"Nine out of ten writers fail at the premise."
What is a premise?
The premise is your story stated in a single sentence. In screenwriting, this would be your "logline."
The purpose of the premise statement is to present the central characters and conflict in order to give the reader a solid idea of what happens in the story.
Truby gives the following example for the premise of Casablanca:
A tough American expatriate rediscovers an old flame only to give her up so that he can fight the Nazis.
Here we have the main characters (an expatriate and a love interest), the central conflict (will they get together or won't they?), and the outcome (he's going to walk away).
The premise of a story is the foundation. Everything that will be developed within the narrative will serve as proof for the premise.
The success of any story depends largely on the premise because if, as writers, we can't boil the key idea down to a single statement, then it's likely we don't have a firm grasp of the overall point/purpose of the tale.
The scenes may be in the right order, the climax might work, the characters may be well-rounded, and the writing is stellar, BUT if the overall premise is weak, the story is already lost.
Nine times out of ten, the story is lost at the premise.
It's worth it, then, to give premises the attention they deserve--to nail down the key concept before the story words are even on the page.
PREMISE:
"A boy from a privileged, upper-middle-class family falls for a girl in a rehabilitation facility accused of murdering her best friend."
Be Brilliant!
~Katie~
