Your Protagonist Has a Goal, But Do They Have a Want?

Most writers give their protagonist a goal. Fewer give them a want. And the difference between those two things? It's usually the difference between a character the reader follows and a character the reader actually cares about.

Goal vs. Want

The goal is external. It's what the protagonist is trying to achieve. Destroy the Ring. Win the competition. Solve the murder. Goals drive plot. They give the story forward momentum and give the protagonist something to do in every scene.

The want is internal. It's what the protagonist is actually searching for underneath the goal. Not what they're trying to accomplish, but what they're trying to feel, or become, or return to. The want is almost never stated directly. It lives underneath the action.

Frodo's Goal vs. Frodo's Want

Frodo's goal is to destroy the Ring. His want is to go home. To return to a world that's still safe and simple, to preserve the life he had before any of this started. Those two things are in constant tension throughout the entire story, and that tension is what makes him worth following for a thousand pages.

The goal tells us what he's doing. The want tells us who he is.

The Diagnostic

If your protagonist only has a goal, you have a plot. If they have a want underneath it, you have a character. The goal drives the story forward. The want is why the reader invests in the outcome.

The clearest signal that a want is missing? A reader says they liked your story but didn't really connect with your protagonist. They could follow the plot just fine, but they couldn't feel what was at stake for the person living it. That's almost always a want problem.

Ask yourself what your protagonist is really searching for underneath everything they're doing. If you can't answer that, your reader probably can't feel it either.