If you don’t know where you’re going, how will you know when you get there? Are you locked into traveling down one road when many lead to the same destination? What happens if you see a more desirable endpoint while following your strategic route?
Premise and Story Structure Are Inseparable
I rode motorcycles for decades and often took random roads just to enjoy the ride.
One summer my wife and I racked up 10,000 miles crisscrossing the state of Texas. We took scenic turnouts. Sometimes construction forced us to take detours. But we always had a strategy: reach the bed-and-breakfast by nightfall.
Like our desire to reach the place to lay our head for the night, a writing premise gives you the story structure to arrive at your strategic destination.
Strategy Is the What and Tactics Are the How-to
Do you know the strategy you’ll follow to write your novel?
You can spend inordinate amounts of time learning the endless list of writing tactics. The tips littering the internet boggle your mind. AI’s faulty advice can cause you to miss the turnout to entertain readers.
On the frontend of your writing projects, take the time to form your premise, and then update it as you take the many roads that lead to your strategic destination.
Tactical Help to Write a Strategic Premise
I like to see where I’m going.
If you’re anything like me—a visual person—then check out this prior post: How to Write a Premise for a Book. Follow the link and you’ll discover the tactical aspects of becoming more strategic about writing.
I know it sounds like I’m encouraging you to practice spontaneity, but try it!
Your Thoughts?
How do you go about navigating the 60,000 to 100,000 words—the miles you’ll travel—to write a book readers will love?
12 responses to “Navigating Your Writing Journey: From Premise to Practice”
Good advice, Grant. I’ve got a lot of messy ideas for stories in my head and need to spend some time on the front end, thinking them through. A premise sounds like a good place to start. Lol.
I understand messy, Diana, and thankfully, a premise can help us arrange the baby blocks of story floating in our minds.
It takes time to prepare a premise. Still, that lowly premise can save us a lot of grief. Many attribute this quote to Abraham Lincoln. “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
My paraphrasing of another of the President’s quotes goes like this. “I prepared for great things, and when they came, I was ready.”
I definitely get the importance of the premise, Grant. And you post made it clear that it’s the place to focus first. And great quotes. 🙂
I love your help in providing ways to get to the destination. “Like our desire to reach the place to lay our head for the night, a writing premise gives you the story structure to arrive at your strategic destination.” So good — and helpful, Grant!
Thanks, Wynne. On our way home from a long trip, we got caught in a sudden downpour, exited the highway, and stopped under the overpass to put on rain suits. I can still picture my wife hopping on one leg while trying to get the rubbery suit to go over her damp clothes. Too bad I didn’t have the camera!
Good info I’ll be clicking through to. I’m a tad stuck on theme or overriding plot at the moment. Lots of subplots, though!
Thanks, Jacqui. Toy Story 3 tops my list of stories with an excellent main plot with multiple interwoven subplots. If you are interested, I highlight that example in my 7 Tips for Structuring Plot and Subplots.
I like your analogy of getting to the bed-and-breakfast by nightfall. I definitely keep the imagined end in mind, even when I’m just pantsing.
I recall getting lost on the back roads in Oklahoma. That trip took me a couple of extra hours, but I got to my destination. Same going from Texas to Illinois, and that was like a novel, taking longer than you think. Like short stories, my drag-racing days always had the quarter-mile end in sight. Fun memories!
You have a lot of information on this post and its links, Grant. Thanks.
Thanks, Anneli. Stephen Covey said, “Start with the end in mind.” Timeless advice.
Yes, it’s good to know where you’re going.