Secrets of Writing: The Seven Basic Needs

Psychologists have identified seven basic needs that human beings want. It’s important to know them to help you understand where your characters are coming from. They are:

1. A sense of safety and structure.
2. A sense of belonging/group membership
3. A sense of self worth and contributing
4. A sense of independence and control over one’s life
5. A sense of closeness/relationships
6. A sense of competence/mastery
7. A sense of self awareness

Few people have all these things in their lives at any given time. We often are missing some of these elements, or are unsatisfied with what we have. Most people are seeking them in some way. A lot of our insecurities stem from our lack, or perceived lack of some of these needs. The less these needs are fulfilled in us, the more unhappy or depressed we can become.

So when you try to understand where a character is coming from, it’s a good idea to check this list. Let’s look at an example.

Let’s say you have a hero who, at the beginning of the story broke up with his girlfriend and lost his job. Those things affect 3, 4, and 5. Your character will have anxiety (unless he’s happy to be free of his girlfriend and his boss, or has new ones already lined up) and this will affect his disposition at the start of the story.

The hero in this case will want some kind of replacement for what he lost, though he may be in denial or too depressed to deal with it at the beginning of the story. But he losses you force on that character will need to be resolved in some way by the end of the story for it to be satisfying. Because instinctually, people will relate to your hero’s dilemma, and in doing so will want to see them succeed in the end (if you’ve done your job of making your readers char about the story).

Understanding people is critical to being able to successfully write about them. And one of the best tools you have at your disposal is this list of seven needs.

Examine your own life and compare it to the seven needs. Are your needs being fulfilled? If not, what’s missing? How does that make you feel?

Apply this to a character you create and write a story to show how your character gets that fulfillment. This is how you can see these principals in action.

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