The Girl With Wooden Hair: an inquiry

We so seldom see characters motivated by curiosity, especially protagonists. We have redemption, duty, unwilling and forced by destiny or other situational imperative, kindheartedness, self-aggrandisement, various self-interests, but so seldom does it seem to be curiosity, to be 'I want to know what is out there, I want to know how it works'.

Interesting to realise and I wonder why. For myself curiosity is a big motivation for interest in genre fiction, and for my characters too, yet in many stories characters are blocked off from explanations, or actively disinterested.

Is it uncommercial? Bad storytelling? Founded on false or incomplete beliefs about people's beliefs, interests and satisfactions in entertainment? I don't know. Is just my impression there is a dearth of characters motivated by the joy of discovery. I want to see more of that. Kindheartedness and the spirit of adventure too.

Whirl

The girl darted about in an energetic, perhaps frenzied flurry of activity. Were she to have seen herself from outside, she might have been pleased by her dress remembering to flutter with her movements as if stirring air. She might have reminded herself of a sculpting hummingbird.

A little etching here, a touch added there, whether this busyness got her projects anywhere was debatable. For now it seemed necessary; perhaps later from tinily incremented growth metaphorical dust would clear to reveal something splendid of adjective in aggregate.

On her wrist she wore a silver bracelet, which was new. It bore faintly some words she had sketched earlier: Let curiosity reign. They may need deeper etching later.