Who is your main character? What do they want? What's at stake for them? If your story’s stakes are too low or unclear, readers will wonder, “So what?” And if we want readers to keep reading, we’d better have a good answer to that question. So we raise the stakes for our characters.
The stakes don’t have to be life or death, but they should be compelling and create tension. What does your character have to lose? What are they trying to gain? What risks do they encounter along the way? What's standing between your characters and what they want? Is it interesting, unexpected, terrifying, nuanced, subversive, outrageous, disruptive, unusual, surprising, or unpredictable? Further, the more layers and rough edges a character has, the more complicated they are, and that means more possibilities for high stakes in their lives. How messy and difficult can you make things for your characters? Perhaps timing is a factor in how high the stakes are. Is your character’s big crisis happening at the worst possible time? At a defining moment of their life? Or maybe there’s a clock ticking. Higher stakes lead to your character’s growth and evolution, and they help your story sustain its momentum. What are the broader implications and repercussions of these stakes for other characters and the larger world?
In this craft seminar, we’ll discuss and practice different ways to raise the stakes in fiction. Through generative writing exercises, attendees will raise stakes for characters from their work-in-progress, or start something new.
This is an open enrollment webinar, including writing exercises and a moderated Q&A. A password protected recording of the workshop will be made available after the event for participants who cannot attend synchronously.
The Writing Institute presents Raising the Stakes in Fiction with Deesha Philyaw
Virtual Online
Open to the public
/ Tuesday