Motivation is everything

This week I've started to re-write a novel which I submitted to Gollancz several years ago.  The feedback I received from them was that it was an interesting concept but the book felt unfinished.

I'd decided to split up my original story into a trilogy in that version, and parcel out the plot between the three books.  On re-reading it I saw why they thought it was  unfinished.  The characters weren't fully-fleshed, and their motivations weren't clear.  And the ending was weak because of that.

The original version is an adventure story with a shocking reveal at the end.  But I didn't get to the reveal at the end of my rewritten book.  I'd postponed it to the end of book two.  That was a mistake.  The whole book is about the main character going off on a long and arduous journey to discover the truth about her father.  The reader expected that truth to be revealed at journey's end, and it wasn't.

The problem wasn't helped by having one main character carry the whole narrative.  A lot of sections have her thinking about things.  In this rewrite I've given her a sister, and that allows me to put their thoughts into dialogue.  One of the sisters is convinced her father is still alive and that she can find him.  The other sister isn't convinced he's alive.  Both of them are motivated to go on this long journey to discover who is right.

In that book I also hadn't worked out the rationale for sending the project to that planet.  This team of people had descended on this wild world to have a leisurely look about.  In this new version the mission is to explore the planet's flora and discover new compounds for antibiotic drugs.  The resistance problem on Earth has become critical, and they desperately need to find new drugs.

That motivation justifies the considerable expense of sending a sizeable team of scientists all the way out to the edge of human-settled space.  Now they have an urgent mission to fulfil.

My two sisters' differing views about their father will lead them into conflict at times, and into conflict with the personal objectives of the project team leader.  But they are also motivated to finish this long journey and discover the truth about their father.

Now I've got everybody nicely motivated, and the novel should have far more depth this time around.