This will help you answer this critical question.
But first, it’s helpful — to your story, and your learning curve, and thus, your career trajectory — to understand why this question is critical.
Simple fact: a significant reason stories get rejected, or don’t find a self-published readership, is that the story, at its core, doesn’t glow in the dark. The premise, and perhaps even the idea that hatched it, is too familiar, too lacking in dramatic juice, too less than fully compelling.
Just because the idea appeals to you doesn’t mean it will ring the bell with agents, editors and, most important of all, readers. Some writers advise you to write for yourself, that nobody else matters. That’s terrible advice if, in fact, you seek to establish and build a career. It’s like starting a restaurant chain called PB and Mustard’s, because that’s how you like your sandwiches.
The premise is the DNA of your story. If the DNA doesn’t line up, then the writing itself may not be enough to save it. (I worded that to be polite; here’s the straight skinny: unless you’re writing in the “literary fiction” genre, your writing isn’t why people come to a story. They come for the idea. For the premise. For the sauce that promises a vicarious experience.)
Click the link (below) to discover the eight core criteria — the same as the eight essential elements — of your premise. This article appeared in the March issue of Writers Digest Magazine, and exists here — republished just this week — as part of their online offerings.
Enjoy. This could be the epiphany you’ve been looking for.
https://www.writersdigest.com/be-inspired/how-to-mind-the-facets-of-premise-for-story-gold
4 Responses
After reading this blog of yours, I understood the basic ritual of the story.
Thanks
And, when you are working out these things – designing your new story – don’t expect to find the best answers right away. “There’s more than one way to do it.” Explore possibilities, and =keep= them all.
Writing – of anything – is a series of “dreaming-up and then selecting,” and be prepared to change your selections at any time. Explore this, develop it a bit, see if it feels good, then explore and develop something else. Rinse and repeat. No matter what, “keep it.” Stuff it in a box and never throw away the box.
When your writing’s finished, the entire development process then =disappears= … leaving the reader only with the product of your final choices, with no indication at all that “choices” were ever made. It looks like magic. But, it’s not.
One more comment to my above post: “Be Efficient!”
When you are purposely -exploring- to find -possibilities-, outlines are your friend. Just enough information to capture the essentials, with “scene idea paragraphs.” (No, you won’t remember the idea nearly so clearly later.) IF the idea pans out, you can dream up the details later.