How to Build a Solid Story Premise

writing

Get your story premise right, and the rest of the story-writing experience will go much smoother. Crafting a solid story premise is your come-to-Jesus moment. It’s the moment of reckoning. It’s your story skeleton’s skeleton. Do this first. Do not write the story, the novel, the screenplay, and then reverse-engineer the premise to fit the unwieldy monster you have created.

What Is a Story Premise?

A story premise or log-line is a basic map to your story. We’re going to work off of John Truby’s definition:

The premise is your story stated in one sentence. It is the simplest combination of character and plot and typically consists of some event that starts the action, some sense of the main character, and some sense of the outcome of the story.

Hold on. Let’s back up and peel that apart, because every word is important.

Your Story Stated in One Sentence

Limiting yourself to one sentence forces you to stick to the basics. In reality, I think you can do two sentences, as long as you stay within reason. In that case, aim for 20 t0 30 words, with 50 words as the maximum.

This premise is 21 words and does the job:

The hot-headed youngest son of a Mafia family takes revenge on the men who shot his father and becomes the new Godfather.

This premise is 25 words:

After a bitter divorce, an actor disguises himself as a female housekeeper to spend time with his children held in custody by his former wife.

Event That Starts the Story

Sometimes this is called the Inciting Incident, the thing that kicks off the story and sends the Hero on his or her journey.

shot his father

Character

The character named in the story premise is always the main character, the hero.

son of a Mafia family

Sense of Main Character

This is simply an adjective or two that rounds off the character and helps us see that character better.

hot-headed younger

Plot

What does the Hero do in the story?

takes revenge on the men

Sense of Outcome of the Story

And finally a hint of how the story ends.

becomes the new Godfather

Examples of Story Premises

Find 500 examples of story premises on this page.

How to Construct Your Story Premise

Fill out the table with around 2 to 6 words per space:

Event That Starts the Story
Character
Sense of Main Character
Plot
Sense of Outcome of the Story

For example:

Event That Starts the Story agrees to a wager
Character phonetics professor
Sense of Main Character misogynistic and snobbish
Plot transform a flower girl
Sense of Outcome of the Story make her presentable in high society

Link the information with connecting words:

A misogynistic and snobbish phonetics professor agrees to a wager that he can transform a flower girl and make her presentable in high society.

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Published
Categorized as Writing

By Lee Wallender

Deception, influence, fakes, illusions, themed environments, simulations, secret places, secret infrastructure, imagined places, dreamscapes, movie sets and props, evasions, camouflage, studio backlots, miniatures.

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