7. How do you discover goals or purposes for your story or plot?

The question, how does a goal or purpose structure a story? is an intriguing one. Let’s say you’ve created a great, compelling world. The next question then, is, have you picked a genre? Genre is a big rock that causes a lot of ripples in the pool of the story. Certain purposes (slay the dragon, destroy the evil corporation, fall in love) are often included. But maybe you don’t have one. (It’s usually a hard question for me too, I usually write without a genre.) The next question is characters. Do you have favorite characters in your cool world? A story is ultimately about its characters, so, I’d say, really work this angle. When you have a character, you can look at their journey. What tragedy befalls them? What victory do they claim? What do they learn along the way? What lousy/great decisions do they make? Where do they end up? Writing the scenes of a character’s journey is very close to having a story. The last question I’ll suggest, since you have a cool world and you’re telling a story about characters in that world, is what message is on your heart to say? Are you comparing mature/immature people? Are you showing flaws in society? Are you saying people are resilient and can get through despair and loss? Are you saying small moments are beautiful, and there are droplets of wonder even in just drinking a cup of coffee? (The fun, easy book Legends and Lattes did this, and totally changed how I looked at life.) Once you know your message, the next step is developing a character’s journey that shows the potency of this message to your readers, and that will inherently address goals and purpose. 

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