Spell for a Story Enchantment

Gina Kammer Author

Rip a page out of the Inky Bookwyrm's spellbook and learn the key ingredients for a strong story that enchants your readers.

Spell for a Story Enchantment

When I work with clients, there's a nine-step framework that we go through to create strong stories that have a meaningful impact on readers. But those nine steps are really just three sets of three. Each set is based on the same three keys to enchanting readers.

And once you understand these three keys, the whole messy process of book creation becomes much clearer. You don’t have to stay in the stuck state of “Now what?” after you’ve brainstormed your story idea, or written your draft, or wondered how to get it on the page in the first place!

Rather, like consulting the ingredients list and directions for casting an enchantment from a spellbook (or think “recipe book” if you’re more of a kitchen witch!), you can know what’s next and how to take your story through each stage of the process.

The tools and processes in my book coaching program have helped dozens of authors tell the kinds of stories readers get immersed in AND better emotionally connect readers to their stories. So how can you create such a strong connection?

To have this impact, you need to first set up the right promises for readers so they — and you — know where your story is going. That gets them reading, at least.

But to entertain readers, you need to know how to make those readers care — and that means you need to know why YOU care.

And finally, you have to give readers a deep, vicarious experience in which you're playing out your story's meaningful core. You play it out through the characters on the page where it can impact readers just as if these things were really happening to them — our brains don't really know the difference! They light up in the same ways as when we experience our own memories.

Learn more about these keys and the steps of the framework by ripping out a page from the Inky Bookwyrm’s spellbook! Sign up for a free student account in the Inky Bookwyrm Conservatory HERE.

Already signed up for the Conservatory? Find the Spell for a Story Enchantment HERE.

The 3 kEys to Reader Enchantment

These three things are describing what I call the 3 kEys to Reader Enchantment. The odd capitalization is a corny mnemonic to help us remember them. They all start with the letter E:

• Expectations

• Enlightenment

• Experience

These three keys are essential in everything from the planning stage…to drafting…to the revision stage. Each stage requires all three kEys.

It’s easiest to think about them in terms of unlocking each of these three things for the reader. And you want to learn how to enchant readers with your stories, right? So that may seem like the ultimate goal. And it’s definitely important.

But when I coach through this framework with clients — times three! — going through all three at each of the three main stages of creating a book, I’m also thinking about the author and her expectations and purpose and process. And also the story’s potential and meaning and effectiveness. The three keys, respectively, in each instance.

While there is method to the madness, it’s still layered and overlapping and iterative. But by understanding the aspects of author, story, reader, and also the different stages of the process each from the foundation of these three keys, it’s so much easier to cast your story spell effectively and with confidence.

And that, in a nutshell, is my nine-step framework. So let me further define each of these keys as they apply to each of these components and stages.

Download the Spell for a Story Enchantment so you can see these kEys in action in the framework! Sign up for a free student account in the Inky Bookwyrm Conservatory HERE.

When you’re logged in, find the Spell for a Story Enchantment HERE.

The First kEy

The key of Expectations unlocks the promise of potential. This key is all about setting up and fulfilling the right promises for you and your readers. Do your market research and make your promises with intention. A solid plot, the right genre components, tropes, age category, types of characters, all factor into fulfilling reader expectations.

This is the category of masterful craft, which helps to create entertainment and excitement. Pacing and structure can aid significantly in delivering all these things. Readers often understand things like structure on a more subconscious level, yet they’ll sense when regular turning points are being missed. They want a sense of progress yet something familiar to grasp so they have a solid footing before you pleasantly surprise them with twists and upended tropes!

The Second kEy

The key of Enlightenment unlocks knowledge for readers and allows them to learn from the story vicariously. It's one of the subconscious reasons readers get invested in stories. They want to learn how a character overcomes the tough stuff to help themselves know how — or hope that — they can too.

Primarily, the theme of the story (and sub-themes), which conveys some truth the author wants to get across, helps to deliver the knowledge piece that readers seek from stories. I'd also say that the author's reason for writing the story (what I call the “ley line”) usually has roots in the theme — whether the author realizes it or not! And those things culminate in the (non-preachy) lesson(s) readers get out of the story.

The Third kEy

The key of Experience, lastly, is the greater category of the one thing I hear most readers (possibly because of my speculative genres specialization) express that they want from a book — escape. But escape covers more than they realize, I think. Therefore, experience is perhaps a better term for it because this third reason unlocks portals to worlds AND emotions.

It's conveyed through the worldbuilding, yes, but the more important part is the character-centered experience and emotions about everything. And because readers (should) experience stories vicariously, they share in the emotions of the characters — catharsis, in the Poetics sense.

So, yeah. We read because we want to feel something else or explore somewhere else, distracting ourselves from sometimes less-desirable realities in a fallen world.

This key is best fulfilled through the character transformation arc and all the ways the world of the story affects that arc. It's also the key of the vicarious reader experience through the connection to a character.

And that connection comes from an understanding of the character, which means the motivation and drive of the character should be present and clear enough for readers to grasp. Basically, I'm getting at effective character and arc development.

Once you have these 3 kEys in place, you’ll have a way to formulate, draft, and assess your whole story for a powerful transformation arc. In addition, you won’t have to make so many unclear decisions for your story. How should it open? Which points of view do you use? Would it be better to take this scene out or leave it? You’ll have a lodestone, if you will, by which you can test your options and make the best possible decision for your story.

So if you’re not already a word wizard in the Inky Bookwyrm Conservatory, create a FREE student account to download a roadmap to see each major point of this system. Plus, you’ll have private access to writing resources and more downloads once you’re logged in.

Already honing your craft at the Conservatory? Welcome back! Download the Spell for a Story Enchantment.

Categories: : editing, manuscript stages, novel drafting, novel planning, writer mindset