[This post was updated July 2026.]

If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here.

If you’ve ever wondered how to create a compelling protagonist or what makes a strong main character, you’re asking the most important question at the heart of fiction writing. A memorable protagonist isn’t just someone readers like—they’re readers’ window into the story, the driving force behind every decision, conflict, and turning point. By giving your main character clear goals, meaningful motivation, and the agency to shape events, you’ll create a novel with stronger momentum, deeper emotional impact, and characters readers can’t stop following.

In the first installment in this series we laid the groundwork for how to prepare to write a first draft of your story: defining the “spine” of the story and why it matters to you to tell it, along with starting to consider who your protagonists are. This week we’ll explore what makes a strong protagonist–one who is the driving force of the story.

Give Your Protagonist a Problem to Solve 

Your protagonist is about to go on a journey, and at the end of it she’ll be changed as a direct result of what happens in the story. So it’s key to know where she’s starting from—her point A—and why she needs to take that journey.

That’s usually tied to someplace she’s stuck in her life, internally and/or externally; some problem she hasn’t dealt with or some lesson the character needs to learn. Even if your story involves the character facing travails that imperil a happy status quo, the character should have some area of her life that needs attention, even if she isn’t yet aware of it. Whether your character initially knows her problem or not, as the author it can help keep your story focused to define for yourself in advance what it is.

In Katherine Center’s How to Walk Away, for instance, protag Margaret seems to be poised to attain everything she ever wanted: a dream job, dream fiancé, and the perfect happy-ever-after, until a tragedy jeopardizes all of it.

But as the story unfolds, she learns that many of the expectations and ideas she had about her life were illusions and unexamined assumptions. (You can read more about those powerful character-arc tools here and here.) This “problem” she faces is revealed only as the story develops.

Your protag(s)’ problem may be more overt—maybe she’s stuck in a bad situation, or held back by some factor from a specific dream or goal, or facing a clear challenge or threat or issue. But whether your character initially knows her problem or not, as the author it can help keep your story focused to define for yourself in advance what it is—for each of your main characters.

Define Your Character’s Goal and Motivation

Your protagonist’s goal is the objective they’re striving for throughout the course of the story; character motivation is what makes them chase it. But it can be helpful to think of it in more basic, straightforward terms: What does he want, and why does he want it?

These elements can and likely will shift over the course of the story as the character travels his journey and arc. One reason I love not outlining every single element of a story before I write it is that it frees me to follow the characters’ lead organically as they travel the road of the plot and are changed by it. But it can help focus your drafting and maintain high stakes and momentum to define his initial wants and drives.

In the above example of Katherine Center’s book, because of her craving for predictability, control, and security (motivation), Margaret has a very clear and specific idea of what she wants: a concrete image of what success in life looks like to her, with the perfect job, perfect marriage, perfect life (goal).

Those goals and motivations drive all her actions for a big chunk of the story as her relentless adherence to them butts up against her changed situation, creating much of the meat of her journey and serving as the engine of the plot.

Knowing what your character wants most and what makes him so fiercely want that thing helps keep propelling him forward toward it. And that gives your story a strong plot and structure, no matter how much of it you prefer to plan ahead of time.

Give Your Protagonist Agency

What does your character have to do to get what she wants?  Even with a strong premise and well-developed, interesting characters who have clearly defined motivations and goals, without pushing them into action to attain those goals your story may quickly lose steam.

Knowing what your character ultimately wants—her über-goal—gives you a finish line to aim her toward, even if it shifts over the course of the story. And each scene along the road to that endpoint should encompass her trying to take some kind of action to achieve some necessary step on that goal (I wrote about this here), whether it’s moving forward toward it, or navigating an obstacle preventing it.

Knowing what your character ultimately wants—her über-goal—gives you a finish line to aim her toward, even if it shifts over the course of the story.

In How to Walk Away, Margaret’s fierce desire to regain what she lost in her accident dictates her actions, both positive and negative, throughout the story—until she begins to change as she moves along her arc and to reconsider her previous goals for the first time, and to question her motivation for wanting those things in the first place.

Your protagonist may fail at times—and likely will, as that makes for juicy storytelling. But ensuring that she is constantly pushing toward what she wants, the immediate goals that serve the larger goal, keeps the story action strong and forms the through line of the plot. And that’s what maintains strong cohesion and momentum throughout the story (more on that here).

It also makes sure your character has agency and is the engine of the story, rather than a passive bystander or witness (I wrote about that here).

You may prefer to walk the path along with your protag and figure out along with her what each next thing she must do toward her goal is as you draft, or you may be more of a planner and choose to map out each step beforehand.

I use a tool I call an x-ray diagnostically in edits. It helps authors “see” their story more clearly and make sure the bones are strong and in place to create a solid story structure. But you can create one before drafting and customize it to serve as a road map throughout, whether you prefer just a broad overview of where you’re going and the key steps along the path, or turn-by-turn GPS directions. Here’s a primer for creating one.

This is also part of what I walk authors through in my online course “5 Steps to an Airtight Plot,” which is available as a self-study online course here. The course offers tools and techniques to make sure your story structure is solid, adaptable to whatever level of planning/plotting works best for you.

Next week we’ll talk about what’s in your character’s way—internally and externally—what’s at stake, and how your character changes as a direct result of her journey. See also part one of this series, on setting up the story and character, part three on setting the stakes, and part four on plot.

FoxPrint Editorial helps writers strengthen their manuscripts through developmental editing, education, and practical writing guidance. Explore more articles on revision, storytelling, and the publishing process.

If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]