I live a pretty mundane life. My normal day includes sitting in front of my laptop, writing or illustrating, going to work, playing with my rabbit, maybe trying to cook a new vegan recipe or two.
Raising the stakes in my own life includes picking up extra work hours, forgetting that I left on a stove burner, sticking a broom behind the entertainment center to get the rabbit out before she chews the cords, and maybe trying to fit a doctor's appointment in on my lunch break.
Exciting, right? No.
It's especially boring if this is all your characters do.
Sure we're all pretty mundane in real life, but when we read fiction, we can escape the mundane for an adventure. Whether you're writing a giant fantasy or a literary shocker, the stakes for your characters need to be higher than a broken TV cable.
I used to scoff at articles that plead with writers to raise the stakes for their novels. "Pff, I've already got a weird setting," or "Come on, this character is mentally or physically unstable," were things I'd often throw out in my defense.
But I was wrong.
My characters were DOING things, sure. But they weren't filled with enough tension or the consequences of their failures really didn't matter.
Your character can be described as unstable as you want, but if it's never shown - if nothing ever happens with that instability - does it really matter?
So, the next time you have your protagonist yelling at the boss, don't just make his dilemma whether or not he'll be fired. Make it life or death. Make it the difference between his happy marriage or a divorce. Make him feel the consequences and force him to make a decision one way or the other.
Readers will feel more engaged, they'll definitely care more, and they'll keep reading.
That's all we hope for.
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