Story craft series: Confessions of a Shopaholic taught me about writing character motivation

The best writing lessons are often hidden in surprising places. It’s not the classics for me. It’s the commercial fiction that I can’t put down. Even if women’s fiction, chick-lit, rom-com, etc. are not typically seen as the models for story craft, they have an undeniable appeal and readability. It’s not because of the elegant prose; it’s because of the characters and the story. They’re clearly doing something right that we can learn from.

In this series, I’ll share the story craft and writing lessons I’ve learned from commercial women’s fiction—lessons that often came when I was least expecting them—and how you can apply these techniques to your own story.

I’m starting with Sophie Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic because it’s the first book that inspired this realization for me. As the main character kept making irrational, self-sabotaging decisions, I found myself thinking about why. And also why I didn’t just give up on the story. I realized that I kept reading because Kinsella did an excellent job of getting character motivation on the page.

How character motivation shows up in Confessions of a Shopaholic

If you’re not familiar with the novel, the title sums up the premise pretty well. Becky Bloomwood, the protagonist, is a financial journalist in significant debt because she has a shopping addiction. Despite the fact that her bills keep mounting, Becky seemingly can’t stop herself from spending.

I am frugal to a fault, so on the surface, it would seem hard for me to relate to this character. In fact, I did find myself becoming increasingly more frustrated that as her debt grew, Becky kept shopping. But I also kept reading.

Why didn’t I throw up my hands and turn my back on this character? Because Kinsella subtly made me understand Becky’s seemingly irrational spending through a masterful job of putting Becky’s motivation on the page. And that motivation makes Becky’s poor decisions almost justifiable.

Kinsella makes it clear from the start of the story (even if readers might not register it at first). We are introduced to Becky through her debt, as she receives a Visa bill in the first chapter and she tries to figure out how she spent so much. Similarly, I was wondering what the hell? Why is she so bad with money? And I turned to the next chapter to find out.

She’s asked to go to a press conference, and on the way, she’s distracted by a sale. Despite the fact that Becky was just shocked by an almost £1,000 credit card bill, she steps into the shop and contemplates a £120 scarf.

A rational person would say, “I’m already in debt. I don’t need a designer scarf. I need to get to that press conference so I can keep my job and potentially pay off my debt someday.” At least, that’s what I was hoping Becky would realize as she waded into the danger zone.

Becky, however, decides she must have the scarf. She’s about to charge it on the Visa for which she just received the bill, but realizes she forgot to bring it with her. She’s determined to find a way around her work obligation to get the money. She will go to great lengths to get this scarf she can’t afford. Why?

Here’s the key moment:

“She [the sales assistant] comes and drapes the scarf around my neck and I gape at my reflection.

“There is no question. I have to have this scarf. I have to have it. It makes my eyes look bigger, it makes my haircut look more expensive, it makes me look like a different person. I’ll be able to wear it with everything. People will refer to me as the Girl in the Denny and George scarf.”

Simple, but masterful.

In Becky’s eyes, this is not just a scarf; it’s a transformation. Becky views the purchase as a shortcut to an idealized version of herself. The scarf will make her “a different person,” i.e. a better person.

At £120, that seems like a bargain.

This pattern repeats throughout the book. Every time Becky gives into a big purchase, Kinsella describes how the character thinks the item will make her life better—each item will make her better.

Kinsella has given her character a deeper, emotional motivation for acting irrationally—this is an absolutely essential technique for every writer.

Why is character motivation so important?

Whether we realize it or not, there’s an underlying motivation for everything we do. We are driven by our past experiences and perception of the world to make meaning of what’s happening to us and how we should respond. The same goes for our characters. Clear and consistent motivation makes them feel complex and whole. Without it, though, they are confusing and unrelatable.

Check out Lisa Cron’s Story or Die for more on this, but in particular, she talks about how character motivation is a crucial element that makes a story believable.

“The second layer of believability, that of your protagonist’s internal logic, is far more important to get right, so that what they say and do rings emotionally and psychologically true. This is what your audience comes for, the internal why behind what the protagonist is doing...”

This is to say that your characters’ every action or reaction, every thought or statement comes from that internal logic, that underlying motivation. And it’s doubly important when your character does something seemingly irrational or not in their best interest.

And that’s the thing: it may seem “irrational” to the readers, but according to the character’s internal logic, it’s completely justified.

If Kinsella didn’t acknowledge Becky’s character motivation for shopping, I really would have walked away from the book. Because I simply couldn’t watch this protagonist dig herself deeper and deeper into a hole without seeing a plausible and powerful reason for why she kept making poor choices.

But Becky rationalized each purchase. And even though I didn’t realize it when I was first reading Confessions of a Shopaholic, I was drawn into the emotion she felt as she tried on various items and imagined herself a better person for owning them. It wasn’t until after I finished the book and reflected on it—I found myself trying to dissect why I kept reading a story about a character who frustrated me—that I realized how Kinsella did this.

Frugal as I am, I can relate, somewhat to Becky. I’ve been pulled in by marketing plenty of times to imagine how a certain product will make my life—and me—better. The subtle way that Kinsella put that on the page helped me connect to this character on a deep level and subconsciously understand her, even though, on the surface, I thought she was being irrational.

Character motivation is one of the main elements that drives your story, hooks your readers, and forces your protagonist further and further into conflict until they change for the better.

Applying this lesson in character motivation to your story

Character development is a hot topic for novelists with good reason. Like I said above, you want your characters to feel whole, complex, and real. This comes from having a deep understanding of who they are and what their motivation is. And you develop that by exploring the characters’ backstories.

Quite frankly, I don’t think you need to know what your protagonist’s favorite color is or who their best friend was in second grade. Not unless those details contribute to the way they see the world that is related to your story. Instead, you need to flesh out the moments in their past where they learned about life and themselves that will impact the story.

In the case of Confessions, if you were Kinsella and trying to develop Becky’s character, you might dig deep into your protagonist’s first shopping experience. Where did she go? What happened? And most importantly, how did it make her feel and see the world?

You might also dig into her history with money, and why she has such trouble managing it. Also, you’d explore where her debt began and how she started to rationalize ignoring it.

Ultimately, your character needs to start the story with history, and every decision she makes is based on her past experiences. If she learned from prior events that buying new clothes would make her feel better and she could pretend her debts didn’t exist by hiding the collection letters, she’d keep on doing it.

So think about your protagonist’s problems and misbeliefs. Determine the moments in their past when those views first developed, and also other events that may have reinforced those beliefs. You will draw on these experiences, either explicitly discussing them in memories or drawing on the emotions they invoke, to put character motivation on the page.

Spending time on your characters’ backstories will also help you with consistency. The more you understand how they’ve become the people they are, the easier it will be to put yourself in their position and determine the “logical” action they will take based on how they see the world.

In my Start Your Novel Planning Guide, I take you through a series of exercises to get clear on who your protagonist is and what their motivation is, as well as their misbelief, so you can begin your next novel with more confidence and clarity.

Misbelief is just as important as motivation; I’ll discuss that next week in this series when I look at One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London.