Friday Catalyst: The Hidden Engine of Desire Exercise

Friday Catalyst: The Hidden Engine of Desire Exercise

Techniques to Practice

1. Anchoring characters in goal-intention-motivation: A character’s external goal, the strategy to reach it, and the deeper internal “why” that propels them.

2. Layering conflict between stated action and hidden drive: Letting intention reveal friction between what a character says they want and what they secretly need.

3. Using pressure to strip away facades: Situating characters in moments where their motivation collides with external resistance, forcing revelation.

Prompt (500 words)

Write a scene between two characters bound together by circumstance in a high-stakes moment where one character pursues a clear goal. Their goal must be specific and time-sensitive: securing money, convincing someone to leave, obtaining forgiveness, escaping a room. The intention should be visible in action and dialogue—pleading, threatening, bargaining, seducing, manipulating. The deeper motivation must leak through indirectly, not explained outright but betrayed in hesitation, slips of speech, or contradictions.

Example: A character insists they need money to pay rent. Their actions show urgency—they ransack drawers, demand answers. Yet their real motivation might be proving to themselves they can provide for a sick parent or avoiding humiliation. That truth emerges in sharp detail, body language, or a careless remark.

Limit the scene to one setting. Keep physical description minimal. Focus on the tension created when the surface goal and underlying drive clash with the other character’s resistance. Aim for 500 words that move like a duel: each beat reveals something new.

Evaluation Criteria

A strong response will:

– Establish a concrete, external goal early and sustain it throughout.

– Show intention through action and dialogue rather than explanation.

– Hint at the underlying motivation in subtle, layered ways that create resonance.

– Build escalating tension where resistance heightens the revelation of hidden drives.

– Deliver a moment where the true motivation peeks through without being fully confessed.

A weak response will:

– Rely on telling rather than showing why the character acts.

– Keep the character’s goal vague or inconsistent.

– Allow motivation to remain unexplored or flattened into cliché.

– Fail to create resistance or pressure that forces revelation.

Follow-Up Questions for Workshop/Revision

– Where does the subtext sharpen the character’s voice, and where does it collapse into flat explanation?

– What details betray motivation without stating it outright?

– How does the resistance of the second character intensify or dilute the drive of the first?

– What would happen if the scene ended earlier or later—does it cut off too soon or linger past its strongest beat?

Recommended Reading

From Kate Atkinson’s Case Histories—the opening scene where a family quarrel leads to sudden violence. The external goals are clear, the intentions are revealed in how characters position themselves against one another, and the deeper motivations surface in fleeting gestures and dialogue that linger long after the scene ends.

AI Disclosure Statement:

This writing prompt was created in collaboration with ChatGPT, an AI model by OpenAI, to support creative practice. ChatGPT assisted with idea generation and drafting; the final text was edited by the author. The illustration was created using Google Gemini.