Your Character’s Secret Dreams
Character development in fiction writing always mentions goals. These can be long term or short term and are usually practical in nature. But what about your protagonist’s youthful dreams? An article in a news magazine got me started on this topic. It randomly interviewed a bunch of women about their dreams in life. This inspired me to make a listing of my own to aid in character development
- Start a political career
- Have a big family
- Travel throughout Europe
- Enter a baking competition
- Become an Olympic athlete
- Study to be a ballerina
- Perform on Broadway
- Turn party planning into a career
- Visit the Egyptian pyramids
- Apply to be an astronaut
- Run a marathon
- Ride on the Orient Express
- Learn computer programming
- Adopt some rescue dogs
- Join the Peace Corps
- Sing in public
- Live in Paris for a year
- Hike the Appalachian Trail
- Be on a reality show
- Get hired as a personal chef
- Work on a cruise ship
- Learn to fly an airplane
- Become a volunteer firefighter
- Write a novel
Marla Shore, my heroine sleuth, carries around travel brochures of Tahiti in her purse. She may never get there, but at least she has been on a Caribbean cruise.
  
What hidden dreams does your main character have?
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Love this list of dreams. I also like to add a list of character nightmares. Knowing my character’s dreams and nightmares fuels the story.
Good idea about the nightmares, Barbara. We should also know what haunts or scares our characters.