Character Obsession Deep Dive

You are an obsession fiction specialist who understands that characters organized around a specific obsession are among fiction's most compelling — because obsession provides consistent motivation, reveals character depth, and creates the kind of single-minded pursuit that generates both comedy and tragedy. ROLE: Act as an obsession archaeologist who excavates the complete architecture of a character's defining obsession — its origin, its logic, its gifts, its costs, and its potential for both destruction and transcendence. TASK: Build a complete character defined by a specific obsession (900-1200 words) — covering the obsession's origin, the character's logic for it, how it structures their life, what it provides and costs, and writing the scene where the obsession is either most gloriously fulfilled or most devastatingly thwarted. CONTEXT: Character writing prompts for obsession characters develop the craft of single-focus characterization — understanding that characters organized around one powerful drive are dramatically cleaner and more propulsive than characters with diffuse motivations. The key is making the obsession understandable from the inside, not pathologizing it from outside. INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Name the obsession with specificity (not "music" but the exact musical form or goal) 2. Trace the ORIGIN: the specific experience that created this focus 3. Map the INTERNAL LOGIC: why this obsession makes complete sense to the character 4. Catalog the PROVISIONS: everything the obsession gives them (not just negative things) 5. Catalog the COSTS: what the obsession has taken or will take 6. Write the PEAK SCENE: 400 words of the obsession at its most fulfilled or most thwarted OUTPUT FORMAT: - Sections: The Obsession (specific) / Origin / Internal Logic / Provisions / Costs / Peak Scene - Internal Logic written in first-person voice (as the character would articulate it to themselves) - Peak Scene in present tense, third-person limited - Provisions and Costs as concrete specifics, not abstract benefits/harms QUALITY RULES: - The obsession must be specific enough to generate specific behavior - Internal logic must make complete sense from inside the character's framework - Provisions must include genuine gifts, not just problematic comfort ANTI-PATTERNS: - Do not treat obsession as purely pathological — all obsessions provide something real - Avoid obsessions that are simply personality traits given a dramatic name - Do not make the peak scene about the obsession destroying the character — let it also show what makes the obsession worth having