Study Musicals to See How Songs Reveal a Character’s Goal

Before anyone can care about your story, they have to care about your characters, especially your hero. Yet a surprising number of writers never clarify what their hero wants. If you don’t clarify what your hero wants or needs, nobody will have a reason to care about your story.

That’s why good musicals aren’t just about catchy songs, but about songs that reveal what characters want. Once we know what characters want, we’ll care what they do because we want to see if they get what they want. In this song from “Grease”, we learn exactly what the character, Sandy, wants, which is the object of her love, Danny.

In non-musicals, characters don’t break out in song to explain what they want. Instead, they reveal their goals in several ways:

• By taking action that makes it obvious what they want.
• By openly saying what they want.
• By having other characters say what a major character wants.

Think of a character revealing what they want through song, and then take away the song and the music. What’s left will be what that character wants. Unlike songs, characters rarely blatantly say what they want. Instead, their actions and dialogue are more subtle to let the audience figure out what that character wants.

In this scene from “Twisters”, the hero, Kate, is trying to decide which of two storms to chase. Kate’s goal is simple: which storm to chase. Then along comes Tyler, and his goal is less obvious but still clear. He wants to get to know Kate but to do this, he has to ask her which storm he should chase.

Rather than directly tell Tyler which storm to chase, Kate explains the two choices and why she thinks going after one storm is a better bet. Kate could have just said, “Go to that storm” but instead she reveals her knowledge of storms while also giving Tyler the information he needs at the same time she flirts back at him.

Tyler’s goal is to get to know Kate, but to do that, he asks her advice on which storm to chase. Kate’s goal is to flirt back and to do that, she continues giving Tyler information that she doesn’t have to give if she truly didn’t want anything to do with him. She’s a bit suspicious of him, but still willing to get to know him.

So although neither character bursts into song to say what they want, it’s clear through their interaction what they want. They’re not just talking about storms. They’re talking to get to know each other. Tyler clearly wants to get to know Kate but Kate is more cautious, yet still willing.

As the writer, you must know what your characters want at all times. In musicals, they can burst into song and say exactly what they want, but in ordinary stories, characters disguise their true goals. However as the writer, you must know what your characters want because this will help you write stronger and more interesting scenes.

When writing any scene, blatantly identify what each character wants. Then disguise their want while still making it clear what they want. This will create more realistic, interesting scenes as two characters engage in a verbal tug-of-war to get what they want.

Sign up to take a FREE course about how to write scenes in a screenplay.