Stack the Stakes. The Technique Behind Unputdownable Books
Let the White-Knuckling begin
We’ve been talking about unputdownable ideas (read:stakes) for weeks now. Threaten the character’s reputation, check. Put them in mortal danger, check. Make them homeless if it all falls apart, check. But what if you stacked them together and really made the shit hit the fan?
Want to learn about the 11 narrative stakes, and get extra recommendations for the books that absolutely nail it? We recently led a workshop on just that subject, and it’s available (along with a template and 40+ book and short story comps) as video on demand right here, right now.
The stakes are what makes a book unputdownable. They take a story from just OK to holy shit, I stayed up until 4am reading. When you stack stakes on top of each other, the struggle starts to feel insurmountable. Impossible. As if there’s no way this character can win. So when they do, it’s delicious. And when they don’t, we’re still satisfied because we understand intimately what it’s cost them.
There are two ways to go about this.
Even when you win, you lose
Let’s head back to my favorite guilty pleasure show, Bridgerton, and my favorite season so far, 4. Now, if you haven’t seen season 4, I’m going to spoil it. But also, if you haven’t seen season 4, what the hell are you doing with your life? Moving on! I know this isn’t a book, it’s a show based on a series of books, but this storytelling principle still applies. And the odds of you having watched the show are infinitely greater, so…. onward.
Benedict Bridgerton, our favorite free spirit, bohemian artist, bisexual, hunky brother has finally fallen in love. For real. Who’d have guessed it? Well, none of us, but here we are and he’s in LOVE love with a maid named Sophie.
Only he can’t be in love with a maid because he’s a nobleman, and society’s rules say no, no, no. Think of the scandal! This union could impact his younger sisters’ marriage prospects, and jeopardize the entire family’s standing, and yet. Did I mention he’s down bad for this girl? And honestly, she’s the freaking best.
Reputation stakes are at play for both characters, and this is where we see Benedict caught between a rock and hard spot. So he does the only thing he thinks he can do in his position. The only thing polite society will allow him to do. He asks her to be his mistress.
Duuuuude. - Me.
Obviously, she refuses him. No one wants to be kept a secret, as his friend Will clearly explains to him, but now what? He’s the internet’s favorite Bridgerton brother, and he’s on the edge of getting everything we could ever want for him, but he can’t have it unless….
He marries her anyway, society be damned! And he starts planning to do so. This isn’t the best situation, but they’ll be together. They’ll live at his country estate and he’ll travel back and forth to London to see the fam. Or so he thinks. But of course it can’t be tied up that neatly.
If he chooses love and marries Sophie, they’ll be exiled from the city and society will punish the family if they think they’re still close. The ask is enormous, and what will that mean for their future, and future children? Now the stakes of that decision stretch into later generations. Oy!
Of course, it all worked out in the end and they get their happily ever after, but for 7 episodes, we were sweating bullets trying to figure out how the hell it would. And if it didn’t work out, we would’ve been gutted but we also would’ve understood the impossible nature of their circumstances.
Stacking stakes like this works because even when the character gets what they want, marriage to the love of his life in this case, the cost is still astronomical. The damned if you do, damned if you don’t conundrum. Forcing a character into a seeming no-win situation, makes the reader grip the page. Or in this case, binge the season.
When the first loss is really just the first domino to fall
Back to Bridgerton because we’re on a roll, and we’ll stick with Season 4. Now, the reason our dear Sophie has outright refused Benedict’s offer to be his mistress is because her mother was her father’s mistress. She’s an illegitimate child, herself, and is living the consequences of that every day.
If she says yes, she’ll lose her reputation as a maid, where she’s respected and can at least make her own way. Even though she loves him, she can’t say yes because saying yes means the first domino would fall. She’d lose her reputation, her chance at a livelihood, her financial security, and on and on. And if there are children in the mix?
She knows what it’s like to be that child and to serve the people who live in your own house. AKA the Earl’s new terrible wife and godawful stepmother. There’s no way she’d put a child through that, or struggle to provide for them should the mistress arrangement fall apart. But hot damn, she loves him. And even after a steamy romp, she still has to say no.
Only now she knows exactly what she’s losing by doing so. Stacking stakes like dominos works when one character would benefit enormously if everything worked out, and they desperately want it to. Or when they’ve gotten a hint that it might, or a taste of what it could be like if it did. Those are painful stakes to navigate for our character and tension inducing for the reader.
I’m happy Sophie got the fairytale ending, but if she had to forsake Benedict forever, I would’ve totally understood why. Then the ending is satisfying in a heartbreaking way.
So. look at the costs associated with winning and see how you can stack the stakes in your story to make it agonizingly delicious for your readers.
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