Who cares if the world ends?

Hey!

I don't want to come across as one of those movie snobs, but I was watching a film recently and started to wonder: do I even care about the stakes? time and time again you come across some form of media, whether it be in film or writing, and you struggle to connect with it. The end rolls around and all you can think of is "meh, that was okay I guess.."

The purpose of stakes is to create weight to a story, giving the reader something to care about. It helps to create tension and an emotional connection to the narrative. Mostly this is done through either the plot or the characters involved. However, sometimes it can fall flat. I find it rather difficult to ignore it when this happens as you don't hate the book, but you don't love it either.

🗺️The 'infamous' world-ending conundrum

You've probably seen it before - you get to the final act of the movie and the world is going to end. The heroes have to do whatever they can to stop that from happening. There is a reason why this is used so many times, but sometimes people don't understand the proper way it works.

The simple answer people suggest is that "the world is ending, the same one you live in." This doesn't work, however. I feel that I know that the world in the book is not the same as my own.

What the world-ending really means is that the characters who I am invested in and emotionally attached may die. Taking this one step further, by having relationships with other characters in the novel, we can start to see the pain the protagonist is going through with the thought of losing them. Brutally, I couldn't care less about the world ending, but I care about the character's world ending.

🤔What stakes matter?

As mentioned previously, the stakes are meant to create a weight that builds tension and an end goal for the piece of media. Not only do they invest the reader in the narrative, but they signal where in fact it may be headed.

But it is the character's link to these stakes that make it so gripping. I myself am a massive fantasy nerd, so take Lord of the Rings for example. As much as Middle Earth is a brilliant world, I don't care about its ending purely because of the setting. I want the ring to be destroyed to stop the trauma it has brought Frodo and Sam. I want the ring to be destroyed so that those characters I have connected with can be free.

❓Different stakes that work

It doesn't always have to be that the world is ending. Find what matters to your character, build a relationship between them and that thing, and then find a way to get as close as you can to ripping it from them.

A great way to do this is to look at character development. If you have an unlikable character that has slowly grown to understand themselves and be a better person, then maybe having their memory stolen is a way to create emotional weight. The same can be done for a character who prizes their knowledge over anything.

Another example may come from monetary wealth. If a character is rich or has managed to build themselves a life over the course of the novel, have that taken away - or at least have the threat of that happening to be present.

Stakes like these, although on a smaller scale, work wonders by keeping your audience invested. To them, the world isn't enough. But the chance of a character losing all their development? That will work. That will keep them turning the next page in the hope that the worst doesn't happen.

That's all from me today,
Fin :)