Craft Glossary · term

Stakes

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Plain English: What the POV character stands to lose. Stakes can be external (death, the artifact), internal (self-worth, a belief), and relational (a bond). Strong stakes are specific and personal, escalate, and are felt before they're stated.

Rule: The reader must know what's at risk and care before the risk pays off. Raise stakes across the midpoint. Tie the external stakes to an internal need so the plot and the character arc resolve in the same blow.

Fail: "Save the world" abstraction with no personal cost; or stakes asserted ("everything depended on it") but never dramatized. Also stakes that don't escalate — the saggy middle again.

Arjuna Badger Press · Craft Library

Glossary · Doctrine · Anti-patterns · Triptych form · LLM tells

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