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In Donald Maass's book Writing the Breakout Novel, he talks about stakes. He goes over how a breakout novel needs two kinds: personal stakes - what the hero could lose - and public stakes - what th...
#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-12T17:48:59Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/19264 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T04:41:03Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/19264 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
In Donald Maass's book _Writing the Breakout Novel_, he talks about stakes. He goes over how a breakout novel needs two kinds: personal stakes - what the hero could lose - and public stakes - what the world of the novel could lose. Together, they make a powerful combination. I've found this to be true. However, not all novels lend themselves well to public stakes. A prime example is character-driven fiction. Take for example Jane Austen's _Pride and Prejudice_. The novel is about the main character's inner journey. There's nothing bad that's going to happen to the surrounding countryside if the goal of the novel doesn't work out. This brings me to my question. **Where are the public stakes in character-driven novels?** The lack of public stakes in such novels as _Pride and Prejudice_ leads me to wonder if the main character essentially _is_ the world of the novel, meaning you only need personal stakes. Once the main character becomes invested in the world, the stakes should too. I have nothing to back this up though.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2015-10-08T15:39:14Z (about 9 years ago)
Original score: 1