Raise the Stakes

I hate conflict. While growing up with three siblings, I tried to be the peacemaker in our home. Likewise when I went to college and my friends had fallings out: I always looked for face-saving, conciliatory solutions. Not a bad thing for a Christian, but problematic when I’m writing a novel. Because I hate conflict, I'm tempted to give my characters pleasant surroundings and problems that are easy to solve or, better yet, can be avoided altogether. Here’s an example:

Cherise is a 32-year-old secretary at a middle school who feels she may be wasting her life. Her parents had high expectations for her and encouraged her to train to be a professional; now they are elderly and they often expressed their disappointment. After attending several school board meetings, she begins to think she might get more involved in civic affairs. She could write letters to the editor of her local paper about school issues, gain a reputation as an activist, and eventually run for a seat on the school board. But when her first letter is published, her principal says it’s a conflict of interest and she has to stop or she will lose her job.

OK, stifle your yawn. The principal may call it a "conflict," but it would be an easy conflict to resolve or avoid, and no reader would stay with the story to its whimpering end. So how can I raise the stakes for Cherise?

I could change her circumstances. Suppose one of her parents has died and the other is nearing death. If Cherise doesn’t change the trajectory of her life—and soon--both of them will die disappointed. Hmm.

Suppose Cherise is a single mother with a high-school sophomore daughter who ignores her studies. When Cherise tries to prod her, she says, “What’s the point? Why would I want to end up like you?” Ouch.

Here’s my wife’s solution: Cherise gets a bomb threat at school and police find a real bomb in her office. In a subsequent phone call, the bomber says Cherise is his intended victim. Now the stakes are life or death. (Perhaps Maribeth should join ACFW.)

You get the idea. If my story’s stakes are safe and low, I may be comfortable with its low level of conflict and confident that I can resolve it. But who would want to watch that?

How high are the stakes for your work in progress? How can you raise them? Make your story worth the reader’s investment of time and attention, or she won’t be your reader for long.

Joe Allison writes both fiction and nonfiction, and has been a member of the Indiana chapter of American Christian Fiction Writers since 2010. His most recent book is Hard Times (Warner Press: 2019). He lives in Anderson, IN, with his wife Maribeth.