FSN - Day 6 - Your Story's Premise

[ladyseishou]

Day 6 - 25 days until the start of NNWM




Perhaps today’s exercise would be better called “proto” premise as we’re only trying to put together our answers from the last couple of days and write out a scenario or two to try on our characters next week.

Think of your premise (also called a logline by scriptwriters) as the TV Guide description for your story, almost bare bones, just one or two lines with still a little something that shows off your special spin on the story.

So take ten or fifteen minutes and write down what your story is about…

Don’t worry about word count at this point because right now you’re only trying to capture the main ideas of your story. Borrow from your genre to help fill in any blanks - add in a detective-type character for mysteries or a teen protagonist for a young adult novel for example.

Consider too how your protagonist might resolve the questions you set up in your description. Specifics aren't necessary (we’ll get to that during week 3) unless of course the muse whispers in your ear and one must never ignore the muse.

The idea here is to write down everything you know about your story then read through it, pruning away all the items that hang like leaves and branches from the central idea behind your story. Can you describe your story using twenty-five words or less?

If you’re having trouble getting to the heart of your story, there are premise/logline templates you can try on for size. Here are a few:

From How to Write a Log Line:

Given situation A, then Our Hero does action B despite complication C while antagonist D tries to stop Our Hero by doing E before F can happen.

From Logline Template:

Protagonist (has problem) and (must achieve goal) to solve that problem. Or…

(Situation) causes (main character) to face (largest obstacle) and (outcome).



Here’s the “proto” premise for my story idea (25 words):

A London detective, assigned a prostitute’s murder, discovers the victim was a changeling and must solve the case before the Fairy King exacts horrific retribution.

Questions or comments? How did you do Nano Writer? Keep Writing!

Comments

[ohbirds]

Thank you! :D I am so excited about this, it is ridiculous. The fact that there's still 24 more days left before I can start writing this is killing me. So I am writing extensive notes in the meantime, to hold me over.