Making Plot Events Matter to Your Main Characters: Why Stakes Should Be Personal

A well-constructed story isn’t just a sequence of events—it’s a journey where plot developments deeply impact the main characters. While secondary characters help shape the narrative, it’s the protagonist’s struggles, choices, and consequences that create emotional resonance. If the stakes aren’t personal, why should the protagonist care? And if the protagonist doesn’t care, why should the reader? (Spoiler: They won’t.)

Why Main Characters Should Feel the Full Weight of the Plot

When major story events happen primarily to side characters, the protagonist risks feeling passive. A reactive main character—one who simply watches things unfold—can lead to weak storytelling. Imagine Dune if Paul Atreides just stood on the sidelines while the Fremen handled everything. Sure, the spice must flow, but not without him.

Here’s why keeping stakes personal enhances engagement:

• Emotional Connection: Readers are invested in the protagonist. If a disaster, conflict, or revelation primarily affects someone else, it creates emotional distance.
• Character Growth & Change: A strong story arc forces the protagonist to evolve. If the plot primarily impacts side characters, the protagonist misses key opportunities for transformation.
• Maintaining Narrative Focus: A story should center on the main character’s journey. If the primary tension constantly shifts to side characters' struggles, the protagonist can start to feel secondary in their own story.

Example: The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

Essun doesn’t just experience personal stakes—she is drowning in them. Her home is obliterated, her son is dead, and the entire planet is actively trying to kill her. The world-ending chaos isn’t an abstract apocalypse; it’s her apocalypse. A lesser protagonist might have given up, but Essun makes every choice count, forging ahead in a world literally crumbling beneath her.

Common Pitfalls That Make Side Characters Carry Too Much Weight

• Secondary Characters Solving Problems: If the protagonist is consistently bailed out by supporting characters rather than resolving their own conflicts, it weakens their agency. (Protagonists aren’t meant to be passengers in their own books.)
• Major Events Happening Around the Protagonist, Not To Them: If a war begins, a secret is revealed, or a major loss occurs—but the protagonist is only tangentially involved—the emotional stakes feel diluted.
• Overloading Secondary Characters with More Drama Than the Protagonist: If side characters consistently have bigger, more compelling problems than the main character, it can divert attention from the story’s true focal point.

Example: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Vin begins her story navigating betrayal and survival on a daily basis—so when she steps into a world of magic and rebellion, the stakes feel real. She’s not just toppling a system; she’s learning to trust, finding her own identity, and facing choices that will shape her fate. And when things go sideways (because of course they do), she does not sit back and let the side characters handle it. She becomes the linchpin.

How to Make Plot Events Directly Impact the Protagonist

• Tie Events to the Protagonist’s Emotional Arc: Whatever happens in the story should challenge their beliefs, relationships, or goals.
• Ensure the Protagonist Makes Choices That Drive the Story: Rather than being swept along by external events, they should make decisions that shape the narrative.
• Let the Protagonist Struggle, Win, and Lose: If consequences fall primarily on side characters, the stakes may not feel real. Let the protagonist feel the weight of their decisions.

Example: Dune by Frank Herbert

Paul Atreides doesn’t get a free pass to leadership; he earns it through pain, loss, and existential dread. Every choice he makes—from fleeing Arrakis to embracing his role in Fremen society—comes with consequences that ripple through the narrative. The universe isn’t simply unfolding around him. It’s pressing against him, demanding action. And like any great protagonist, he steps up, takes the blows, and reshapes fate itself.

Final Thoughts

Your protagonist isn’t just there to witness the plot—they’re there to shape it, be changed by it, and wrestle with its consequences. If the story could happen with a different main character and feel the same, the stakes aren’t personal enough. Give your protagonist choices that matter, conflicts they can’t escape, and consequences that cut deep—because that’s what makes a story unforgettable.