Stakes are not just about making your characters miserable by inserting dramatic action or by hurting them in the worst way because you can't think of anything else to do with them. They are about making your character face choices and make decisions that come with consequences. When readers can see what your protagonist stands to lose, and who else in the story world has the potential to get hurt, and what beliefs or values are on the line, they will invest because it matters. Welcome to the Write It Scared podcast. I'm your host, Stacey Fraser, a formerly repressed creative soul, turned fiction writer, story editor, and author accelerator certified fiction book coach. At Write It Scared, we tell the truth about why writing a novel is so hard by acknowledging that most writers grapple with two stories: the one they want to put on the page to the best of their ability, and the often subconscious internal story that prevents them from doing it. This show is designed to help you identify and rewrite the internal narrative holding you back while you discover and write the story you want to tell and learn all the tools to help you do that successfully. Join me each week for a new episode where we'll talk about writing to deepen our understanding of the craft and of ourselves as writers. Writing a novel is an inside job that we do not do alone. Welcome to Write It Scared. I'm glad you're here. Let's dive in. Hi, writer. Welcome back to the Write It Scared podcast. I'm your host, Stacey Fraser. Today is a solo show, and we're going to talk about a craft topic that is talked about a lot in the writing world, and that is stakes. What are they? Why do they matter? How do we create them? A while back in one of my group coaching cohorts, we were talking about how to set and raise story stakes, and we were all kind of laughing about how being mean to our characters can really feel like a struggle. And that conversation sparked a whole lot of great questions, which we're going to cover today. So, what are stakes and why do they matter? To me, stakes equate to risk. They represent the risk the character is willing to take to get what they want. Now, if you look at that another way, you could also say that stakes are what the character stands to lose if they fail to reach their goal, and also what they stand to gain if they succeed. And the difference between the two points is the story. So it's about presenting the character with a dilemma that requires them to make a decision and the consequences they face because of that decision. But there is another side of stakes that I think we often forget to think about as writers, as creators, and that is the piece of reader connection. It doesn't really matter if you put a fictional character in a precarious situation unless the reader can connect with them or feel with them or feel for them. So we're going to talk about how to do that today. So, yes, stakes are about risk, they are about consequence of action or inaction, but they are also about finding that human element that readers connect with. And that stems from understanding character motivation and learning how to express it on the page. So today we're going to look at how to create stakes and connection in your story and how to pressure test those stakes to make sure that they're enough to keep your readers engaged. So building stakes in your story. To me, the fastest way to discover and create stakes is to think about developing them in layers, starting with your character, then expanding into the story world, and then thinking about your reader and what it means to live this messy human life. And we're going to break each one down. Now, you could start anywhere you wanted to. You could start with the story world or the problem the world is facing and think about the stakes there. And then you could touch back into a character. Okay, who is the person that's going to go through this to solve the dilemma in the story world? So it doesn't really matter where you start. For me, my stories tend to start with character. Not all, but most of the time. So for me, it makes sense to start with my characters, start thinking about what they value, think about the story world, and then move into the thematic stakes or the part about what it means to be a messy human. So these are the questions I would recommend you ask when you're thinking about stakes. So the character stakes are the personal stakes. It's what they stand to lose personally that they value by engaging with the problem. So things you want to ask. Who's your main character? And what kind of person are they? How do they feel about themselves? What do they value? And why? So who in their life do they value? What situations do they value? And then from there, as you're developing your story, ask what's their opening story goal and why does it matter to them? So at the end of the day, the question you want to come to by sifting through all of that character work is what does the character personally risk losing by going after their story goal? Is it love, identity, reputation, sanity, safety, belonging, money, stability, or a combination of those things? And equally as important is what do they risk losing by not going after their story goal? That's the other side of the coin. And what will they gain if they achieve their goal? And how does that factor into how they feel about themselves? That's another really important question. It kind of shows you the balance, the scales, right? So, bottom line, if your character doesn't stand to lose something they value by facing the story problem, there's no story. If they and if they could walk up to the story dilemma, whatever that may be, and they could say, no, thanks, I don't want to play today, and it costs them nothing to do that, there's no story. You need to go back to the drawing board if either of those situations are the case. So if you know what matters to your characters and you put that on the line, then you have captured their personal stakes and you understand their motivation, why they're attached to those things. And that you can convey to your reader through your narrative. So let me give you an example of personal stakes in a story. This is pretty obvious, but we'll just do an example just to break it down. I'm gonna use Katniss from the Hunger Games. You know, I use it a lot, but that's because a lot of people have read the book, or they've seen it, or they understand the premise. So Katniss is the provider for her family, and she loves her sister more than anything else in the world. So she's willing to risk her own life to save her sister by volunteering for the Hunger Games. But she also values independence and is wildly suspicious of everyone's motives, and she's thrust into a situation where she's gonna have to work with others to survive because if she doesn't, then her family could perish, right? So we have very concrete stakes, very high stakes. I mean, these are life and death, right? Her life is on the line, her family's life is on the line. And then the other things that matter to her is her self-reliance, her ability to control her environment. All of these things are threatened. I mean, can you imagine Katniss going to the reaping and saying, nope, I think I'll just let this play out. Now, of course, you can't because you had been introduced to her into what she values, into her belief systems, into the constitution she holds as a human. So there's no way she would have said no. So what that story did was put this character between a rock and a hard place. She was damned if she did, and she was damned if she didn't. And that is an excellent place to position your characters. That's what I mean when I say make them make hard choices that have cost and consequences. So let's talk about building stakes for the story world. This could also be considered the public stakes or the relationship stakes. Now, keep in mind that a story world can be a physical place, it could be a community, a culture, a society, or it could even be like a tangled web of family dynamics. So things to ask to kind of get to the idea of who else could be hurt in this story are questions like how does the conflict your character faces affect the world around them? And to answer that question, you need to know where your character lives and what the vibe is like there, what your character's role is in the story world. Is there a leader in the story world? And what do they want? What are they afraid to lose and why? What does the community or society value as a whole? What are the social, political, economic, environmental concerns of this place? And just generally, what's the worst thing that could happen to this community in their eyes? May not be true, but in their eyes, what's the worst thing that could happen? So if you know what matters to your story world, whether that be a community society or family dynamics, and you threaten those things, then you have created public stakes. Now, obviously, not every story is gonna lend itself perfectly to having both high personal stakes and high public stakes. But if you can bake public stakes in there and it makes sense, then definitely do it. So, for example, we're gonna use Lord of the Rings, we're gonna use Frodo's quest to demonstrate public stakes and relationship stakes. So Frodo's quest to destroy the ring is not just about him, right? The fate of Middle-earth rests on his ability to do this. So that's a big deal. These are big story stakes, life and death, world as we know it is over. So the conflict is very global and it is personal, and it becomes more and more and more personal as the story continues. Because what does Frodo value? Well, he values his friendship with Samwise, he he values his home, he values being truthful and honest. And those things come under threat as the story progresses, as the ring tries to take more away from Frodo's integrity. And plus, you know, this guy's just a cute little endearing hobbit, and we don't want to see him get harmed, right? So there's that. Finally, we'll talk about the third leg of stakes. This is the moral stakes or stakes that are attached to the story's theme. So to get there, you want to ask: is there a moral truth or belief or worldview that is on the line in your story? Is your story poking at something that speaks to the human experience of just living a messy life? If you know what human issues you care about, likely your reader cares about them too. And if you are testing those, then those are thematic stakes. So, for example, in Breaking Bad, Walter White is this guy who's got some low self-esteem issues and he's really prideful. And as the series progresses, we see that he begins to believe that becoming more and more powerful is the most important thing. And that becomes the thing that destroys him. So the idea here is that power can corrupt those who are vulnerable. And that is an idea that is baked into a lot of stories. You can see it in Frodo's Quest with the Ring. You can see it in Harry Potter. So, again, if you know what human issues you care about, likely your reader cares about them too. So, how do you know if your story stakes are enough? There's two key questions that will help you decide if you've baked enough stakes in to make your story compelling. Neither one of these questions is very comfortable, but they are both necessary to ask. And you can ask them at any time in the writing process. So if you're starting to develop a premise for a story, but you haven't started writing yet, if you're in the middle of a draft and you feel like it's kind of flat, or if you're in revision and it's just like the air has been let out of the story, here's what I would suggest is first ask yourself, what happens if your character fails to get what they want? If the answer is nothing really, well, sorry, but that's not gonna work. You need to dig deeper because we're not gonna care. You either need to make the conflict matter more somehow, some way, by sharpening the personal stakes and the public stakes, or come up with something different altogether. And the inverse is true too. If your character can walk up to the dilemma and say, meh, no thanks. I don't want to play today and it costs them nothing, then there is no story. So you've got to give them reasons to engage and make those reasons come with consequence. It can't be easy. So the second question to ask is okay, if your character does stand to lose something important, why should that loss matter to the reader? Now this is way harder to me. It does tie directly into your story's personal and moral or thematic stakes. But here's the assurance I would give you if your character cares about something deeply and you show the reader why through the narrative, that emotion is going to direct the reader's attention and energy. And as readers, we're gonna invest because our characters are invested. So, especially if you've made your character interesting or likable or empathetically relatable in some way. So, how do you do that? Well, you put their guts on the page, you show us their messy inner workings, you show us what confuses them or what fires them up, and and the why behind that. That is the emotional context, and that is what makes readers care. And when it comes to thematic seeks, remember every story is really saying something about the human condition, even if you're not writing about humans. And for you, that theme usually comes in some part from why you're writing the story in the first place, from what you value and you believe what you're exploring or still trying to figure out. And you may not recognize your story's deeper meaning like in early drafts, but if you step back and ask, what is the story offering about the complexities of being alive? That's where you will find your answer. And sometimes you can't really see that until you're far along in the writing process. But tying into the moral or thematic stakes is an element of evoking connection with the reader. So, final thoughts here: stakes are not just about making your characters miserable by inserting dramatic action or by hurting them in the worst way because you can't think of anything else to do with them. They are about making your character face choices and make decisions that come with consequences. When readers can see what your protagonist stands to lose, and who else in the story world has the potential to get hurt, and what beliefs or values are on the line, they will invest because it matters. It matters to the character, it's going to matter to them. So if a section of your novel feels flat, run the pressure test. What's the goal for the character? What happens if they fail? What action will they have to take? What will that cost them? And why will the reader care? And how does this choice that they make right here matter more than the last one they made? That's how you can can continue to think like, am I elevating my stakes? Am I increasing the tension by elevating the stakes in my story? So start by layering, start with the personal, go to the world, and then take it to the thematic, or work backwards, whatever works for you. But get very specific about the consequences that characters will face and keep raising the price of admission for them staying in the story. If you do that, it's going to be pretty hard for your readers to look away. Thank you for your time today. I also put this in a blog post with two examples of stories with low stakes and how I switched them up to make them more compelling. So if you want to take a look at that, I will put the link in the show notes. Have a great day. Thanks for being here. Thank you for listening to the Ride It Scared podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, please make sure to hit the follow button so you never miss an episode. And please leave a review. Reviews help other writers like you find the voices and messages they need to hear to continue to write their stories. Let's lift each other up. Remember, you can be scared and still be unstoppable. I'll see you next week.