Work on a character development sheet. Write down his dream beyond graduating from college and making money. What traits does MC have that would attract the woman he seeks? Remember, the women you're referring to are twice his age and likely have met a gold digger or two in their lives. Is MC lazy or industrious? Does he have any friends? How does he treat them? Etc. You'll get to your plot again and should rework it so it's stronger than young man marries rich woman and fulfills his dreams. What kind of woman does he want? Does he know or will he uncover this secret throughout the story. Is your story a series or a single book? There's a lot to consider when you're making a story.
I have developed the main character a little bit, here is my progress... His dream, desire, need, is to make his mother happy, make her proud out of him. I made it so simple so that everyone can understand. He wants to see her happy, simple enough, right? But why he wants to do it? Is she not happy? Well, yes. She is a victim of constant humiliation from her family. Because she was a hothead bully in her past, she earned a lot of enemies, even in her own family. Well, he is the one of few males in the town... So by default, he has an advantage. But I know that that's not enough. There is has to be something else... Something between. He only has one friend with whom he is on good terms. That's what I'm doing right now And I gotta say that as more I think about the plot, the more ideas come to mind.
My thoughts. 1) The first version of the character. (Poor man) There is a mistake in my vision in the chain. > College > Education > These two do not lead to a good life in any way. The university does not make people smarter, does not help in their careers and does not make them happier ... At the same time, a person always studies and a person who goes to university and the one who works at this time both study. Just learning different things. And to say which is better and which is worse is hard at first sight. Nowadays, you can learn anything much better and faster through the Internet than at the university. University is more of a fun pastime with peers. An exception is some complex and unusual profession: Restorer, Archaeologist, Linguist of old dead languages, etc. But if he wants to learn something, then in 2-3 months of researching of work, he will receive more knowledge than at the university, and they will be more practical. Those who have money also have connections. In most cases, successful people prefer to communicate with their own kind of success. So even without education, if he has a head on his shoulders and he knows how to think about it, he will have a bunch of career opportunities. Better to spend time using one of these opportunities, and education can be done by Distance education. So if he wants to be successful I think his chain should look like this. It will be more logical. Marriage > Connections > Career > Good life. (I have friends who have passed a similar path.He got out of prison with no education. His mother somehow miraculously got a job in our firm, thanks to her friendship with the director. I have not seen such self-giving from anyone either before or after. He understood that this was his only chance to improve his life. Over time, he became entrenched in our work. He became a successful person. He started a family, received a distance education, bought a house and a car.) Based on the experience of communication, poor people who have known lack of money usually believe that work, earnings, and a stable income are more important than any education. They often work part-time from a young age, and anyone who works knows that work is not taught at universities, but at work. What is taught in universities for most partners is not useful in life. So it’s more likely not in motivation, even in the look at the world of this character. If this character is poor, then he will be very skeptical about wasting years of his life and a lot of money on useless education, if he can spend this time on his career and instead of losing money make money. 2) The second version of the character. (Narcissus) On the other hand, it may be lower middle class. Sufficient to not know true poverty, but not enough for a university. Although now in Europe and America, education on credit is distributed to everyone. Such a character will really be more interested in money. But for him, training and education will only be ways of pulling money out of the ladies. After education, he will need money to close loans. Then to buy a car. To buy a trip abroad. His appetites will grow and he will never have enough. He will always find explanations for why and for what he needs. This character will always blame everyone around him for all his problems. Irresponsible. Not caring about anyone but himself. His version of the chain Relations > Money >Good life Such a character would not consider getting married. A wedding is about making a commitment. And such a person hates commitment and responsibility. He will want to have several relationships at the same time, each of which will be materially beneficial to him. So that in case of problems with one of these relationships, he could break it off without losing all his income.
This is true, if you put in the work. It's also true that you get out of school what you put into it. If you just coast through and do only the required work, you'll (maybe) get a degree and possibly a foot in the door in the career of your choice, but not necessarily (especially today).
