Public Stakes

Raising the stakes for a protagonist is what keeps conflict in the story.

I have had a problem trying to figure out what public stakes are when my protagonist is not going to save the world or stop some horrible interference from a villain that will change the world of my characters. It isn't SF or Fantasy, or some serial killer on the loose. So what would be the public stakes in my novel?

I believe it is family. My character has lived with her mother for 14 years. She knows no other life, and now her mother is going to move her closer to her grandparents. Grandparents she has never met and don't even know she exists. Family is something everyone cares about, whether yours is dysfunctional or not. With this move, she, my protag, will lose everything familiar and meaningful to her. Her life, her best friend and being the only one in her mother's life. 

I need to make this family thing so important to her that it is important to everyone. (at least the readers)

She is worried that her grandparents won't like her, that they live differently, that her mother won't only belong to her. These are her personal stakes, I think. Okay so I am going to make them personal.

I think what I am trying to tell myself is that my reader needs to care about the "stakes". Even in a save the world story, the stakes must be personal to the character. The character has to care enough so that I, we, the reader cares what happens.

Donald Maass has a chapter on stakes in his book Writing the Breakout Novel. I read it again.

The writer must ask the question, "So what? Why should anyone care?" The reason anyone cares is we care about the protagonist.  We must make her sympathetic. She has to be someone people like.

That's it. Family is universal, no matter what kind of family you have. People will identify with family, with the struggles and the love-hate relationship in the circle.

What's the public stakes in your novel?

What Makes a Page Turner

I read Centennial by James Michener way back in the day. It began with the forming of the west, from the glaciers! At the time I had little kids. I didn’t have time to read about how the west was formed, I wanted the story, the people. I do remember scanning through the pages and finding a story of the first beavers. I stopped and read every word, but when the beavers went away, I scanned until I found where the story of the people really begins. Then I couldn’t put the book down.

 In this day and age, with the web and instant gratification, very few want to read about the land. They want a story. It’s important to research the information about the century you want to write about in your book. But I don’t want a history lesson.


In Prada and Prejudice by Amanda Hubbard, her research of 1800 England shows through in her writing. Not as history, though, as part of the story. Our protagonist, Callie, slips and falls and goes back in time to 1815. Ms. Hubbard tells of the dirt road with lots of ruts, trees, and the large house Callie finally reaches in her Prada heels. Interspersed throughout the story is what clothes are worn, the servants bring water up to the room for baths, and the town with its dress shop and dry goods store. I can visualize this small town outside of London without having to know how it got there. Will she get back to present day? Fall in love with the Duke? Will they find out she is an imposter? Will she find her confidence? Will she ever be able to walk in those damn Prada heels?

 Hook your reader with questions. Some answered quick, some not so quick.