The Difference Between Idea, Premise, Plot, and Story

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy


Ideas come to us every day, from big bolt-from-the-blue inspiration to smaller “what if” musings. What's sneaky about ideas is that they're easy--it’s figuring out the story behind the idea that can be the hard part. I’ve had many a premise get me excited, only to discover later that I didn’t have a story, much less a plot, that would go with it.

This is one of the reasons some novels stall after fifty or a hundred pages. The writer gets an idea, dives in too soon, and then the story go splat.

Same with a premise (and I've talked about the trouble with premise novels before). These can be even sneakier because they often feel more like a finished book idea. You can write an entire novel off a great (but underdeveloped) premise and later find yourself yanking out your hair trying to figure out why the book's not working--or worse--not selling.

In many cases, the problem is that we don't truly have all the parts we need to write the novel, we just think we do. We confuse premise with plot or story with idea, and fail to realize core elements aren't there.

Idea, premise, and plot are often used interchangeably, but they each serve a specific function and have subtly different meanings.While often we know what we mean when we use them, and instinctively develop the right parts of the novel at the right time, sometimes, we miss a part and it messes up our whole novel.

The Idea

Ideas are those moments of inspiration that first excite or interest us. They can be broad or specific, but something about them hits us and sets our creative wheels in motion. We think, “wow, that would make a cool book.”

• A story set in an alternate-history China
• A story about a girl named Lila who can heal by touch
• A story about an estranged couple in a zombie apocalypse

Ideas are liberating. Anything can happen and there are no restraints or restrictions to an idea. You can riff off a favorite book or movie, invent something new, or mash together elements of genres you like. The sky is the limit, and that freedom allows you to be as creative and as crazy as you want to be.

(More on brainstorming and ideas here)

The Premise

A premise is the next step to developing that idea. After you’ve let the idea churn in your head for a while, you’ll probably see a larger framework for it to exist in, and the first hints of what kind of story this idea could turn into. The premise is a general description of the story you plan to tell, and what the story is about. A key factor in a good premise is a suggestion of the conflict that will drive the plot. This is the story problem the book will explore over the course of the novel.

• An undercaste member in an alternate-history China fights for freedom against his tyrannical masters
• A girl who can heal by touch is forced to use her gift to help the people who murdered her family
• A man considering divorce is thrown into a zombie apocalypse with his estranged wife and the woman he wants to leave her for

A premise forces you to shape an idea into a workable story. It helps you narrow the focus down to a problem (a conflict) you can work with within the standard parameters of a novel. It provides the first layer of structure for you to build on. The conflict guides you to the larger story problem the protagonist will have to overcome to resolve the plot.

(More on going from idea to plot here)

The Plot

Plots are all about the specific conflicts that illustrate the novel’s premise (that focused idea). The plot provides concrete and external problems to be solved. Plots have the classic story structure elements that drive every scene: goals-conflicts-stakes. A plot tells you what the novel is about—what the protagonist has to do to win, who or what he’s up against, and what will happen if he loses. The plot is what makes your novel unique.

• An undercaste member in an alternate-history China fights to overthrow his tyrannical masters to save his wife from an unjust execution
• A girl who can heal by touch is forced to use her gift to help the people who murdered her family seize control in a civil war, but works from within to bring about the demise of their house.
• A man in an unhappy marriage tries to get rid of his wife during a zombie apocalypse so he can be with the woman he loves, unaware that the two women are secretly plotting against him.

The plot encompasses the core conflict. It gives the story direction and clearly states what constitutes a win for the protagonist. It tells you the ending and how the story will be resolved. It shows the specific elements and problems to your story and your protagonist that makes your novel unique. In essence, it tells you what your hero is going to do for 400 pages.

(More on internal and external core conflicts here)

The Story

Story is the reason for the book. It's the journey of the characters and the core conflict driving them. The theme and the emotional connection to the readers. Stories show the motivation and why someone is doing all this.

• An undercaste member in an alternate-history China must overcome his lack of self-confidence to overthrow his tyrannical masters to save his wife from an unjust execution
• A girl who can heal by touch is forced to use her gift to help the people who murdered her family seize control in a civil war, and must learn to put her past behind her in order to work from within to bring about the demise of their house.
• A gullible man in an unhappy marriage must learn to think for himself when he tries to get rid of his wife during a zombie apocalypse so he can be with the woman he loves, unaware that the two women are secretly plotting against him.

The easiest way to look at story is that it's the internal struggle the character goes thorough to resolve a personal issue. The plot is how they accomplish that struggle. (Special thanks to Lisa Maxey for her comment, and her examples)

All four play useful roles in developing a novel, but skipping a step in the process can lead to frustration. So next time inspiration hits you, take a moment to consider if it's just an idea, a premise, or if you have a fully formed plot.What makes up your story?

And if you have a novel that's stalled at page fifty or languishing in a drawer, take a peek and see if it just never made it to the plot stage before you started writing.

Do you have any stalled or languishing stories? Where do you think the problem might lie?

For more help on plotting or writing a novel check out my Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure.

Go step-by-step through plotting and writing a novel. Learn how to find and develop ideas, brainstorm stories from that first spark of inspiration, develop the right characters, setting, plots and subplots, as well as teach you how to identify where your novel fits in the market, and if your idea has what it takes to be a series.

With clear and easy-to-understand examples, Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure offers ten self-guided workshops with more than 100 different exercises to help you craft a solid novel. Learn how to:

• Create compelling characters readers will love
• Choose the right point of view for your story
• Determine the conflicts that will drive your plot (and hook readers!)
• Find the best writing process for your writing style
• Create a solid plot from the spark of your idea

Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure also helps you develop the critical elements for submitting and selling your novel once it’s finished. You’ll find exercises on how to:

• Craft your one-sentence pitch
• Create your summary hook blurb
• Develop a solid working synopsis And so much more!

Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure is an easy-to-follow guide to writing your novel or fixing a novel that isn’t quite working. 

Available in paperback and ebook formats.

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book.

She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.

When she's not writing novels, she's teaching other writers how to improve their craft. She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing.

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