A want is a healthy thing to have. We all want something. It allows us to work hard in order to achieve it. This is precisely why any character that we choose to craft must have a want. This is because, this want is what powers our characters story. Pushes him forward and allows us to see, how far is he willing to go in order to achieve it.
This was one of my earliest stories where I gave my character a concrete want and then observed how far was he willing to go for it.
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It was a stormy and cloudy day. The crows were cawing harshly. The howling sound of the wind upon the shutters woke up poor Tom. “Oh dear, what a perfectly awful day!”, whimpered Tom.
Thomas Reed, though he preferred Tom, was a nervous sort of fellow. Jumping at the slightest of sounds and faintest of shadows. He preferred to live alone in his quiet home enjoying the company of his cat, who he aptly named Cat.
Tom never wanted for much, though for some reason that day he particularly wanted a carrot. Why? Well, Tom could not answer that. All he knew was, that he wanted it.
“I need a carrot”, he thought while brushing his teeth. “I want a carrot”, he thought while taking a shower. “I MUST have a carrot!”, he shouted as he slammed open the door of his toilet, terrifying poor Mr. Cat who was grooming his coat nearby. Thus, determined to obtain his precious carrot Tom marched purposefully towards his refrigerator and pulled open the door, almost hitting himself in the face with it. Looking inside, he was shocked! There was no carrot!
He thought back furiously, searching through his memories. “This could not be, I could have sworn I bought some carrots! Could Mr. Cat have eaten them while I was asleep?”, muttered Tom while twitching his hands nervously and side eyeing Mr. Cat, who shot him a filthy look and slunk off towards his favourite sleeping spot – the table near the window – without a care in the world.
Not ready to give up yet, Tom pulled on his coat, hat and grabbed an umbrella, preparing to go out and get his carrot. He pulled open the front door, put his foot out and promptly tripped over the stairs and fell. “I won’t give, I won’t give up…”, muttered Tom while wincing and limping towards the nearest shop in the rain.
After ten minutes Tom finally made it to the store, he opened the door, the bell jingled merrily, and the light promptly went off. “What…??”, blinked Tom in the dark.
“Who’s there?”, called out the shopkeeper, “The lights are out! Be careful, you can come back in later once we fix it”, he continued.
“No! No!! You do not understand! I must have a carrot!”, Tom yelled back while stumbling around in the darkness.
“A carrot?!, Are you mad man?! Look at the weather!”, shouted the shopkeeper.
“Please. I will get it myself. I must have it!”, begged Tom.
Now completely convinced of Toms insanity the shopkeeper allowed Tom to go retrieve his precious carrot, watching dumbfounded as Tom tripped over everything within a 10-mile radius as he went looking for his carrot.
“Aha! My carrot!!”, yelled Tom triumphantly as he held it up and returned to the front to pay for it while tripping over the appliances on the way.
“My appliances!”, whimpered the man as he caught a toaster before it fell to the ground.
“My apologies”, said Tom as he pretended to ignore the destruction he left behind. “How much for this carrot?”, he asked innocently.
“Out! Out!! Never return!!”
Tom ran out before the shopkeeper could yell any further. Out of breath he finally reached his home drenched from the rain. Gasping he leaned against the door and opened it. It was completely dark inside.
“Oh dear”, he whimpered. He slowly felt his way towards his kitchen and lit a candle, the light of the flames glinting against his rings. He made his way towards his living room and almost jumped out his skin as he saw a tiger on the couch!
“Wha…wha…what???!!”, he yelled, shocked. He stumbled back as the tiger leapt of the couch and made its way towards him. As it stepped into the light, it was none other than Mr. Cat! the cheeky little thing.
“Ah! A trick of light.”, sighed Tom relieved as he collapsed on his couch, finally enjoying his carrot and his recent heart attack.
