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Lesson 6

Identifying Public Stakes: Community and Societal Consequences

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Introduction

In our last lesson, we deconstructed personal stakes, defining them as the specific, tangible loss a protagonist faces, often by threatening a "bond" they hold dear. We established that the engine of tension is often the threat of loss, which we can articulate with the If...Then... structure. For example: "If John McClane fails, then his wife will be killed."

Today, we will build directly on that foundation by adding the next layer to our model of stakes. While personal stakes create emotional connection, great stories often expand the consequences of failure outward. Our objective is to define the public stakes by identifying consequences that extend to a community or society. We will treat this not as a vague sense of "epicness," but as a specific mechanical technique for increasing a story's scope and driving its plot.

1. Defining Public Stakes: Expanding the Radius of Consequence

Personal stakes concern the protagonist's immediate circle. Public stakes, also called external or community stakes, widen the blast radius. They answer the question: "Who else gets hurt if the protagonist fails?"

To get a precise, functional definition, let's start with a clear breakdown.

The 3 Levels of Stakes Every Great Story Needs

The article 'The 3 Levels of Stakes Every Great Story Needs' from ProWritingAid provides an excellent, concise definition of public stakes and their function.

Read the section titled 'Level 1: Public Stakes,' including its brief introduction and the superhero example. Focus on how it defines public stakes as consequences that are 'externally visible' and 'affect the most people.'

As the article states, public stakes are the direct consequences of failure that impact a larger group: a team, a town, a nation, or even the world.

Now, let's hear this concept explained with a few classic examples that illustrate the varying scale of "public."

How to Raise Your Story's STAKES (Fiction Writing Advice)

In this clip from 'How to Raise Your Story's STAKES,' writer Brandon McNulty offers a clear definition of 'community stakes' and shows how their scope can range from a family to a galaxy.

Watch the section from 01:54 to 02:43. Pay attention to the examples used to define the scale of community stakes, from the hostages in Die Hard to the potential shattering of public faith.

The key takeaway is that "public" is a scalable concept. It can mean:

  • A small group: The other hostages in the Nakatomi Plaza (Die Hard).
  • A community: The town of Amity Island, which will face economic ruin and death if the shark isn't stopped (Jaws).
  • A nation or society: The districts that will remain oppressed if the revolution fails (The Hunger Games).
  • The world/galaxy: The universe that will be destroyed if the heroes don't defeat the cosmic villain.

2. The Core Mechanic: Broadening the Conflict

You appreciate a systematic approach, so let's define the specific action you take as a writer to create public stakes. The mechanism is broadening the conflict. In our previous lesson, we created personal stakes by threatening something the protagonist loves. We create public stakes by showing how that same threat, or the protagonist's failure to stop it, will spill over and harm a wider group.

This article gives a technical name to this exact process.

How to Write and Raise the Stakes More Effectively

The article 'How to Write and Raise the Stakes More Effectively' explains how to make stakes significant through two primary methods. We will focus on the first.

Read the section under the heading 'Making Stakes Significant (in the Narrative Arc & in Scenes).' Focus on the bullet point that defines how to 'broaden the conflict' and the examples given for Moana and the character George. Notice how a personal problem is systematically escalated to affect more people.

This "broadening" technique is a repeatable process. You start with a core conflict and trace its ripple effects outward.

  1. Initial State: George has yellow teeth (Insignificant stake).
  2. Deepen (Personal): He can't get his dream job (Personal stake).
  3. Broaden (Public): He can't support his wife and five kids (Public stake - affects the "community" of his family).

The failure of one character now has consequences for an entire social unit. The same If...Then... structure we used for personal stakes works perfectly here:

  • If Moana doesn't return the Heart of Te Fiti, then her home will be destroyed and her people will be lost.
  • If Chief Brody doesn't kill the shark, then the people of Amity Island will continue to be attacked and the town's economy will collapse.

3. Stacking Stakes for Maximum Impact

Public stakes rarely exist in a vacuum. Their greatest power comes from being stacked with the personal stakes we've already discussed. The combination forces the protagonist to fight for something more than just themselves, while keeping the emotional core intact. The public stakes provide the plot's scale, while the personal stakes provide its heart.

The ProWritingAid article you read earlier makes this point well: Public stakes drive plot. They give the story a large-scale goal that is easy for an audience to track.

Let's look at a classic example of stacking.

How to Nail Conflict & Stakes in Your Novel

Returning to 'The Hunger Games,' this clip from Alexa Donne's 'How to Nail Conflict & Stakes in Your Novel' clearly separates the personal and public layers of stakes in that story.

Watch the clip from 12:42 to 13:31. Identify the two distinct layers of stakes mentioned for Katniss.

As the video outlines for The Hunger Games:

  • Personal Stake: If Katniss fails, she will die and has failed to save her sister.
  • Public Stake: If Katniss succeeds, she could spark a revolution that saves everyone in the districts.

The public stake (revolution) gives the plot its epic scope, but the story's emotional power is anchored in the personal stake (protecting Prim).

Test your understanding!

Let's apply this stacking model to the film Jaws.

  1. What is Police Chief Brody's primary personal stake? (Hint: Think about his bond to his family).
  2. What is the primary public stake for the town of Amity Island?
  3. Combine them using the If...Then... structure to show how they connect.
Show answer
  1. Personal Stake: Brody's sons are on the beach and in the water. His personal stake is their direct, physical safety. If he fails, his own children could be killed by the shark.
  2. Public Stake: The lives of other swimmers and the economic survival of the tourist-dependent town are at risk. If the shark isn't stopped, people will die and the town will go bankrupt.
  3. Combined "If...Then..." Statement: "If Chief Brody fails to stop the shark, then the people of Amity Island will lose their lives and livelihoods, and he could lose his own children." The public threat is made visceral through the specific, personal threat to his family.

4. Analyzing Public Stakes in Practice

To finalize our understanding, let's analyze how public stakes function in several well-known stories across different genres. This will demonstrate that the principle is universal, not just limited to action or fantasy.

The 3 Levels of Stakes Every Great Story Needs

The ProWritingAid article we looked at earlier also provides excellent, concise analyses of the stakes in several classic works of literature.

Return to the article and read the section 'Examples of the Three Levels of Stakes in Literature.' For each example (Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice, 1984), focus on the 'Public stakes' listed. Notice their variety.

Note the different forms these public stakes take:

  • Frankenstein: The monster's life is at risk from a fearful society. The "public" is the source of the threat.
  • Pride and Prejudice: The entire Bennet family faces bankruptcy and social ruin. The stakes are financial and social, not life-and-death, but they are dire for that family unit.
  • 1984: The lives of everyone involved in the rebellion are at risk. The failure of one person has fatal consequences for the entire group.

This shows that public stakes are context-dependent. The potential bankruptcy of a family is just as powerful a public stake in a Jane Austen novel as the threat of a super-villain is in a comic book movie.

Conclusion

Today we expanded our model of story mechanics by adding public stakes. We've moved from the protagonist's inner circle to the wider community, broadening the consequences of failure and, in turn, the scope of the plot itself.

Key Takeaways:

  • Definition: Public stakes are the consequences of a protagonist's failure that extend to a larger group, such as a community, society, or even the world.
  • The Mechanic: You create public stakes by broadening the conflict, tracing the ripple effects of the core problem outward to affect more people.
  • Function: Public stakes are highly effective at driving the plot and giving the story a large-scale, easily trackable goal.
  • Stacking: The most powerful narratives stack public stakes on top of personal stakes. This creates a story that is both epic in scope and emotionally resonant.

Preview of the Next Lesson:
We have now examined the external consequences of failure—both personal (affecting loved ones) and public (affecting society). But some stakes are entirely internal. In our next lesson, we will complete our three-level model by learning to define the existential stakes by identifying the threat to the protagonist's core identity or worldview. This will take us from what the character could lose in the world to what they could lose within themselves.