Whether you are a plotter or a pantser, developing a premise early on in your writing process can be massively helpful. It allows you to hone your concept and stay on track while you are writing. Your premise can also be used when you are sending off your novel to agents and publishers. It’s multipurpose!
Creating a premise sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is, so this blog will take you through what a premise is, what it should include and how to write one.
What Is a Premise?
Essentially, a premise is a short summary of what your manuscript is about. In fiction, a premise should outline your main character, their goals, the stakes and the obstacles they will face in one to two sentences. Aim for brevity and clarity.
What Should a Premise Include?
But how do you condense a whole 80,000+ word novel into just one or two sentences? Well, you essentially have to boil down your novel into four things: your main character, what they want (their goal), what’s stopping them from getting what they want (the obstacle) and what will happen if they fail (the stakes). Doing this will also help you create your character arc. You can forget everything else for now. If you can do that, then you are most of the way to writing your premise.
How To Develop a Premise
The best thing to do is to write down your main character, their goal, the obstacle and the stakes. You can do this in note form:
Main Character:
Goal:
Obstacle:
Stakes:
Doing this allows you to break your novel down into its most basic components, so you can manipulate it into a premise. This is also usually the first step in the Snowflake Method of writing, although you should go back and refine it.
Start with your main character. Most people describe their characters in two words: an adjective and a noun (e.g., a nerdy librarian). This is not absolutely necessary at this stage, but you will need it for your blurb and synopsis later, so you can kill two birds with one stone by creating it now.
Then think about your character’s goal and what is in their way. It’s also good to decide the consequences of failure (even if your main character will ultimately succeed) now, because it will help you create more conflict as you are outlining. You should make sure you have enough conflict to sustain an entire novel. It’s ok if you don’t have everything figured out, but if you don’t know what your character wants and what’s in your way, then you need to re-evaluate your story.
Now that you’ve got these notes, you need to write them into a coherent sentence. I say ‘coherent’ because, like your first full draft, probably isn’t going to be good. And that’s ok. You’ll get better the more you practice. Also, bear in mind, you’re likely to be in the early stages of writing this novel, so you might need to tweak it as you work on your manuscript.
Conclusion
Premises are a one-sentence summary of your novel that outlines your main character, their goal, the obstacle and the stakes. These help you define your story and keep you on track while you are writing. Breaking down your novel in such a way will allow you to refocus your efforts and produce coherent writing.
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