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Use This Anytime Character Motivations Aren’t Believable
Part One of uncommon tools you can use to solve story problems.
I know this wheel has made its rounds in various writing communities, and for it’s face value it’s been quite popular.
When I first saw it I thought it was an interesting representation of how I could better describe certain emotions. In essence it was about expanding my vocabulary. While I think this is valuable it actually misses something really powerful in its application.
As I sat longer with this wheel and wrote some, I began to discover how it could be used for validations for the character growth sequences I was writing.
Being a process and practicality oriented person, I began testing a new use of the wheel with my writing groups. The result was an incredible improvement of my reader’s ability to take the same emotional journey as the character with little prompting and an almost complete removal of questions about character motivations.
How to Use the Wheel of Emotions
First, when you review the wheel consider that each circled area represents a level of emotion. The innermost circle of emotions are very basic and the very first levels your character is likely to experience. Each outer…
