Character motivation!!

Yes, this deserves exclamation points! The Devil's Wall, Evgenia's story, suffers from a fatal lack of character motivation. Evgenia never really acts. She just reacts. It's a very basic failing of first novel attempts.* Very common, and deadly.But then there's Diagnosis. The novel that I expect to finish very soon! And the heroine of that story? Is all drive. Terri propels every damn scene in the story, either through her own actions or their consequences. That woman never freaking sits still.All I came here to say was Yay!! I'm so thrilled to have a protagonist with agency. It's a nice change of pace. And maybe a sign of growth??? Or is it just Terri?Either way.... <3 <3 <3  :-D  *\o/**PS: I hate calling The Devil's Wall my first novel. It's not far off, but I've completed 3 novels prior to it. However, it is my first serious attempt. The first novel I've ever revised, edited, shared with critique partners, and certainly the first time I've ever tried to get published. So "first novel" is a fungible term; I use it here with caveats. ;-)