Lesson 2 | Hacking the First Draft
First step. The Premise! Where are you going and what might get in your way?
Through my years of writing, I've seen most authors write the story and then try to pull the premise out of the story. But if you do this first, you no longer have to rack your brain trying to figure out what your story is about by condensing 70,000 words into one sentence. Plus you have a blueprint, small as it is, to follow during the course of writing.
I learned this trick from John Truby's Anatomy of Story. He calls it a plumbline. A wonderful book that I keep referring back to whenever I start a new novel. Pick up a copy if you can.
If you begin your entire writing journey by starting with the premise first, believe me, you'll save yourself a lot of grief, especially if you ever have to query an agent or write a blurb on the back of your book. You will save yourself time and create a better end product if you settle on a solid premise before you start writing.
So... get yourself a piece of paper, and from that creative mind of yours, write a premise. It's simple. You'll see hundreds of different ways to do it, mostly by people teaching query writing. It's too bad few of them tell you to do this before your novel is finished, but I'm telling you to do it first.
Here's what you need:
A protagonist in two words, e.g. young girl or a world-weary witch.
A goal. What does the protagonist want or need?
A situation or crisis the protagonist is facing.
EXAMPLE:
When his son is swept out to sea, an anxious clownfish embarks on a perilous journey across a treacherous ocean to bring him back. (Finding Nemo)
Write a premise for your story. Copy these questions on your notepad and write a few until you’re happy with it.
Who: This will be your protagonist.
What: The character's needs, what's their goal?
Conflict: The obstacle that the character must overcome.
Give your character a notable description i.e. young, old, troubled, angry. You don't need a name yet. I will talk more about creating characters a little later. Once we develop your character you might end up changing the adjective in this premise.
Remember, this is all tentative. Everything can be changed. It's your story.
If you're not writing fiction, but a memoir, look back on your life and focus on who you were, what your goals were as a child, and what in your life kept you from achieving those goals.
HOMEWORK: Perfect this, make it exciting enough that you want to write the story. Visualize how it might work. Get your creative juices cooking. Sleep on it tonight. Take notes. But don't start writing yet because lesson 3 is tomorrow. Remember, we're going through this novel-writing process step by step. Give yourself plenty of time to mull over your premise.
This is the foundation of your book. Make it strong!