Last time I visited, we discussed how understanding the interconnectedness of our story elements can help us with revisions, and today we’re going to dig deeper into one of those elements: our story’s stakes.
Stakes are simply the consequences of failure. If our character doesn’t reach their goal, what will happen? What can go wrong?
Low stakes—such as when there are no consequences or failure would be no big deal—can create problems with our story’s conflicts, tension, and pacing, as well as weaken motivations and make goals seem less important.
So we definitely want to follow advice like “Raise the stakes throughout your story,” but how do we do that?
Step #1: Check for Goals
We all know that our protagonist should have a goal (or at least an unconscious longing) in every scene, right? But we’re not referring to just a big-picture story goal like “beat the bad guy.” Rather, scenes should also have a specific, immediate goal.
For example, the character wants to…:
- get the job
- help a family member
- reassure a friend
- avoid trouble
- win the bet
- arrive on time
- prove their competence
- beat the rush-hour traffic, etc.
Step #2: Identify the Cost of Failure
Without consequences for failure, readers have no reason to care about or root for a certain outcome—any will do. So we have to identify what the negative consequences are if the character fails to reach those goals.
However—unlike goals—stakes don’t have to be immediate. Humans often act to avoid imagined trouble—think of parents who try to get their baby into a certain day care center because they believe that will lead to a good school, college, job, and lifelong success for their adult child years in the future. *smile* Our characters can behave the same way.
Stakes could be a specific failure to reach the goal (doesn’t get the job), or they could be a general risk, threat, fear, etc. of related failure (my child won’t be a successful adult). Stakes can be anything that motivates our character into acting to avoid the feared situation becoming reality.
Step #3: Ensure the Cost Increases during the Story
Ever wonder what counts as increasing stakes? Are stakes less than life-and-death too weak? Or if the protagonist is at risk of death, how do we increase the stakes from there?
Judging stakes as strong or weak all depends on context. In one story, not getting a job could be devastating. In another story, that failure could simply mean the character doesn’t get the prestige of a promotion.
In other words, it’s up to us as the author to sell the idea of how strong a stake is. A self-sacrificing type of character might think the risk of death is no big deal, but if the next scene shows their loved one at risk, that could be a huge increase in the stakes even though it’s not about them anymore.
“Raising the stakes” refers to how close the cost hits to home for that character. How much would failure “attack” their sense of self, who they are or want to be?
Why Is It Important to Raise the Stakes?
Characters might not be as eager to take the story’s journey if they knew all the obstacles ahead of time. The stakes are a way to force characters not to give up or walk away in the face of a story’s increasingly difficult conflicts and obstacles.
Also, at their heart, stories aren’t about plot. Rather, the plot reveals who the characters are.
The plot’s rising stakes force characters to make riskier and riskier choices. By the end of the story, they’re doing things they never would have imagined they’d do at the beginning of the story, and readers get to see the character’s essence, as they’re stripped down and vulnerable.
Other Tips for Using Stakes in Our Story:
- Stakes don’t have to increase every scene. Some scenes can reinforce stakes, reminding readers of the risks. Or scenes can deepen stakes, with the character becoming more involved with the same risks.
- Subplots have their own consequences, which might be lower than the stakes of the main plot. That means stakes might decrease from one scene to the next if the story changes focus to a subplot. However, within each subplot, the stakes will
Subplots are often a good place to let our characters fail completely with no opportunity to “fix” the situation. Dealing with the consequences of a subplot failure can maintain the story’s tension in the middle act, and our protagonist’s failure in one situation can make the other stakes seem more possible too.
How do you raise the stakes in your scenes?
Jami Gold put her talent for making up stuff to good use, such as by winning the 2015 National Readers’ Choice Award in Paranormal Romance for her novel Ironclad Devotion.
To help others reach their creative potential, she’s developed a massive collection of resources for writers. Explore her site to find worksheets—including the popular Romance Beat Sheet with 80,000+ downloads—workshops, and over 1000 posts on her blog about the craft, business, and life of writing. Her site has been named one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers by Writer’s Digest. Find out more about our RWC team here and connect with Jami below.
What is the definition of compelling conflict? What makes conflict compelling?
This post was extremely helpful to me. Thank you so much!
You’re welcome! I’m happy to help. 🙂
Stakes, imo, are one of the most important parts of a story. They have to be high, and escalate, and change, and thoughtfully fit into the story…So much to remember, but SO important. Thanks for these tips, Jami!
You’re welcome, Becca! And yes, there’s always SO much to remember. Thank goodness for revisions! LOL!
Great stuff, Jami! I have a WIP sitting (ugh) and I can’t wait to get back to it. In the meantime, I’m always thinking about it. Your post made me think about the stakes for each main character a little differently than I have. Thanks!
Hi Karen,
I hope this helps! Most of the advice I’ve shared on my blog over the years comes from me learning how to look at things a little differently, so I understand. 🙂
This is by far the best post I’ve read this year. I was told that my language is beautiful, “We love your voice. But my story has no plot.” NO PLOT? Then a friend posts this and tags me. I cannot begin to tell you how I will use this as a resource for all my work. Since great voice, no plot has been my writing nightmare. I was prepared to toss the idea of my mc singing to bring her growth and change to the circumstances in her life. Thought singing was too trivial. And I read this. Thank you so much. I’m off to raise the stakes in my story. Oh I thank you so much. Glad my friend shared this site with me.
Hi Pamela,
Aww, thank you so much for the kind words! I’m SO glad this was helpful for you. 😀
If the reader cares about the character, and the character cares about the stakes, the reader will care about those stakes too–no matter how “trivial” they might seem. 🙂 Good luck!
Great post, especially for newbies like me. I look forward to the newsletters/blog updates. I am hungry for all kinds of writing advice. And I, too, am fueled by chocolate. Or any kind of sugar-bound substance that fits in my mouth!
Hi Emily,
LOL! *fist bump* I hear you!
I am a big fan of personalizing the stakes because you’re absolutely right–even the smallest thing can be a big thing to the right character in the right moment. Not every stake has to be a gun pointed at someone’s chest.
It really is an art form to be able to make anything become incredibly important and have a high price if one fails, all because it was framed properly to readers and personalized to a character. 😉 Great post!
Hi Angela,
Thanks! And you’re absolutely right that this comes down to finding the right stakes for the right character.
For someone who prides themselves on arriving everywhere on time, the threat of being late will be a big deal. Not so for someone who treats arrival times as “guidelines.” 🙂
Thank you for these great tips on raising the stakes for our characters, Jami. I’ve shared the post online.
Thank you, Victoria! I hope it’s helpful. 🙂
And here I thought my character wasn’t compelling enough, so I was trying to change HIM. May be I just need to raise the stakes a bit?
Hi Marcia,
There are steps we can take to make our character more compelling, but if readers are already set up to care about them, we might get more “mileage” out of making their dilemma more compelling by raising the stakes. Readers who care about characters will want to see them win. 🙂 Good luck!