I am currently in the process of writing a Scifi Graphic Novel that includes several different species of aliens. I love creating worlds and other creatures and the overall aesthetic building (the way they look, their biology and how it relates to their individual worlds, etc.) is all very easy to me. My issue is that I can't seem to come up with any other ideas for goals. Every sentient species just like every group or race of people should have an end goal, but all I can seem to come up with is species superiority, scientific discovery, and survival. Which are all good and dandy but with as many different species as I have created/have planned (Even if they are just minor and won't be headlining) I feel like these goals will just become redundant? Does anyone know of any interesting sites for ideas, any good references of different group goals or any direction I can go with this? Also again, the creative part of world/character/creature building is easy for me but I'm having trouble not making my main characters goals boring? Currently my MC just feels so bland as her goals are more attributed to keeping peace and just surviving in the galaxy at large. What's the best way to evolve her goals and motives or give her realistic ones. She has the upfront badass but troubled behind the scenes trope going for her, but I wanted to play around with the idea of mental illness and insecurity but I still have trouble creating an interesting goal for her long-run wise. She's not fully a goody-goody soldier type, she makes her own decisions and is a good leader but I don't want to have her and her crew floating through space eternally kicking in bad-guy faces with no goal or direction. I want something more for her. She's not the settle down type either. Maybe I'm overthinking it? Maybe simple goals aren't so bad, but I would just hate to dwarf my MC by this massive galaxy I've created because her goals are so simple when the goals of other galactic beings are vast and actually make a difference, if that makes any sense at all?
One person IS tiny compared to a literal galaxy; especially an inhabited one. That's not a bad thing--if anything it just makes the world feel more real and immersive. Few people are capable of pulling and pushing levers that shape the world. Simple goals are fine (whatever "simple" means; do you count common goals such as marriage or career to be "simple"? They may not be world conquest or world peace but they are far from simple and I think very good ones to start with). For entire species(es)? Now that's another story. Realistically you might as well ask yourself if any real world races have collective goals. For the most (or entire) part; no. Normally it's not a species/race that has a goal but a group within that species/race; like the governments, politicians, entrepreneurs, pioneers, doctors, etc. and often they contradict each other. Like Species A's government might be interested in establishing universal peace through force (i.e. universal conquest). Species B's government might be very wary of that and trying to lobby a coalition. Species C, D, and E's governments might be largely indifferent, more focused on domestic affairs and/or petty squabbling. The businessmen of each of these peoples might be more interested in peace (as war naturally closes the gates to business and promotes banditry) while the military industrial complexes might be very eager for war (as that means selling their weaponry). Pioneers (of the land-discovery kind) may be mixed as some will certainly be pro-peace while others (for whatever reason) pro-war. And then there are those who are indifferent. Same with doctors and other groups. Overall I think it's very unrealistic for entire specieses/races to have collective goals. Their governments? Sure. But their entire species/people? That's borg-like, as if they didn't have any individuality between them (although maybe one alien species IS a sort of hive-minded people, and thus there is little if any individuality). I think you should focus more on the goals of the individuals (both the protagonist's and the world leaders') and go from there. Given the breadth and scope of the meta-world, simple exploration is story-worthy in and of itself. One has to get to know the world before one can care for it; and what better way then by exploring it?
Group long-term motivation or Quest: Are the members of the group in the same spaceship crew?. Why and how did they end up together? In a Galactic scenario with different species is hard to find a long-term quest for the entire group at very beggining. Why don't you start with a small-term group quest that will evolve/change later into a more complex group motivation?. Maybe using the relationships among the group members as the trigger, kind of "all for one and one for all" and shifting them around the member archetypes.
You could try making it so that their goals requires some immense sacrifice or effort to pull off which will give them a bigger purpose in the universe. Show their rise to power as they try to climb the ladder of power and show their downfall or success on their way to achieving their goals. Perhaps it doesn't even have to be the definition of grand that most people have, perhaps grand is to finally get with the woman they love or succeeding in some trivial thing that is a major deal to them, personally. In my world, it's easier to create a grand scheme for all the characters since what's going on is so big that everybody ends up getting involved in some way, voluntarily or involuntarily. A Great War that threw the entire universe into war and an Apocalyptic demon invasion later on that threatened the existence of all life. Politicians scheme to seize control and usurp others on the ladder of power, soldiers struggle to hold the front-lines against great odds, royal families off each other discreetly so they can gain influence and power over the politicians and councils, refugees flee in giant warships that take decades to reach safe worlds and must deal with disasters of their own. I'd say create a huge prime conflict that will set off a chain reaction that eventually involves all parties in your world. Make it so that there's no way they can avoid it and the only way to get out is to keep going up the power ladder. This will create some interesting purposes and ambitions for your characters as they try to figure out how to deal with this prime conflict. Even better if your characters find conflict with one another, then you can truly write them to their full potential as they are faced with danger or death.
