Crafting your premise ~ The tools and secrets!

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!

Comments 2

  1. Am I really the first one? Maybe I’m a little over eager :)…

    Here goes…it’s Women’s Fiction…

    It’s the roaring twenties and Evie Kimball bucks a life of wealth and privilege for big dreams and true love. Naively believing she can have it all, Evie leaves her true love waiting in the wings and sets off for the bright lights of Broadway.

    As the Great Depression envelopes New York, Evie returns home ready to make amends with the one she left behind. But love doesn’t wait forever and Evie finds a hopelessness greater than that which the loss of fame and fortune has already brought her.

    Eventually, Evie reclaims some semblance of the good life and focuses on raising her family, but secrets and unforgiveness are always there threatening her happiness and tearing apart her family. So, on the eve of her one hundredth birthday celebration, Evie sets about to break the legacy of despair that has plagued her family for three generations.

  2. Okay, I’ll play! This is historical romantic suspense.

    February, 1930, Caren Hopewell visits her cousin in Al Capone’s Chicago in order to enlist her cousin’s help in persuading Caren’s father to reopen the family resort her father closed after the stock market crash of ’29. During her time in Chicago, Caren attends a local speakeasy with her cousin and is caught in a gangland shooting. Terrified, she flees the scene, alone.
    Prohibition Bureau Agent Ransom Blake witnesses her panic and escape, and wonders who she is and why she ran. Cleaning up after the shooting, Rance finds a small green beaded purse in the hatcheck booth and recalls the fleeing woman in a green dress. Inside the tiny bag is a slip of paper with an address that leads him straight to the apartment the next morning where Caren is staying with her cousin. Later the same day, after the FBI has come and gone, Caren receives a telegram with the news that three of her family members have died in an automobile accident. She travels back home in northern Wisconsin to tend to her now widowed mother and orphaned niece. However, the evil of Chicago follows her, as does the handsome agent.
    When the resort is finally reopened and guests booked for the 4th of July weekend, Caren and Rance are reunited, with suspicions on both sides. And when one of the resort’s guests ends up dead, Rance’s suspicions grow. However, events force the two to work together when a Capone wannabe tries to set up his operation in the area and Caren’s family is placed in danger. Can they overcome their doubts about each other? Can Rance help the embittered young woman whose belief in a benevolent God has vanished? Can Caren overcome her own doubts and fears and find happiness with Rance?

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