Drives

Potential drives:

Adaptability: Stories about survival. Stories in which
massive change is inevitable. Stories in the midst of
danger and violence. Stories where the status quo
is omnipresent and oppressive. Stories in an alien
environment.

Ambition: Stories about succeeding against all odds.
Stories about finding contentment in a meritocracy.
Stories about beating out the competition. Stories
about reaching higher and farther than anyone ever
said you could.

Authority: Stories about power and control. Stories
about rising to the top. Stories about bringing down
the establishment. Stories about bringing order to
chaos.

Balance: Stories that seek the middle. Stories that warn
against extremism. Stories with strong opposing possibilities.
Stories that warn against false moderation.

Belonging: Stories where communities matter. Stories
where the lone wolf comes home. Stories where characters
might lose their identity. Stories that pit the
greater good against the personal need.

Bravery: Stories full of danger to be faced. Stories about
high-risk occupations. Stories that pit doing against
thinking. Stories that may have turned out better
with more planning and plotting by the characters.
Stories about jumping feet first.

Decorum: Stories where propriety is the order of the day.
Stories where a faux pas could ruin a person. Stories
about a stifling social order. Stories about shocking
the system. Stories about star-crossed lovers.

Discovery: Stories about exploration. Stories about digging
too deep. Stories that celebrate curiosity. Stories
that question the speed of advancement.

Duty: Stories with a regiment. Stories with a strong ethic.
Stories with direct consequences. Stories where failing
means innocent people get hurt. Stories that examine
the need for personal freedom.

Ethics: Stories that ask you to take a stand. Stories that
question everything you believe. Stories with clear
right and wrong. Stories with no clear right and
wrong.

Fairness: Stories where compassionate understanding is
important. Stories with simple ethics. Stories where
the morals are complicated, and finding the simple
answer is the challenge. Stories in an imbalanced
world where the system is against you.

Faith: Stories about belief. Stories that question the miraculous.
Stories that examine false prophets. Stories
that celebrate the invisible. Stories with childlike
wonder.

Fame: Stories that celebrate personality. Stories about
people with questionable power and importance.
Stories that ask us to build pedestals. Stories that
topple people from pedestals.

Fortitude: Stories about standing against all comers.
Stories about endurance. Stories about inner
strength. Stories in extreme climates. Stories about
a status quo that needs to, but won’t, crumble on
its own.

Gallantry: Stories with dynamic heroism. Stories with
romantic sword play. Stories with dashing heroes.
Stories with damsels causing distress. Stories that
put the Bourgeoisie to task.

Glory: Stories about amazing feats. Stories that will live
on in legend. Stories that prize appearance over substance.
Stories that ask us to question our idols.

Grace: Stories about poise even under fire. Stories about
forgiveness. Stories that question violent resolution.
Stories that question pacifism. Stories about compassion
and its limits.

Honesty: Stories where a personal truth outweighs systems
of justice and law. Stories where characters have
to face who they really are. Stories where lies are a
weapon, and honesty is the only defense.

Hope: Stories about not giving up. Stories with happy
endings. Stories that reject the darkness. Stories that
are endlessly bleak. Stories where the heroes lose at
the end.

Imagination: Stories that celebrate creativity. Stories
where stretching the truth may save the day.
Rashomon stories. Stories set in impossible places.
Stories with children as the heroes.

Individuality: Stories of rebellion and revolution.
Stories of breaking away from the crowd. Stories of
resisting control. Stories of pomp and self-importance.
Stories of sacrificing the many for the sake
of the self.

Justice: Stories seeking an absolute balance. Stories
where a balanced scale is a must, no matter how grim
the efforts to get there. Stories of revenge, or stories
of letting go of vendettas.

Love: Stories that have romance center stage. Stories that
explore the power of fraternity and sorority. Stories
that revolve around passion, for people, callings, or
crafts.

Mastery: Stories where “average” isn’t enough. Stories
where the characters are larger than life. Stories
where striving for perfection in the skill or talent of
choice informs the narrative. Stories with training
montages.

Peace: Stories that challenge war. Stories set during a
time of war. Stories that respect pacifism. Stories that
warn inaction is the same as death, maybe literally.
Stories about ghosts. Stories about an end to violence.

Piety: Stories about sticking to a code. Stories about resisting
temptation. Stories about self-sacrifice. Stories
questioning an organized church. Stories that pit
faith against evangelicalism. Stories with rebuking
the undead.

Popularity: Stories where status matters. Stories about
rising to the top. Stories where the cool kids get the
disdain. Stories where the cool kids aren’t the popular
kids. Stories the popular kids would tell.

Power: Stories that have clear right and wrong. Stories
that question where power comes from. Stories about
the underdog triumphing. Stories about exerting
control when needed.

Sacrifice: Stories about what a character wants the most.
Stories about what the characters will give up to get
what they want. Stories about what characters will
lose to protect each other. Stories about what a character
will give up to elevate themselves.

Truth: Stories that seek to uncover, regardless of the consequences.
Stories that pull back the curtain. Stories
where the truth is a currency. Stories that question
credibility.