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Raising the stakes

dlevanchuk

dlevanchuk

Hey everyone, quick question.

Do you think main character needs to know everything that is at stakes, or can they know just some of it?
For example, in my story a girl attempts to retrieve a magic box from a thief. She wants to retrieve it because the box is a family's relic and it is really important to her. But unknowly to her, the box contains a device that could destroy the universe, which is what an antagonist really wants.

So does she need to know what is at stakes (safety of the universe) as the story goes into act 2, or can she discover the true meaning of the box by lets say a mid point, therefore raise the stakes?
 
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dlevanchuk said:
Do you think main character needs to know everything that is at stakes, or can they know just some of it?
Nope, yep.

So does she need to know what is at stakes... as the story goes into act 2, or can she discover the true meaning of the box by lets say a mid point, therefore raise the stakes?
Nope, yep.
Click to expand...
Character can easily believe they're addressing issue A only to find out they're really addressing issues XYZ!!

Any story which involves uncovering a serious but relatively small "problem" that uproots a much larger conspiracy plot follows this outline.

The Da Vinci Code - Thought he was helping solve a murder, turned out to find the heir of Jesus.
Angels & Demons - Thought he was finding four kidnapped bishops, turned out to uncover a plot against the entire Catholic faith.
Minority Report - Thought he was preventing his own incarceration, turned out the whole system was flawed and covered up.
State of Play - Thought they were investigating a pizza delivery guy's shooting, uncovered an entire corporate/government conspiracy.
Jumanji/Zathura - Thought they were playing an old board game, opened up an entire new world/experience.
 
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I think as long as the stakes still make the character desperate, they can be bigger.
What could be cool is a reveal in the middle of the script, where it's revealed to the Protagonist that the stakes are bigger than he could have possibly imagined, putting him under even more pressure than ever.
The worst thing you could do is wait till the end, and never have the protagonist know what he was really fighting for.
 
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Isn't it also true that this is the sort of thing filmmakers can intentionally play with to increase suspense? That is, you can use information given to the audience but not given to your characters as a technique or as a dramatic device.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPFsuc_M_3E
 
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