Maass--Reversing Motives

Now we're on Page 38 of the Workbook, and Maass says to pick any scene with your protagonist in it, and write down what the character is trying to accomplish, obtain or avoid.  Then write all the reasons WHY the character is trying to do that--as many as you can come up with.  (Do that now)


Circle the very last reason you came up with, and re-write the scene using that very last reason. 

Maass's reasoning is that we often use the first reason (I do--it's most logical, right?) and that makes the scene predictable.  But no one likes reading about predictable people. Or as Maass puts it, "Safe choices make a scene predictable".  So by choosing another reason, you're straying from the 'safe' path and making the book more interesting. 

The thing I particularly like about this method is that you haven't changed your charater's GMC. Okay, you changed the M--motivation--but only for that one scene.  Overall, though, the character is still the same person: you haven't changed the overarching reasoning why this character is on his or her story arc.  You're just changing one little thing beneath that arc to add some zing to the story. 

I'm trying this using Debbie Macomber's infamous "List of 20": come up with 20 things for whatever you're stuck with.  The first five or so will be safe; predictable.  Around the middle I always get stuck and have alien abductions or some such nonsense.  But listing the aliens or wizards gets me past that hump and then the good stuff usually starts to come out.  My little pea brain has been working on it while I was busy adding zombies or rock stars to the list. 

And while we all like routine to a certain extent, we're all unique and we surprise even ourselves from time to time.  So what do you do to keep your characters interesting?  Have you tried this exercise?  What happened?