Hope as a Driving Force

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What motivates your character? 

Sometimes it's fear, or revenge, or pity. But beneath the layers of motivation, there's a core HOPE. What does he hope will happen? What are his reasonable expectations vs. his greatest hope -- the best possible outcome?

In one of my stories, my main character's initial hope is completely unconnected with the shiny premise. That's because she isn't expecting time travel to pop up in her life. After it does, her hopes begin to center around that:

• She hopes the genius who invented time travel doesn't botch the past.
• She hopes they can get their scattered group back together in the 15th century before their 21st century boat leaves them marooned.
• She hopes whoever's blowing things up in the past doesn't irreparably change the timeline.

And some of her hopes still involve the mundane:

• She hopes her co-staff, the hot Welshman, won't drop her like a hot potato when he finds out she isn't the poor cruise worker she appears to be, but a trust fund baby just like the spoiled passengers he detests.
• She hopes she'll get into Cambridge in the Social Anthropology program as an international student. 
• She hopes she'll be able to balance her incoming wealth with her social consciousness and not be like those yuppies she's studying in her anthropology journal.
• She hopes the arranged marriage her parents have planned will just go away, although she also fears the uncertainty of anything less than an arranged marriage. 

You can see how some of her hopes are complex and even contradictory with her fears. That's real life for anyone going through a Decision Point in her life.

What is your MC's greatest hope?

No, no, no, no, NO! Shoe on the other foot.

It's the Rejectionist's blog anniversary and we're celebrating by writing about rejection. Cheerful, isn't it?

Don't worry. I'm not going to twist you into a disheartened mass with my word magic.

I'm going to pretend we live in an alternate reality where agents are more like scouts than gate-keepers, making initial contact to request the work of authors they've discovered online. This is in NO way intended to offend literary agents, for whom I have immense respect. I just think it would be fun to imagine a world where authors, agents, and publishers interact in a totally different way. After all, I do write speculative fiction.

Dear Agent, 

Thank you for requesting to see Not Quite Nirvana in full. I am flattered by your attention and impressed by your vision for my project. However, in this competitive market, I feel your publishing contacts aren't unique enough for this particular book, as two of your contacts have already requested publishing rights from me directly. I encourage you to request elsewhere as authors in a different situation will certainly feel differently. 

Best Regards,

Author Extraordinaire

And just to show I'm not a bitter writer, here's the YES version of the above query response:

Dear Agent,

Thank you for requesting to see Not Quite Nirvana in full! PublishersX and PublishersZ have already requested publishing rights, and I am eager to see what your illustrious contacts think, as well. Your vision for my project matches mine to a T, and I'm excited to be working with you. Please send your initial contract and I'll have my lawyer go over it this weekend. Thank you again.

Best Regards,

Author Extraordinaire

Ah, alternate realities are so fun. Okay, back to reality. I haven't received a form rejection letter in...*runs to check gmail*...ah, my birthday, two weeks ago. Waiting patiently on a few partial-submissions, but I rest assured that I have not seen the end of The Rejection Monster.

Some things in life are certain: death, taxes, rejection... and sunrise. Happens every time. Yep, even after death.

Haven't you heard? Hope springs eternal.