Stakes: why should I care?
A want is not enough; the listener has to know what is lost if it fails. Learn to name the stakes, make them personal, and raise them without melodrama.
Stakes
What the character stands to lose if they fail, or gain if they succeed. Stakes turn a want into something that matters. The test is simple: finish the sentence "If she doesn't get it, then…"
"Reza wants to catch the 8:00 bus." So what? "If he misses it, he misses the only interview he's had in five months." Now we're watching the clock with him.
Same want, different weight
No stakes
Sara wanted to bake a good cake on Thursday. The first one burned, so she made another. The second one was fine.
With stakes
Thursday was the first birthday since her mother died, and the cake was her mother's recipe. Nobody else in the family knew it. The first one burned. There were eggs left for exactly one more.
Check yourself
Negar tells her colleagues: "I really wanted to finish the report by Friday, but my laptop died on Thursday night." Nobody reacts. What single addition would help most?
- A detailed description of how the laptop died
- A second obstacle, like the internet going down too
- The full list of the report's chapters
- What she'd lose if the report missed Friday
Show the answer
What she'd lose if the report missed Friday
Yes. She has a want and an obstacle, but we don't know what failing costs. "It was the report my contract renewal depended on" would make everyone sit up.
SIZE ISN'T WEIGHT
Personal stakes beat global ones
Beginners try to make a story matter by making it big: the company will collapse, the city is in danger, thousands are affected. But we feel stakes through one person. A number is hard to picture. A face is not.
"The factory closure put 300 jobs at risk" is a headline. "Mr Rahimi had told his daughter she could start university in autumn. Now he didn't know how to tell her she couldn't" is a story. Same closure.
Stakes are the height of the tightrope
Someone walking along a line painted on the floor and someone walking a rope twenty metres up are doing the same steps. We only hold our breath for one of them. Stakes are the height: they change nothing about the action and everything about how we watch it. Where the analogy breaks: higher is not always better. If the height stops being believable, we stop believing the walker too.
Check yourself
- Omid ran for the last metro of the night. If he missed it, he would take a taxi and be home twenty minutes later.
- Omid ran for the last metro of the night. His wallet was on the kitchen table at home, his phone was at 2%, and home was fourteen kilometres away.
The want and the obstacle are the same. Why does the second one hold you?
- It is longer and has more detail
- It shows what missing the metro would cost him
- It uses more exciting verbs
- It adds a second character
Show the answer
It shows what missing the metro would cost him
Exactly. In the first version failure costs twenty minutes, so we relax. In the second, failure means a fourteen-kilometre walk in the dark, so we run with him.
Four ways to raise the stakes
- Remove the backup plan
If there is an easy plan B, failure is cheap. Close it: the last bus, the only copy, the final attempt.
- Add a clock
A deadline turns a wish into pressure. "By noon", "before the guests arrive", "while the battery lasts".
- Tie it to a person
Who is disappointed, hurt or let down if this fails? A promise made to someone is one of the strongest stakes there is.
- Make it hard to undo
Words that can't be unsaid, a chance that won't come again. If the character can simply try again tomorrow, we can wait until tomorrow to care.
The shop had been her grandfather's, then her father's.
The bank's letter gave her until the end of the month.
On the 28th, a man in a clean suit walked in, looked at the shelves, and asked if she had ever thought about selling.Sentence 1 makes the stakes personal: not a shop, three generations.
Sentence 2 adds a clock.
Sentence 3 brings the obstacle in as a tempting offer, so her choice will cost her something either way.The stakes come before the action. We can only worry about what we already know could be lost.
Check yourself
Does this line raise the stakes, or only add information?
- It was the last exam he was allowed to retake.
- The exam hall had about two hundred seats.
- She had promised her brother she would be there when he woke from surgery.
- The hospital was built in the 1970s.
- The landlord said that if the rent was late once more, they were out.
- The flat was on the third floor and faced south.
Show the answer
Raises the stakes: It was the last exam he was allowed to retake., She had promised her brother she would be there when he woke from surgery., The landlord said that if the rent was late once more, they were out.
Only information: The exam hall had about two hundred seats., The hospital was built in the 1970s., The flat was on the third floor and faced south.
Check yourself
A story about a child who might lose a school race can have higher stakes for the listener than a story about a company that might lose a million-dollar contract.
Show the answer
True
True. Stakes are felt, not counted. If we know the child practised every morning because his father said he'd never be an athlete, that race weighs more than a contract between two companies we can't picture.
Check yourself
Reza is writing about the night his small café almost closed. Which version of the stakes will land best with readers?
- "Small businesses are the backbone of the economy, and many are closing."
- "If the café closed, it would be a truly terrible catastrophe for everyone."
- "The deposit was my sister's wedding savings, and the wedding was in March."
- "The café had lost a large share of its monthly revenue compared to the year before."
Show the answer
"The deposit was my sister's wedding savings, and the wedding was in March."
Yes. One person, one face, a clock, and a loss that would be hard to undo. We feel it immediately.
Lesson recap
- Stakes answer the listener's silent question: "so what?" Finish the sentence "If they fail, then…"
- Put the stakes before the action. We can only fear losing what we already know about.
- Personal beats global: one face carries more weight than a large number.
- Raise stakes by removing plan B, adding a clock, tying it to a person, or making it hard to undo.
- Keep stakes true and in proportion. Inflating them makes listeners pull back.