What Moves?

Motivation moves the world, don't you think?
If you think about it, motivation is responsible for everything. From the shows we watch, or don't, to the books we read, or don't...right back to the classic myths.
Hercules was motivated to complete his tasks out of desire to prove himself.
Crime fighters want to see justice done, heroes want to protect the innocent.
So it is, or should be, with good fiction.
Readers want to see a character reach their needs, get whatever it is they want. Writers use motivation to help shape characters, to help drive the story forward, to build tension and conflict.
(I think a lot of writers block could be resolved with a look at motivation, but that's just my opinion and doesn't apply if the block is caused by too much 'real-life')

It's interesting that for me, as a writer, character's motivation isn't always clear to me on the first draft. So I slog through the first draft, only having a vague idea where I want my folks to end up, and then sometime during the second draft, I get this A HA! moment where I suddenly see what they want or need. After that comes the fine mince-step of re-writing, editing and making sure it all comes together properly.
This does not all come together in harmony. More often than not, it requires multiple drafts. This is the stage that I either stick with a story or let it drift away in the wind.
Once or twice, I've had a story idea come back to me months after I let it go. Stories like this, it's clear I need to write them for one reason or another. I look at what part(s) of the story are still flapping around, begging for attention. I look at why that needs to be written. Is it a character? A concept? The theme of the piece?
Sometimes I'm motivated to pick it apart and start over, like a piece of my knitting that's been let languish in the basket for weeks on end.
Motivation to work with those characters or concept either moves me to write, or waste time on Goodreads.

See? Motivation makes the world go 'round. 

Setting, As Important As Characters?

Once again, I'm going to draw on one of my favourite blogs for inspiration, but with my own twist.

Writers need to constantly be concerned with characters. How they come across, their quirks, their habits, their history and so on. Sometimes a well-written character  can carry a stumbling plot. We readers can spot a flimsy characters three chapters off, can't we?
But how many of us, readers and writers alike, have considered the setting as a character unto itself?

I hadn't even considered it until I read the latest blog post over at Women and Words, in which R.G Emanuelle discusses The Soul of A Character

It got me thinking about the setting of the pieces I've written, and the settings of my favourite novels and short stories. I love reading about places I know, but it's getting harder to find fiction set in Ontario, let alone set in Canada in general. Before I get too lost in wondering why that is, let me take this one step further.

I think readers enjoy reading about places they know because these places are familiar, they already have a presence and a reality in the reader's mind. I've only stumbled across a few pieces set in Northern Ontario, but the few I have, set the tone perfectly. In particular, Crow Lake

The setting was bleak, sparse, full of memory but promise as well.

The setting worked for this novel because the overall theme of the book was memory, tragedy and struggle. The setting became, really, the only logical backdrop for this story. It just made sense to me, as both a reader and a writer.
As a reader, the book never left me, and I read it back in 2011. As a writer, it never left me because of that setting, because it was set in a familiar part of my home province and because the story was that good that I've been haunted by it ever since.

So as a writer, I am conscious of how to make a setting so vivid that it becomes nearly a character itself. As a reader, I want a backdrop that will be both real and yet not take away from the story.
It's a fine dance, and when done well can leave a lasting impact.

What settings in novels or short fiction has left an impact on you?