call it, was causing her to do stuff BEFORE the story begins. Personally, I don't create a huge back story for my characters, but a lot of authors know pretty much everything about their characters' lives before the story starts -- what school they went to, when they hit puberty, who was their first crush, etc. You want the character to feel to the reader as if she had a life BEFORE the story, because she's a REAL person, not someone you just used as a placeholder for the requirements of the plot. 
 
What Eneal [MC] would do in the story is different from what you would do. Her character, her motivation and goal are what ties the whole story together, so it's not just A happens, and then as a random event B happens, and equally randomly C happens, until at some point, there's finally some purpose to it, and some cause and effect. Life is random; fiction is not.

BE THE BEST DARNED ANGEL EVER
So, let's say it's Monday in Eneal's life. She's got a job. She did stuff in the past. She's not necessarily thinking, "My goal in life is to stomp out the demon." But she is probably thinking, "I absolutely must save Daniel, because if I don't, I'll lose my job, and the person I am cannot cope with being anything but an angel." (Or whatever her stakes are for saving Daniel.) Nothing about the demon, right? Except, it is, in a sense, because her goal is to be the best darned angel ever (or whatever it is she sees herself as), and what the demon is doing will prevent that, if it's allowed to get away with the plot.

She meets the hero, which causes her to do something that gets Daniel killed, all of which puts her farther from being the best darned angel (or the initial goal ). And THEN she falls in love with the hero, and that causes her to have to choose between being the best darned angel ever, and going to the opposite end of the spectrum by becoming a demon. She chooses the lover, but she's still a bit of an angel at heart, because she's going to make the demon pay for having stomped on her goal. The climax is her stomping the demon, and ending his plot, which is still part of her initial goal to be the best darned angel (even if she's a demon now).


  Motivation doesn't spring out of nowhere. If you prefer, think of it as the core of who the character is. Characters will fight to the death to maintain their self-image,  --> So, if MC thinks of herself as the most dedicated angel ever, then Daniel's death is an attack against that self-image, which motivates her to prove that she is, too, the most dedicated angel ever, and she'll vanquish the demon to prove it.

The protagonist's goal and motivation are what push the story forward after the inciting event.   It's not just A happens, and then as a random event B happens, and equally randomly C happens, until at some point, around M, there's finally some purpose to it, and some cause and effect. Life is random; fiction is not.


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