I got to thinking about this the other night. In a novel, main characters should have some desire that drives them through the story, changing them as they go so that when they reach the end they are slightly different people than they were at the beginning.
I have a series with two MCs, each with different motivations, and these change with each story. Except that in the third book I'm struggling with one of the characters, who's rather vague motivation is simply to do his duty (it's military fiction).
Anyone else had this problem? How did you get over it?
Thank you, chaps. And especially Victoria - I had 'moral dilemma' in my mind because it suits his character. So he'll probably have to disobey orders in order to obey them, if you see what I mean :)
You could fill in a bit of back story as to why he feels so strongly about duty, but I would probably go for a good moral dilemma that challenges his conviction. Perhaps doing his duty is what gets him into trouble or lands him somewhere against his principles. Not everyone in your story has to have an interesting motivation, but where it takes them is what your reader is really interested in.
Mine starts off with wanting to see the world outside of her home but around half way it turns in to revenge, but saying why would spoil it.