So You Want to Write a Story: What’s At Stake?

Establishing what is at stake for the protagonist of your story is essential for grasping and holding a reader’s attention.

Addressing and making clear the risks your major character faces, and doing this early on in a novel engages the reader towards caring for the major character.

It also creates a point of identification wherein the reader can connect with the protagonist, even see or imagine her or himself in the protagonist’s shoes.

This kind of connection endears the reader in such a way that the story moves from being simply a journey or quest for the major character with the reader watching from a safe and detached space, but instead becomes an experience of transformation for the reader.

In many ways the novel becomes that of the reader’s story or dream.

Reading the novel takes on the qualities like that of listening to one individual share her or his dream and then you the listener are allowed to take the dream and tell it as if it is your experience.

The point wherein action climaxes and resolutions result serves as a catharsis for the reader allowing her or him to emote and undergo a shift in consciousness. Ideally she or he gains a greater understanding of life, others and ultimately her or himself.

What’s at stake in a story is what matters, not only to the major character, her or his goal(s), wishes or dreams. It is also why the reader finds it important to invest her or his time in reading the novel to see whether the protagonist will achieve her or his quest.

What was your most favorite and entertaining read from last year? Outline what was at stake for the protagonist.

What risks did she or he take in order to achieve her or his goals?