Determined and short of money, a young boy aims to swim and fly to his dream paradise on the wildest island of Tasmania.

Good point. Distance to be traveled as a measure of the boy’s passion and commitment.

My earlier post was in response to wilsondownunder’s suggestion. I agree with the principle of character motivaton embedded in his suggestion. Which would seem to contradict my earlier statement, so I will attempt to clarify my reasoning.

I said earlier: “His motivation doesn?t have to particularly rational or realistic”. But it has to be credible, something an audience would believe a boy his age could believe in. You don’t specify the boy’s age, so I assume he’s still young enough to believe in Santa Claus. We, the audience, would have no problem buying his delusion because we all know it’s one parents perpetrate on their kids.

Global warming is a whole other issue, a whole other category. And here’s the major concern I have about using global warming: it’s a negative. The boy is motivated by fear of what global warming will do to Tasmania.

Now, it’s okay for the protagonist to be initially motivated by a negative — fear, hatred, greed, etc. — but even when it’s necessary it is neversufficient. Assuming a happy ending, the protagonist must also have a motivation that is positive.

Which is why I also concur with wilsonunder’s suggestion in the other thread. The boy should want to go to Tasmania for some positive reason, for some constructive objective end.

What is your story about? A boy going on a journey.

In my mind, that invokes the standard issue, archetypal theme of The Quest. (He is too young to cast his trip in that way, you, as the writer, aren’t)

It may be a comedy replete with misadventures, but it seems to me the boy is not just going to Tasmania, he’s going on a personal odyssey. It will change his life.

fwiw