Introduction

I’ve gotten another short story acceptance since last time, and I still can’t tell you where! It’s gonna be a great few months is all I’m saying.

Stick around for today’s writing topic, which could be fun for readers too, who knows, I don’t make the rules. There are people who have said more eloquent things on these subjects and I can’t find where I saved any of them, so for today, you’ll have me.

Stakes vs Agency

These are probably the most important concepts you’ll learn in western literature, if pitch contests, query letters, and synopses are anything to judge by.

Heighten the stakes! Raise the stakes! Your character doesn’t have enough agency! They’re not driving the plot with their every decision!

At the end of the day, it can make you feel like staking yourself Buffy the Vampire Slayer style because there are some major whatabouts.

Marginalized characters

Agency becomes a problem when you’re in a white, cis, man’s world and you’re not a white, cis, man. Truly marginalized characters, for example, may have very few obvious avenues for agency. They may be so marginalized as to be enslaved physically, or they may be enslaved metaphorically by their circumstances.

That doesn’t mean marginalized characters don’t have agency. It just means that, often, a lot of stuff happens to them and it can make them look very passive. And readers, we are told, don’t like passive characters.

Nontraditional narratives

Agency also flies by the wayside when we’re not looking at the standard Western Hero’s Journey or its ilk. I’m less familiar with Nonwestern narratives so I’ll link you to a great article on a bunch. But in many of these meandering structures, it’s the same problem.

Things are happening to the character, and they look passive.

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So what do you do?

I have three main ideas for how to tackle this “problem,” if indeed it is a problem that you have identified as something you personally want to change.

Raise the Stakes

Remember when I said stakes are more important than agency? I believe this. I care about a character hanging from a burning building even if she didn’t get herself into that predicament because, hey, she’s hanging from a burning building! If we care about the character’s goal and what they will lose if they don’t obtain the goal, we’re more likely to stick along for a passive ride.

Respect the choices

Remember that not all choices have to be huge ones. Maybe the only choice that lady made was going into work that day and sitting by the office chair so she could daydream out the window. That’s characterization, it connects us to her, and now she’s hanging out the window burning and we care again.

Go cozy

There is a whole sub-genre of other genres focused on low-stakes decisions made by people who make relatively mundane, every day choices, and people eat them up. Study them. Figure out what makes them tick. See if it’s something you can incorporate into your stories.

Conclusion

As with everything, your mileage may vary. This is just me rambling at 3:30 in the morning and by golly it may no longer make sense in five hours. That is to say, in a kitschy way, writing advice is variable and none of it’s 100% useful for any one person. Use what sticks and move on.

If you enjoy my stuff, throw me a ko-fi or buy a $10 query critique!