When the fantasy universe he wakes up in turns out to be an hallucination while he’s in a coma, a detached schoolboy must defeat the world’s evil king to regain consciousness; or pass on to the afterlife if he fails.

nicholasandrewhalls

1] Because then there is even more at stake. And the audience has even more reason to root for the MC. Ultimately, a hero is someone who is never fighting just to save his own skin. He is fighting for a cause greater than himself, a principle more important than mere survival.

2] And that cause, that principle needs a face, a stakes character.

3] It's a plus factor that enhances the character, makes her not just a hero, but an extraordinary, a noble hero. What makes Ms.Everdeen more than an ordinary hero? She's far from the first woman to survive the Hunger Games. She's a cut above, some one extraordinary because she volunteers in place of her sister -- the stakes character. She doesn't do so because she thinks she can win. It's an act of self-sacrifice, altruism of the highest order. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13) is not just a great spiritual principle -- it's a great dramatic principle.

4] And then there's the matter of the anima archetype in the male psyche. Which the shy young boy discovers cowering in peril in the shadows of his own psyche. (If you're into the Jungian brand of depth psychology. Which I am. The archetypes at war within his own psyche is the basis of my interest in your premise.)

5] And finally, what's your "B" story? What is there in the story to appeal to the half of human population that is female? (Granted, the logline is primarily about the "A" story, but it doesn't hurt to imply the "B" story by featuring a stakes character.)

fwiw

@dpg why does there need to be a stakes character? Why isn't his survival stakes enough?

@lewisricekrispy - yeah, it is like that. But with puppets and magic.