February Writing Tips

For the month of February, we invited Gina Kammer, book coach and editor at The Inky Bookwyrm, to share some writing advice on our Thursday Writing Tips series. 

Here’s a quick run down of what she suggests:

1) Clarity before mystery

Readers can’t appreciate beautiful prose, big ideas, twists, suspense, or cool world building if they don’t first understand who the story is about, what they want, and why they care in the moment. So let your readers understand how to care by showing how your character cares. Readers should know—roughly, at least—everything your point-of-view character knows.

2) Story problems are usually foundational and structural, not line-level.

When a story isn’t working, the fix is rarely better sentences. It’s almost always about misaligned goals, or character desires that aren’t put in conflict with fears and the antagonistic force … unclear stakes, weak turning points, or a character arc that isn’t driving decisions. Understanding solid story structure keeps them stuck working on the wrong things.

3) Character decisions create plot—and plot depends on the character arc.

Story momentum is really just character decisions made under pressure. And writers can create that juicy, unputdownable tension when they know the deep, core things motivating their characters and have a plot tailored to challenge a protagonist’s often misguided or corrupted motivation, forcing them to face the reality and consequences of their decisions. In this way, a plot isn’t just a list of semi-related events. It becomes inextricable from the character arc and vice versa!

4) Confidence comes from process and learning craft, not talent or perfection.

Most writers tell me they want to be able to publish something they can be proud of. They want to have confidence in their work. That confidence is built through knowledge and a trusted process. When writers don’t yet know what “good” looks like for themselves or how to get there (it’s really not something we were taught in school!), their brains fill that gap with anxiety, and writer’s block or self-doubt takes over. As they grow their knowledge of story craft, genre expectations, and develop a process, fear and anxiety is more manageable. Then they’ll be able to better identify what isn’t working and understand the next step in the process they can take to keep moving forward.

For further tips on how to “enchant your readers” check out Gina’s YouTube channel: @ginakammer or visit her at The Inky Bookwrym.