Lately I’ve been reading a lot of books sent to me from
authors that have both traditionally and non-traditionally (be it
self-published, P.O.D or any other format out these days) published books from
children to main stream. Many I have enjoyed, while others I have walked away
with thoughts of how the story could have been better. But the one thing I
noticed no matter how the author went about publishing the book is this…the
stories I truly enjoyed, related to and found myself lost in as a reader all
had a well defined premise.
All well told stories start with a premise. This isn’t me
just stating my own belief about writing or how it works for me as an author
sitting down to write. This is a hardcore truth we all must face and if we as
writers sit down without knowing this premise to our story before our fingers
hit the keys—we need to be honestly open to feedback we get before and after we
publish our work.
For those new to writing or still learning the ropes, let me
explain what a premise is and why it is important to this before sitting down
to write—if you truly want to be like the “Great” authors we all cherish—be it
Dickens, Wolf, Pearson, King, Rice, Tolkien, Rowling and so on.
In a writing meeting I attended, one of the authors shared
the following about premise and I liked it so much, I wrote it down. I now
share it with you.
In How to Write a Damn
Good Novel, it is explained, “Writing a story without a premise is like
rowing a boat without oars.” To go a bit further Carol shared the following:
• The premise is the reason you are writing what you are
writing. It is the point you have to prove, your purpose for telling this
particular story.
• The premise is NOT a universal truth. It is true only for
that novel.
I do need to stress however not to confuse your premise with
your stories them. There is a really good article by Rob Parnell at http://easywaytowrite.com/theme_and_premise.html
that addresses this.
When you think of your premise, keep what Hemingway once
said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and
bleed.” This quote has always really hit me as an author because as we sit down
to write, we are opening our soul to the world. We are sharing bits of
ourselves with each word, thought and action our characters take. Each story
comes from something deep within us that we either need answered or feel we
need to share with others—our original idea or premise.
You may also notice a
premise can be used as your pitch line to an agent or publisher. Premises are
also used has the “Hook” on the blurb of most books. Most readers when asking
about your manuscript or published book want to know the premise, even if they
don’t use this term. As you can see, knowing your premise, keeping it at the
front of all your writing and truly letting it guide you through your plot will
help you create an original work that will engage and bring your reader deeper
into your story.
****
VS Grenier is an award-winning author & editor, founder of Stories for Children Publishing, LLC, chief editor for Halo Publishing, Int. and also the founder & host of blog talk radio's featured station The World of Ink Network. Learn more at http://vsgrenier.com
1 comment:
Nice post. I followed the Rob Parnell link ant that was good, too. I like KM Weiland's stuff and she discusses premise here: http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2010/07/6-reasons-premise-sentence-strengthens.html
She has more here: http://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/2010/04/take-full-advantage-of-your-premise.html
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