Look! It's An Idea: Going From Premise to Plot

I didn't know it at the time, but the first real novel I ever wrote was a premise novel. I had a cool idea, and the entire book was about illustrating that cool idea. Because of that, I had no solid protag, no narrative drive, no personal stakes, and no chance at selling that book.

Because premise novels are not stories.

I don't think my experience is uncommon. I read a lot of queries that describe an idea, but there's no sense of a protag doing anything to solve a personal problem. (Heck, I've written a lot of those kinds of queries). Often, these novels are a lost cause because they're too inherently flawed to fix. But sometimes, it's just a matter of finding the story within your premise.

What is a premise novel?

A premise novel is one where the idea is what's driving the story, not a character with a problem. It often has multiple POVs (and a lot of them) because you're trying to show all the various aspects of this idea. The stakes feel high, usually a "save the world" type, but when you look at the characters, none of them really have anything to lose except maybe die. But everyone has that same stake, so it really doesn't feel important. Plus, the stakes never escalate. They start out life and death and stay life and death the entire time. Since odds are you're not going to kill off everyone, those "high stakes" aren't high at all. The reader knows they won't happen.

Think of it like a blow out sporting event. One team dominates the other, and even though there are people scoring left and right, and all this excitement on the field, fans know how it's going to turn out and they're leaving before the end of the game so they don't get stuck in traffic. They stay until they get bored, or it's not worth their time and them go home. You don't want that for your book. You want readers to salivate over knowing how it all turns out.

How can you tell if you have a premise novel?

If you can't describe what your novel is about in one sentence (even a bad sentence) using the standard " protag has X problem and he needs to do Y to win Z or A happens" then you might have a premise novel. Or if you describe your novel by talking about the idea behind it, and not any one or two characters who are driving it. Or you describe it by the theme alone. (literary novels are okay here, that's normal for them)

How do you fix it?

First, find yourself a core conflict. You probably already have a good idea, since the idea is what excited you in the first place. Look for something tangible that has to be done to prevent/trigger/avoid/whatever this idea is about. What thing is going wrong in this story?

Next, pick a protag. Someone in your story is in a position to solve this problem. Better still, they're personally involved so that solving it matters to them. Something bad will happen if they don't solve it. Lots of smaller bad things will happen to them along the way to solving it. If they act, they can solve if, but if they don't act, it will happen. (or not happen if that's the case)

Now, pick an antag. Who is standing in the way of your protag solving this problem? Someone that has something to gain by making this happen? Or someone who has their own agenda about this problem that is at odds with the protag's goal?

The story will unfold as the protag tries to solve the problem and the antag keeps getting in the way. Two personal forces clashing against each other. Both will have things to lose if they lose. Both will have things to win if they win. If you took both out of the story, the story would fall apart.

That's key. A premise novel is often one where you can take the hero out, and the story still happens, often with little or no change.

Now, look at your story and adjust your plot so the protag is trying to solve their problem. Last week's Shake and Bake post can help there.

Reasons You Might Resist This


1. I'll have to cut so much!

Probably. Premise novels have tons of extra stuff in them. But think of it as research. You did a lot of background to understand your story and now you'll be able to pinpoint exactly the best stuff in it. Plus, any scenes you truly love can be salvaged with your protag or antag. Just rework them so they fit the story and not just the idea.

2. I'll have to rewrite most of it!

Maybe. But a lot can still be used. And with a solid protag and clear goals, the rewriting will go much easier.

3. I'll have to get rid of half my characters!

Yes, but that's a good thing. Too many characters, especially POV characters, dilute the story and make it hard for the reader to connect to any one person. If they don't connect, they don't care, and if they don't care, they don't read.

I know, it'll take a ton of work. It'll require you to trash maybe the whole thing. You'll have to get rid of characters, or POVs of subplots. It'll be hard. But in the end, you'll have a much better novel, and isn't that the goal?

Ideas are the hard part of writing. They're the things no one can teach you how to do. You either come up with stuff, or you don't. I can tell you ways to trigger your creativity all day, but there's no guarantee any of them will work for you, or that you'll come up with anything good even if they do. So a premise novel kinda gets the hard stuff out of the way. You have the idea already, and probably a pretty darned fleshed out one at that. Now it's just a matter of training yourself to think in terms of story and work on your plotting skills.

And that you can learn.