#WritersCoffeeClub May 7: Do readers need to understand a character's motivations to understand the story?
No, but it certainly helps. If you can't convey your major characters' motivations by the end of the book, that's an entirely different problem. You don't need to do it right out the gate (in fact you're better off *not* doing it out the gate), but can the reader really say they know a character if they *don't* understand their motivations? I struggle to conceive a reader for whom every book is just a series of events with no explanation and they're happy with that.
