Story Stakes · How to Use Story Stakes to Transform Readers Into Raving Fans & Keep Them Turning the Pages of Your Screenplay or Novel

Make your story a page-turner; make a living as a writer.

Wouldn’t it be great if readers stayed up all night to finish your screenplay or novel?

After such an intense emotional experience, when they’re done with your story, these readers won’t quickly forget about it and reach for another spec script or novel in their TBR pile.

Nope.

They’ll transform into raving fans who’ll tell everyone they know about your work.

That’s how you **get onto Hollywood’s radar** and eventually make the big spec sale. That’s how you get the **word-of-mouth recommendations that propel a novel to the top of the best-seller lists**.

It’s how you finally achieve your writing dreams through your creativity.

Sounds nice, right? But how do you make it happen? How do you keep readers glued to your screenplay or novel?

At first, you might use your writing skills to create a likeable hero or craft a high-concept premise. Sure, these things are important. They entice readers to give your story a chance. But they only go so far. They don’t keep readers engaged till the very end.

To accomplish this, you need something more. You need stakes.

**Because of stakes, your hero can’t walk away from his problem. As a result, readers won’t be able to walk away from your story.**

See, when stakes are in play, readers will be wondering if your hero will succeed or fail at his goal. Then, they worry about him. Then, they’re under tension.

To relieve this tension, they MUST stay up all night and finish your story—and when they have, they’ll rave about the amazing page-turner they couldn’t put down.

They’ll rave about *you*.

Master story stakes, and your screenplay or novel can eclipse the competition. This writing skills guide will show you how. Specifically, you’ll learn about:

11 Types of Story Stakes Which Increase Tension and Reader Engagement

Some of them you already know. A few will be new. At the very least, you’ll have a convenient list to check the next time you need a new reason for your hero to save the day, trick your leading lady, or chase down a suspect. Plus, we’ll cover best practices. That way, you’ll get the most mileage out of the stakes you choose to include in your story.

8 Modulating Factors Which Affect the Emotional Impact of the Stakes

Think of modulating factors like the knobs on a stereo system. They can either turn up the emotional “volume,” or…they can mute it. Oftentimes, modulating factors are **the secret to wringing out the extra drop of emotion that will give your story an advantage over others in its genre**.

The Story Stake Matrix

This is where we put everything together. It’s a tool which will show you:

how to use stakes to craft a premise with more commercial appeal **how to to raise the stakes (even when they’re already high!)** how to avoid an anticlimactic ending Let’s focus on that second benefit for a minute.

Several writing guides will tell you that to keep readers interested, you’ve got apply your creativity and raise the stakes. But, these books are frustratingly vague on how to accomplish this. This book is not vague.