How do you develop a story premise?
- Five questions: protagonist, want, obstacle, stakes, differentiation.
- Final premise: 75-150 words in one paragraph.
- Survives every revision of the draft.
- The premise is the test that separates story from situation.
- Working novelists revise their premise 5-15 times before drafting.
You develop a story premise by answering five questions: who’s the protagonist, what do they want, what’s in the way, what happens if they fail, and what makes this story different from every other book in the genre. The five answers fit into a single paragraph (75-150 words) that survives every revision of the draft.
Chapter i·Why it matters
A premise that can’t answer the five questions is a situation, not a story. Authors who start drafting before the premise is clear write 30,000-50,000 words and discover the story doesn’t have one. Spending one to two weeks on the premise before drafting saves months of stalled writing.
Chapter ii·What to include
- Protagonist: one defining trait that drives the story.
- Want: external goal, stated as a concrete action.
- Obstacle: who or what stands in the way, with their own motivation.
- Stakes: what’s lost if the protagonist fails.
- Differentiation: what makes this story different from others in the genre.
- A premise paragraph: 75-150 words combining the five.
Chapter iii·Example
A debut sci-fi author’s premise paragraph (120 words): "A genetics researcher who lost her son to a rare disease discovers her late father’s hidden research could have saved him — and could save thousands more. To finish his work, she must steal data from the corporation that suppressed it (her current employer) and outmaneuver the CEO who killed her father to protect the patents. If she fails, the data dies with her. Unlike most corporate-conspiracy thrillers, this one focuses on the daughter’s grief as the engine of her risk-taking — not action set pieces."
Chapter iv·Related questions
WriteLoom’s Plan studio holds the premise, logline, and outline together — five questions, one project.
See the Plan studio