Craft Glossary · term

Want vs. need (external goal vs. internal lack)

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Plain English: The want is the conscious external goal (the artifact, the win); the need is the unconscious internal lack the story actually heals (connection, self-trust). Great endings often grant the need by denying or complicating the want.

Rule: Make the want concrete and pursuable scene to scene; let the need surface obliquely, through choices and contradictions, never as a stated diagnosis.

Fail: A character who only has a want (a plot-puppet, no inner life) or only a need (mopey, no engine). On-the-nose self-analysis ("I realised I'd never let anyone in") states the need the scenes should embody.

Arjuna Badger Press · Craft Library

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