Our subject in this chapter is the very first step of outlining. The PREMISE SENTENCE. The premise sentence is where you distill your story down to a single sentence that encapsulates the entire thing. You simplify the story all the way down to its core.
The premise sentence may change as time goes along, and you come up with new ideas for the tale, but it's important to have at the start, to focus your thoughts. Weiland says:
Your goal is to create a sentence that conveys the characters, setting, and central conflict, first generally...and then in the most specific way possible.
That sounds a little daunting, but I suppose it can be done. How do you get there? Weiland suggests asking yourself a whole bunch of what if questions. Think of every possible thing that could happen in your story. What if this character is actually in love with that character instead of the other character? What if this character dies? Or in my case, what if this character doesn't actually die? So on and so on. It will mostly be garbage, but some of those ideas may jump out at you and catch you by the short hairs, and demand to be included in your story. The more casting about for possibilities, the more likely you'll add some unexpected twists to your tale that will make it stand out from the rest.
Another thing she suggests is asking what is expected questions. Take all those things about your story that are expected to happen, like the good guys winning in the end or the romantic leads ending up together, or the main characters surviving (or in my case, not surviving) and consider turning some of them on their heads. Try something unexpected if it sounds interesting. Again, it might make your story stand out from the herd.
Okay, so, what if questions are good to get the creative juices flowing, but eventually, we gotta refine it down to the premise sentence. Weiland gives the example of the premise sentence for her novel called Dreamlander:
Renegade journalist Chris Redstone discovers his dreams are really memories of a world he live in while he sleeps, which he will, reluctantly, have to fight to save from destruction.
Sounds a lot like, Onward to the Breech, a story that I wrote several years back and presented on the Anklecast. Perhaps the dream, is dreaming us, astride the backs of eagles.
So, she identifies the main character, giving him a name, occupation, and a personality trait. She identifies the central conflict, so you know what the plot will involve.
Okay, I'm going to give it a shot. Let's see if I can write the premise sentence for my book, The Gauntlet, that I want to write next:
A pair of damaged orphan college students, Ramona and Sebastian Jones, receive an ancient gauntlet that has been passed down from the days of Sir Galahad, drafting them into the fight against an ancient evil bent on ruling the both the fairy otherworld and the earth as well.
How does that sound? Does the premise interest you at all? I think it's pretty good, but I'm not sure if it's perfect or not. I originally didn't have "college students" in there, but Weiland said that occupation was important. I also didn't originally have "damaged" in their either, but she said a defining characteristic was important to have as well. I don't know if orphans is enough of a characteristic or not, so I expanded it a little.
Truthfully, it feels a little wordy, but I guess it's still possible that I can change it down the road. We'll see how it goes.
So, why is the premise sentence important? Well, even if you are not an outliner, if you do just the premise sentence, it can help keep you on track, and help you avoid unnecessary side trips that you'll have to excise later.
If you have your premise sentence, you will know where to go next. All the questions that the premise sentence inspires need to be explored. Weiland talks about where her premise for Dreamlander led her:
What was this dream world like? Why was Chris the only one who discovered it? Why was it in danger of destruction?
A good jumping off point that can lead a lot of places. Keep asking the questions and figuring out the answers to them.
One other plus, with a premise sentence, you have an easy answer to people who ask you what your new book you're writing is about. Spit out that premise sentence, rather than spend five minutes trying to explain the story, only to find that they lost interest four minutes ago. Also, you can use that sentence when you're trying to sell the book to editors or agents or whoever (if you go that route).
Once you have your premise, Weiland suggests that you ask some general questions:
- What are four or five big moments that will occur in the plot?
- Can you think of at least two complications for each of these moments?
- Will these complications push your characters in way s that make them uncomfortable?
- What additional settings will these complications demand?
- Which character will be the protagonist?
- Which character will be affected most by the inciting event?
- Does the character have at least two major problems or anxieties in his life? Which offers the most potential for conflict and drama?
- How does this problem affect other characters?
Look for the answers that really add to the drama and the conflict, and that can really create an arc for your characters. Those are the things that everybody loves to read about, and will make an impact on your readers. I'm going to have to sit down and ponder on all of these for my story.
She suggests taking time for some brainstorming, which is when you travel around giving exhibitions of flying and performing aeronautical stunts, I believe. It was popular in the 1920's, and I suppose it is the ancestor of the airshows that happen today with the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds. Oh, I'm sorry, R. 080-T is telling me that what I was just talking about is actually called barnstorming. Brainstorming, the droid says, is a process for coming up with ideas. Let's see what Weiland says, since I have no idea.
Give yourself some quiet time to let your mind wander. Don't censor yourself. No idea is too stupid to at least consider. Push your left brain into the closet for a while, so your right brain can be free to wander. You can square your ideas with logic later. Focus on your senses. Maybe you'll just get images or smells or sounds or tastes or feelings. Those could be the very crux of your story, but if you don't pay attention, you might miss them. And listen to your gut instinct. If it feels like there is something wrong, or something missing, or whatever, follow that feeling until you figure out what it is.
Let me add my one suggestion to all of that. Turn your phone onto the voice memo program, and record yourself while you do all of this brainstorming and daydreaming. Talk your way through it all out loud. It's my trick to keep myself on topic. If I just sat under a tree somewhere, looking at the clouds and pondering the intricacies of my upcoming story, it wouldn't be long before I was wondering who would be playing Moon Knight in the upcoming Disney Plus series, how many more commutes did I have left before I had that fatal accident that would end my life, and how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could, in fact, chuck wood.
So, there's chapter three. I've got my sentence. I need to ask myself some what ifs, some what is expecteds, and that list of questions above, to get some more depth in my story.
Up next is Chapter 4 General Sketches, Pt. 1: connecting the Dots. I have no idea what that might mean, so it should be interesting.
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