Setting The Stakes
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A lot of early writers struggle with stakes.
If you’re anything like me, you waited an embarrassingly long period of time before you actually dug into what stakes are and how to set them effectively.
If you’re gambler you might have a bit more insight than most - “The phrase "high stakes" is derived directly from a gambling term.
Stakes (monetary or otherwise) are essential - we need them in order to care about anything that happens in your story.
Your audience (and any regular gamblers our there) aren’t just looking for one big gamble, they’re looking for a fun night out. That means building stakes - building up the pot here and there until a nice big big risk nets a solid win (or loss - a “peak” moment of some kind).
Effectively setting stakes lays the groundwork for emotional and narrative peaks to come. In storytelling, the stakes (whatever you’re gambling with) are the backbone of the narrative. They provide tension, suspense, and urgency in order to keep readers or viewers engaged from beginning to end.
In order to play with your audience effectively, you must know what stakes are and how to set them effectively.
What It Means to Set the Stakes
Setting the stakes means establishing what is at risk in the story.
The stakes answer the questions: What do the characters stand to gain or lose? What are they fighting for, and why does it matter?
The stakes are the consequences of failure or success in the characters' quest. They create a sense of consequence, making the audience care about the outcomes of the characters' actions and decisions.
Types of Stakes
Personal Stakes: These involve the inner world of the character, such as emotions, relationships, or personal growth. For example, a character might risk their happiness or love for another.
Professional Stakes: These are related to the character's career or mission, such as losing their job, failing a mission, or achieving a lifelong goal.
Global Stakes: These encompass larger societal, worldly, or universal risks, such as preventing a war, stopping a pandemic, or saving humanity from an existential threat.
There are MANY more kinds of stakes than these - but these are a great place to start. Think - what are you gambling with? What’s meaningful to your characters?
How to Set Stakes Effectively
Make It Personal: The best stakes are those that deeply affect your characters on a meaningful personal level. Even in stories with global stakes, what makes the narrative compelling is how these larger issues impact the characters personally. Its much easier to relate to another individual rather than to a large group. Ensure that whatever is at stake is profoundly important to your characters.
Be Clear and Specific: Vague stakes don't create tension because the audience isn't sure what's being risked. Be clear about what's at stake—whether it's the character's life, the fate of their relationship, or the survival of their community. It’s not uncommon to hear this directly stated in dialogue.
Raise the Stakes: As your story progresses, increase the stakes to maintain tension. We get used to certain amounts of tension over time and periodically need to raise the tension in order to feel something again. This could mean adding complications that make the character's goals harder to achieve or introducing new risks that heighten the sense of danger/ failure/etc.
Show the Consequences: Let your audience know what could happen if the stakes are not met. This can be through dialogue, a character's internal monologue, or showing the consequences in action. GET CLEAR ON THIS. It’s not necessarily just about how dire the consequences are, it’s the personal meaning of the consequences.
Connect Stakes to Motivations: The stakes should be directly tied to your characters' motivations. If a character is fighting to save their home from being destroyed, show why the home is invaluable to them— like the opening sequence in UP where the home is a cherished link to Carl’s past or and a reminder of the rich life he had with his wife.
Setting the stakes in your story not only provides motivation for your characters but also creates a compelling hook for your audience.
It gives your story value and ensures that your readers or viewers emotionally invest in the journey from start to finish. No matter what kind of story you’re telling, remember the heart of it lies in what your characters stand to lose or gain—and the lengths they'll go to protect what matters most.
