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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/30390
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/30390
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Stakes, in a plot, as not what the character wants, but what they will have to give up to get what they want. Love is a desire. But gaining the one you love may require giving up your pride or your prejudice. Is you character willing to do that? Those are the stakes.

So, Lassie wants to rescue Timmy from the well. That is desire. But the only human nearby is the dog catcher who wants to put Lassie in the pound. In order to save Timmy by bringing the dog catcher, Lassie has to give up her freedom and end up in the pound. That's stakes.

Suddenly, a cougar appears. The dog catcher runs away. Does Lassie stay and defend Timmy from the cougar, who will probably kill her, or does she run away and save her own life.

That's raising the stakes. The desire is the same, but the thing you have to give up, or put at risk, to achieve your desire is higher. That's stakes, just as the money you bet in a poker game is stakes -- the thing you risk to attain the desired reward.

Raising the stakes, therefore, simply means making the attainment of the character's desire require a larger risk or a larger sacrifice on their part.

Original score: 12