What is It? The Importance of Knowing

You’ve never purchased something without knowing what it is first, right? Of course not. As consumers, we want to know what we’re buying and we want to know relatively quickly. That’s why it is vitally important to know your story. To be able to answer the question: What is it?


Because if you don’t know, the agent won’t know, and neither will the editor, the publishing execs, the book sellers, or the readers. And if they don’t know, they’re not going to buy it. Plain and simple.

Blake Snyder, screenwriter and author of Save the Cat, a craft book for screenwriters, says this: “In my opinion, thinking what is it is just good manners.” He goes on to say that if we can’t answer that question – then maybe we don’t really have a story at all.

Some of you might be thinking…I think I know what my story is. Let me ask you this: Can you condense your entire novel–your 100,000 word beloved baby–into one simple logline? If you can’t, then you haven’t discovered your story. At least not yet.

So how do you discover your story? Here are some questions you can ask to get on the right track.

  • What is the something and the someone? Every story is about a someone trying to do something. Do you know what yours are?

  • Can you sharply define your someone using two or three words? The who is important, because the who tells the buyer who they’re going to experience the story through. The way you describe him or her will form the buyer’s first impression. And you know what they say about first impressions.

  • Does your something create a clear and compelling mental picture? The something is the story goal. It’s the what your who is trying to accomplish. Hopefully, when you say yours out loud, whoever’s listening will be able to picture it in their head.

  • What is the conflict? Without this, you have nothing to sustain your story. So what is the driving force that gets in the way of your hero accomplishing his/her goal? Is it BIG? Are there stakes involved? If you can answer yes to both of those, then you’ll have a story that will keep readers turning pages.

  • What’s the irony? Snyder devoted several pages in Save the Cat to the idea of irony and the importance of finding it in your story. The ladies from My Book Therapy talk about this too. What is unexpected or contradictory about your story? Something that will hook the buyer’s interest – an itch they must scratch. One of the best examples of irony that pops into my head is from You’ve Got Mail. Meg Ryan falls in love with a man she hates, but she doesn’t know they’re the same guy. Ironic, no?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you should have a firmer grasp on your story. Now you just have to put the answers together into a logline.
I have to be honest – I hate writing loglines. I’m not very good at them. But despite my dislike, they are an important part of making it in this industry. So I have to keep practicing and wrestling with them until I find the right one.

Here’s my logline for A Broken Kind of Beautiful:
In order to raise money for a disease that has plagued his family, a photographer who quit the intoxicating world of high fashion must team up with a woman who epitomizes it.

Let’s dissect:
We have a clearly defined hero – a photographer who quit.

We have a story goal – raise money.

We have the stakes – it’s for a disease that’s plagued his family.

We have conflict – he’s going to have to work with a woman who epitomizes the world he intentionally left behind. Which also acts as my irony.

Now it’s your turn to play.

Who has a killer logline they’d like to share?

removetweetmeme

Writing the Story Premise

What is a story premise?
A story premise answers the question: What is my story about? And does so as succinctly as possible.

Why is a premise important?
It focuses your story.

How do you write one?
Let me introduce you to my good buddy Dwight Swain. Can I just say that Techniques of the Selling Writer is one of my all time favorite craft books? Some people say it’s a laborious read. I say the labor is well worth it.

According to Dwight, a story premise has five elements:

  • Character
  • Situation (what’s the backdrop of trouble that forces character to act?)
  • Objective (character’s story goal)
  • Opponent (no opponent = no conflict = no story)
  • Disaster (the unutterably awful thing that could happen)

You should do your best to make each of these elements as specific and concrete as possible, and put them together to form two sentences. No more. No less.

Sentence 1: A statement that establishes character, situation, and objective

Sentence 2: A question that pinpoints the opponent and disaster.

There is wide-spread debate over whether or not to put a question in your premise. You decide if you want to make the second sentence a question or not.

Let’s look at the Wizard of Oz.

  • Character: Dorothy
  • Situation: tornado brings her to Oz
  • Objective: get to the Wizard of Oz so she go home
  • Opponent: the wicked witch of the west, who wants her ruby slippers
  • Disaster: never going home

Sentence 1: When a tornado drops her house in the middle of a strange world (situation), a teenage girl named Dorothy (character) must find her way to Oz so she can talk the wizard into sending her home (objective).

Sentence 2: But will the wicked witch of the west, who wants Dorothy’s magic slippers (opponent), stop her from ever seeing home again (disaster)?

Put it together and you get the premise of Wizard of Oz:

When a tornado drops her house in the middle of a strange world, a teenage girl named Dorothy must find her way to Oz so she can talk the wizard into sending her home. But will the Wicked Witch of the West, who wants Dorothy’s magic slippers, stop her from ever seeing home again?

Here’s an example from one of my novels:

  • Character: widowed mother, Robin Price
  • Situation: neighboring businesses are struggling and so is her cafe
  • Goal: keep her husband’s memory alive through the walls of her cafe
  • Opponent: handsome project manager who wants to buy her out
  • Disaster: losing everything she’s held on to since her husband died

Premise: Even though business isn’t doing well, widowed mother, Robin Price, is determined to keep her husband’s memory alive through the walls of her cafe. But when a handsome and charming businessman comes to town with plans to buy her out, will Robin lose everything she’s held on to since her husband’s death?

Question to Ponder: Have you ever written a premise? What do you include? Do you follow Swain’s formula, or do you have one of your own? If you have any tips, please share them here!

removetweetmeme