Tag Archive - Premise

Three Aspects of Your Book’s “Aboutness”: Goal, Question, and Premise

Today’s guest post is by Barbara Linn Probst.

 So what’s your book about?

We’ve all had that question put to us by friends, relatives, agents, or other writers.  It’s a reasonable question for them to ask.

“Well, it’s the story of a woman who . . .”

“It tells what happens when . . .”

Nope. That’s the setup. It’s not what the book is about.

Coined by R. A. Fairthorne in 1969, “aboutness” is a term used in linguistics, philosophy of language, and the informational sciences to convey both intention and content—that is, the aim and subject of a text. Continue Reading…

Understanding Premise and the One-Sentence Story Concept

Over the last few weeks we’ve been taking a look at key moments in your novel’s structure. This week, before we get into the meat of my 10-20-30 Scene Builder concept, I want to make sure you have a clear understanding of premise and the one-sentence story structure.

We really can’t move forward until you have this nailed, so I’ll do my best to help you get there.

Most writers are clear about the inciting incident or initial disturbance that has to come near the start of the book. Yet, I see way too many novels in which there really isn’t a strong impacting incident. Or it’s in the wrong place.

I recently did a fifty-page critique on a novel (which wasn’t the author’s first novel either) that had fifty pages of setup. Backstory. Telling all about how the characters met, fell in love, got married, etc. What was the stated premise? Basically, it told of a man who has something precious taken from him and must face danger and horror to get that thing back. Huh? What did the first fifty pages have to do with any of that? Nothing. Continue Reading…

Kicking High Concept into High Gear

We’ve been exploring the first key pillar of novel construction—concept with a kicker. Last week I explained that a novel has to have an overarching concept with a unique, compelling kicker. But this is not to be confused with a plot twist or surprise, which is a kicker in its own right. But not the kind of kicker I’m talking about. A novel or movie has to stand on a strong pillar of concept all the way through. It can’t depend on one high moment in the story—regardless of placement in the plot—to support the “structure.”

If you’ve read the previous posts, I hope you are now getting a bit clearer about this concept of concept. Let’s take this a step further. Continue Reading…

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