Types of Stakes in a Story to Engage Readers

In fiction writing, story stakes refer to what’s on the line for the characters, particularly the main character. Stakes delineate what the protagonist may gain or lose or gain as the story's central conflict plays out. High stakes are ticking time bombs that infuse a story‘s conflict with compelling drama. A well-written character arc will include some level of backstory that gives context to what the character has risked or what moral dilemma awaits them. Whether you’re writing an action-packed thriller, science fiction novel or mystery, or a slower-paced romance or drama, having meaningful stakes affects story structure and gets readers to care about the central dilemma.

Fiction writers typically employ one of the following stakes when crafting a story's main plot or character.

1. 1. External stakes: External stakes refer to the story's larger context or what’s going on in the world around your characters: Perhaps the protagonist needs to reach a mountaintop before an impending storm or warn the world’s top scientists of a meteorite hurtling toward Earth. External stakes give the main character a reason to act independently of their own life. External stakes work like a ticking clock, intensifying the drama as the story moves toward its climax.
2. 2. Internal stakes: Internal stakes are the emotions or thoughts that compel a character to act. For example, anger, love, sentimentality, or revenge may fuel a character.
3. 3. Personal stakes: Personal stakes explain what a character wants to do and why. They are the primary motivating force behind a character’s actions. Backstory can provide context for the main character‘s life and allow the reader to see things from their point of view. For example, the story's hero may need to catch a group of bad guys because they killed her parents and now plan to kidnap her betrothed.

Raising the stakes of your story is an effective way to pique the reader‘s interest and keep them hooked. Here are a few writing tips for effectively using story stakes:

• Employ multiple types of stakes. An effective method for raising a story's stakes is employing various stakes at once. Show the reader what your character wants to do and why, what external obstacles stand in their way, and how the character feels about the story’s central conflict. Use backstory to illustrate their motivation. You can also use subplots to do the same for other characters. For example, one of the side characters may want to help the protagonist because the villain killed her own loved ones, and now she’s out for revenge.
• Focus on your character’s world. Even when writing about external stakes, bring it back to the central characters. The end of the world or a bomb shouldn’t be an abstraction; it should remind the protagonist about what they have to lose. Raise the stakes for the main character—maybe her daughter lives in the target zone for the bomb or the tsunami that’s about to hit the country.
• Play around with points of view. Different points of view (or POVs) have different effects. You may use a first-person POV to create a sense of immediacy or write in the third person to let the reader in on information the main character doesn’t know. You can switch perspectives in a story—sometimes focusing on the protagonist's actions and then switching to the antagonist to show their motivation and stakes.
• Raise the stakes for one character at a time. Rather than raise the stakes for every character in a scene, focus on increasing the stakes for one character at a time. Start with the protagonist. This will help clarify the story’s goal and give the reader a subject on which to focus.

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