I love crafting a premise – it’s one of the first things I do after I get a story in my head. With my premise as my guide, I know where the story is headed, the main themes, and the stakes. For those who are SOTPs – (Seat of the Pants plotters) – you can STILL do this – you don’t have to nail down every scene and nuance right now. But I’ll bet you have in your head the theme, the characters, and what the story is about. That’s all you need to craft a great premise.

Let’s get started.
Step One: Name your character, and their significance. For example, if the story is about a veterinarian, and her job is crucial to the story, then her occupation should be named. If she’s a veterinarian who is returning home after being gone for years, and the story is about her return, then you might want to identify her as town prodigal. If it’s about a veterinarian who is returning to her mother’s funeral, you might want to call her a wayward daughter. Whatever moniker that describes your character and their most important role in the story.

Step Two: Identify their goals for the story – it could be their greatest dream, or just the plot goals, but the reader must know what the story is about. For a romance, often the premise focuses on love, and finding the ideal mate. For a suspense, it’s about life and limb, and saving those we love. For a mystery, it’s about solving the murder before the character is next in line. Find that thing that is most important to the character.

Let’s take our veterinarian above. Let’s say she is returning home to her mother’s funeral…only to discover her mother was murdered.

Wayward daughter Rachel Higgins wishes that she hadn’t waited until her mother died to return to Anytown, FL. If only she’d been here, maybe she could have stopped her murder. Now, she’s on the trail of the culprit…and discovering that the killer has turned his sights on her.

Okay, that’s rough, but a start.

Step Three: Throw in the conflict. Often, it’s the hero, and you need to return to Step 1 to identify him, with a brief stopover at step two to collect his goals, also.

Wayward daughter Rachel Higgins wishes that she hadn’t waited until her mother died to return to Anytown, FL. If only she’d been here, maybe she could have stopped her murder. Now, she’s on the trail of the culprit…and discovering that the killer has turned his sights on her. The last thing Detective Brett Collins needs is a grieving daughter to tell him how to do his job –a job he’s close to losing, thanks to a fear that’s plagued him ever since he was shot.

Step Four: Now, you want to sift through all the stakes in the story, all those pivotal events, all those themes, and find the most compelling. Frame it in a statement of conflicting values, or goals.

Wayward daughter Rachel Higgins wishes that she hadn’t waited until her mother died to return to Anytown, FL. If only she’d been here, maybe she could have stopped her murder. She’ll stop at nothing to find her mother’s killer. The last thing Detective Brett Collins needs is a grieving daughter to tell him how to do his job –a job he’s close to losing, thanks to a fear that’s plagued him ever since he was shot. But Rachel is a good sleuth – good enough to land her in the killer’s sights, and Brett must choose between protecting her, and catching the murderer.

(note that I took out the sentence: Now, she’s on the trail of the culprit…and discovering that the killer has turned his sights on her. I decided I wanted to use the word sights later on…and ramp up the tension in the last line. I also don’t like the use of the word STOP twice in the beginning – but I’ll change that later – in the honing part of premise.)

Step Five: Sum it up with the story question, or the ominous statement. I could probably stop the premise where it is right now, because there is enough information to know what is at stake, but because it’s a romance, I’ll add a line to focus the theme.

Wayward daughter Rachel Higgins wishes that she hadn’t waited until her mother died to return to Anytown, FL. If only she’d been here, maybe she could have stopped her murder. She’ll stop at nothing to find her mother’s killer. The last thing Detective Brett Collins needs is a grieving daughter to tell him how to do his job –a job he’s close to losing, thanks to a fear that’s plagued him ever since he was shot. But Rachel is a good sleuth – good enough to land her in the killer’s sights, and Brett must choose between protecting her, and catching the murderer. But worse than putting his body on the line is knowing that he just might lose his heart.

Okay – that’s rough. But we’ll fix it:

Step 6: Using strong, colorful words to ramp up the tension and hone the theme. I want to comb through my premise and find words that add color, and cast the right light on the premise.

If only wayward daughter Rachel Higgins had returned home sooner, her mother might still be alive. Now, Rachel last act of atonement will be finding her killer. The last thing Detective Brett Collins needs is a desperate victim derailing his investigation – especially since his job is at stake. He’s been off his game since he was shot. Rachel is a good sleuth, however, good enough to land her in the killer’s sights. Brett must choose between protecting her, and catching the murderer. And when all goes south, the biggest casualty of all just might be his heart.

I used some pop words to give it energy – atonement, desperate, killer’s sights, casualty. Finding words that shape the premise and will give your entire story color.

Those are the basic steps to crafting a premise! Now, it’s your turn! If you want to post your premises here at Book Therapy, tomorrow we’ll take some of your entries and see if we can help make them stronger. Or, go over to Voices, and let your friends at Club Book Therapy give you their input.

Forward Ho!