three easy questions to show your e book thought into the premise of a e book
Bet you just got a great story idea. I bet you have several. But can this idea of history stand up to the length of a novel? If not, have you tried turning your story idea into a book premise?
Do you know the difference
I didn't do that in my early years as a writer. And because of this, I sat at my computer and looked forward to seeing a story or a book being born. Then I started to write and I realized, like many, that an idea is not a story.
Why?
A story idea is not Premise of a book. And only one premise can sustain a 70,000 word plus full length manuscript.
I want to share with the three of you Simple questions to help you stop confusing a story idea with a story premise so that you can design it later.
How I learned the difference between an idea and a premise
When I first came to The Write Practice in 2013, the very first assignment I received was to write a short story. I had very little experience with short stories before, but I had a lot of ideas.
The idea I had at the time was “shoulder angels for rent”.
In other words, I came up with the idea for a story where people could hire angels to lead their lives while sitting on their shoulders, but I didn't have a premise pointing to the hero of my story and his big hooks.
So my idea didn't make a story, even if it was an interesting idea.
After much back and forth, I found the things I was missing, like my protagonist and the irony in my protagonist's situation, and the idea became a premise:
A lonely widowed doctor tries to hire a shoulder angel to keep him company, but he has to interview many to find the right one.
This story became my very first real short story Wingtips that were among the winners in one of Write Practice's writing competitions.
I owe this entirely to learning how to turn a vague idea into a workable premise.
And I'd love to help you do the same with your story idea by sharing three simple questions that helped me turn my idea into a premise of a book.
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Many writers have ideas for stories, but few know how to turn that idea into a book premise that can sustain the length of a novel. These three simple questions can help you with that.
The difference between a story idea and the premise of a book
You may have heard of it Edward Morgan Forster, an English novelist, short story writer, and essayist. He was also a writer who significantly defined the difference between a story idea and a story with an engaging plot. He used this example to emphasize this:
STORY: The royal idea and then the queen died.
ACTION: The king died and then the queen died of grief.
Sometimes even seasoned writers mistake a story idea for a book premise when they are actually very different. Just look at Foster's example. An idea is not a substitute for a premise that provides enough detail to suggest workable action.
Just look at a difference in definitions.
A story idea is a thought or suggestion for a possible story.
An idea is abstract, simple and full of possibilities. You can often express an idea in a few short words or a simple phrase, like "a lost red hat" or "a couple meets in strange circumstances" or even "a superhero with a useless superpower". Hence the king and then the queen died.
You can see the idea. You can even imagine some characters involved in the idea.
There is no indication of what is really keeping the characters off course in the idea, however. Nothing to suggest obstacles preventing the protagonist from reaching a goal – the idea has no catch. It's just a thought or a suggestion for a possible story.
Now look at the premise of a book. You could define it like this:
The premise of a book is the basic concept of a story told in three parts: a character, a goal, and the obstacle that stands in the character's way.
Unlike an idea, a premise is more specific and reads more like a brief summary of a full story.
A premise doesn't have to be long, maybe just two or three sentences, but it is enough to provide the framework for your plot. In Foster's example, telling why the queen died (out of grief) is far more important than saying that she died too.
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A premise doesn't have to be long, but it has to identify WHY your protagonist is the least unlikely hero in their story, WHAT they want, and HOW they will try to fulfill that wish.
Now you have a story, and readers will anticipate the why while also asking how their grief leads them to their own end.
Use these three simple questions to help you tell the difference between your own ideas and premises.
3 simple questions about building the premise of a book
Let's start with an idea.
I generated this idea from a random idea generator that contains a random character and character trait. (A character is at the center of most stories, after all.)
A training witch who has many controversial opinions.
Not a bad starting point. Since this is a starting point, the first thing I want to do is make it as specific as possible. "Controversial opinions" can mean many things.
What kind of witch is controversial?
How would it be with:
A training witch who doesn't like magic.
This idea is now more specific and actionable. But where is the story?
This idea in itself is just a character and a quality.
Many authors get stuck in this step and don't know how to go about it. You can play around with the idea a little, try putting it into a story, find it is going nowhere, and later give it up.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
Ask these three important questions to turn an idea into a premise:
1. Why?
The question of Why is perhaps the most important question when it comes to your main character.
Wonder why your idea is what it is? What makes the young witch dislike magic? Why is the witch? least likely Hero for the story?
Is it a physical reason (she can't do magic)? Is it an ideological reason (she thinks it's wrong to do magic)? Or is it a reason forced upon her through life experiences (a loved one was killed by magic)?
There are endless reasons why your character is who they are, but once you find that perfect reason the story will tell itself.
I chose the following reason for our story:
Esme, a witch in training, doesn't like magic because she thinks technology is easier.
Do you see the irony here? A witch who doesn't like magic, which makes her the least likely heroine for her story – and far more interesting than a witch who likes magic – in that idea.
2. What?
The next big question is What.
Every story has a goal, the thing that takes the plot from point A to point B.
What is your character trying to achieve? Is it a prize (win a magical competition)? Is it a personal goal (to be able to master certain magical tasks)? Want someone to like it (Grandma really wants her to learn magic)? It might even be a goal to avoid something (to keep people from finding out that she is not good at magic).
For our witch Esme I have chosen the following goal:
Esme wants to win a potions competition.
Knowing the protagonist's goal is important in turning an idea into a premise as it gives the protagonist a reason to move. And only with movement can there be an action.
3. How?
The last big question is AsHow will your character achieve their goal (the what)?
The tricky thing about the As is that it is often influenced by that Why. How your character accomplishes this goal depends heavily on their reasons for getting to this point in their life.
Remember the same Why can affect that As in more ways than one.
For example, Esme, the tech-loving witch, can face many results in this potions contest.
Her affinity for technology could provide her with unusual insights into making potions that other witches don't see. Or her trust in machines could handicap her when faced with a magical challenge.
Or maybe she's starting to think she's at a disadvantage, and some unforeseen circumstance makes it an advantage.
To Esme the witch, the most obvious outcome to her is that she will either win or lose the competition. I've picked her to win and chose the following course of action for As as an an example:
Esme unexpectedly wins the competition by quickly heating her potion with a microwave.
Knowing how your character accomplishes their goal is important to construct the story because without this knowledge you are likely to run into plot holes that could easily confuse or distract you.
What could be preventing you from completing your story or manuscript.
If you need help creating conflict for your protagonist before thinking about the how, check out these six ways to create conflict for your protagonist.
Use the 3 questions to write the premise of YOUR story
With the Why what, and As answered, you are now ready to put together a solid premise for a book. Here's the idea:
A training witch who doesn't like magic.
And here is the premise:
Esme, a training witch who prefers the convenience of technology to spells, enters a potions contest. Although initially struggling to keep up with the other witches, she wins after discovering that heating potions in a microwave is much faster than a kettle.
The premise can grow endlessly from here. It can be a short fiction, a short story, a novel, or even a series. You can build a whole world around Esme the tech-savvy witch.
But the jump to either of these is a lot easier now because you have more than a vague idea – you have a solid premise.
Still need help writing the premise of your story? Use the "Writing practice" premise template to turn your idea into a book worthy of a story!
Further premise questions that you should ask yourself
What else can you do to create a good premise? Here are a few questions to help you take these steps even further:
1. What genre do you write?
Knowing the genre can help you orient your premise to be more specific to your story type, especially with the "how" questions. A spy story can include a “how” of action-packed scenes, while a romantic drama can include a “how” of complex, emotional conversations.
2. What kind of tone or mood are you trying to create?
Knowing whether you want to write a comedy (happy ending) or a tragedy (sad end) can greatly influence the “why” and “how” of your premise.
What lesson do you want your readers to learn? How and why your character achieves their goal is directly related to the subject your story.
The premise can help you get an early look at what this topic looks like. And when you know your subject, you likely have a strong reason this book premise is worth your time, focus, and passion.
What questions do you ask in order to write the premise of your story? Let us know in the comments.
It's your turn to turn a simple idea into an exciting premise. For the next fifteen minutes, do the following:
First, choose a character from the list below (or come up with your own!):
- A house guest
- A cook
- A dragon
- A chemistry student
- A mouse
- A pilot
- A swimmer
Then give your character a trait. What is interesting or unusual about them?
Now answer the questions about building premises from this article:
- What makes this feature interesting? In other words, why is your protagonist the least likely hero in the story?
- What is your character's goal?
- How will your character achieve their goal?
When you have answered these questions, combine your answers on a premise with a sentence or two. Do share this in the comments section for feedback, and don't forget to support the other writers by commenting on their premise too!
J. D. Edwin
