• How to spot “low-stakes” writing that bores readers and replace it with tension with what matters.  
• The three layers of stakes — personal, relational, and external — and how to weave them together.
• Simple strategies for raising the cost of failure without melodrama.
• How to escalate stakes scene by scene so momentum never sags.
• A practical way to self-check stakes in your own work.

Each week, you’ll apply a new strategy to a scene from your work-in-progress. Step by step, you’ll:

• Identify what’s really at risk in your scene.
• Layer in the three different kinds of stakes for depth.
• Revise beat by beat to raise the cost of failure.
• Submit a polished before/after scene for instructor feedback.

Week One: What’s at Stake? Naming Consequence

Week Two: Layers of Stakes

Week Three: Raising the Stakes — Escalation

Week Four: The Stakes Checklist

Week Five: Stakes That Stick — Final Revision

You’ll have a fully revised scene that proves why it belongs in your story and what it costs your characters. Even more importantly, you’ll have a repeatable system for making sure every scene you write carries real weight and keeps readers hooked.