I worked on three middle school productions of Annie with my mother. During the last one, my mom bemoaned the challenge of getting the kid who played Annie to show affection for the kid who played Daddy Warbucks…who I think might have actually been my younger brother? Or maybe he played Rooster. The details of the three productions blur…I’m sure Mom can set us right in the comments.
ANYWAY. The point is that during this conversation, Mom observed that most stories are love stories. Part of what makes Annie a great choice for awkward middle schoolers is that the love story at the heart of the play is about a father and daughter, rather than about romantic love.
I think Mom is right about that. Most stories are love stories, and the ones that aren’t still prominently feature a relationship between the protagonist and another character.
Plot is what happens. Story is how the plot affects your main character.
Although stories usually center the way one major character changes, what gives the story heart and emotional resonance is that hero’s relationships to other characters. Creating strong emotional attachments between your hero and other characters can do so much for your story.
It creates backstory for why your character has their misbelief.
It creates plot adhesive explaining why your character can’t walk away from the plot.
It creates internal and external stakes with high emotional intensity.
Heartstopper – both the graphic novel and the Netflix show – is an example of a story where nothing earth shattering happens. There’s no explosions. No dictators threaten to take over the world or take away anyone’s freedom. But the emotional stakes are high because Alice Oseman has clearly linked each heroes’ internal well-being to their relationships with other characters, which in turn, creates the plot. Although Heartstopper has several main characters, I personally find the journey of Nick Nelson to be the most compelling, but I’m probably bi-ased. (Get it? Cuz we’re both bi.)
Spoilers for Heartstopper follow.
The Stakes Should Feel World-Ending to the Character
Nick’s story begins when he meets Charlie – because Charlie turns Nick’s world upside down. Nick is an affable, good-looking, sporty, semi-popular teenager. Charlie isn’t unpopular, but he’s one of the only out gay kids at their all-boys school, where he has been ostracized for his sexual orientation. Nick isn’t status obsessed, but when the story starts, he’s definitely a go-with-the-flow, don’t-rock-the-boat kind of guy. Belonging and acceptance by his peers is clearly important to him. For him, belonging has never been that hard. He naturally fits in. So, if he developed a crush on a girl (what everyone expects of him) there wouldn’t be much of a story.
But, he catches feelings for Charlie instead…
Pit Two Competing Desires Against Each Other to Create Tension
When Nick realizes he likes Charlie, his world feels like it’s ending. Not only does this disrupt his internal sense of self, but also threatens his ability to just blend in. But what makes this conflict even more compelling is that it pits two of Nick’s deep-seated needs against each other.
1. His need to find acceptance and belonging.
2. His need to be true to himself.
He needs both of these things, but throughout the story, Nick feels like each of these needs threatens the other one. Being bisexual feels like a threat to acceptance and belonging, but hiding his bisexuality won’t allow him to be true to himself, especially when he’s falling in love with Charlie.
Bring in the Relationships to Up the Ante
These stakes are concretized through Nick’s emotional connections to other people in the story. The relationships give him adhesive to the internal (and external) conflicts because they make it so he can’t walk away.
He can’t walk away from his “full on gay crisis” because he wants to be with Charlie.
Once he and Charlie start dating, he can’t just stay in the closet because he cares about Charlie and wants to be open about their relationship.
But it’s also not so simple for him to come out because it will change how his friends, his brother, and his distant father think of him.
Each Stage of the Plot Tests Nick’s Internal Obstacle
Nick Nelson is oh-so-very English. He doesn’t want to make a fuss. He doesn’t want to rock the boat. Each stage of the plot will test Nick on his desire to Keep Calm and Carry On. Each step of the way, what Nick stands most to lose is Charlie. In addition to being a fully realized character with his own arc, Charlie represents Nick being true to himself. The somewhat abstract plot question of will Nick Nelson go with the flow or will he be true to himself? Is concretized through his deep emotional attachment to Charlie that also creates the external plot stakes.
Will Nick accept that he has feelings for Charlie?
Will Nick accept that his feelings for Charlie indicate he is bisexual?
Will Nick pursue a relationship with Charlie?
Will Nick come out and make his relationship with Charlie public?
Will Nick speak up when he realizes Charlie has an eating disorder?
As a note, even higher stakes the sky-is-literally-falling stories need deep emotional connections between characters in order for the high stakes to matter. Take The Hunger Games for instance. Katniss is driven every step of the way by her love for her sister Prim. Prim is Katniss’s specific reason for being in the Hunger Games, for winning, and for everything that comes after. Without Prim, there is no story.
So, really, the most compelling question in developing your stakes isn’t what matters to your hero, but whom?
Exercise: Who matters to your hero?
If you’re working on developing stakes (internal or external), feel that the tension in your story is a little flat, or just think you’re missing a certain je ne sais quoi, do some journaling around these questions:
Who is the most important person in the world to the hero and why?
Who really pushes their buttons and why?
Who do they want to impress and why?
Who do they want to avoid disappointing/ who do they want to be proud of them? Why?
Who are they mad at? Why?
Want to turn these emotional connections into a page-turning plot?
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