Part
Premise
You might say: the idea, what if, story idea
The core situation: a character in a setting with a problem. It often starts as a what-if question.
- What it does
- Gives every later choice a test: does this serve the premise?
- Ask
- Who is in trouble, where, and why can she not walk away?
- Trouble
- You cannot say what the book is about without listing events.
Parts
- Logline: The whole novel in one sentence.
- Promise and payoff: Every promise the story makes, it must keep.
- Dramatic question: The question the story raises early and answers late.
- Stakes: What the character loses if she fails.
Connections
- See also: Theme
Sources
- Story Grid, “How to Write a Novel”, Your Story Idea; The story premise
The story premise is defined as a character in a setting with a problem.
- Lajos Egri, The Art of Dramatic Writing, Premise, pp. 1–4 (extract PDF)
The premise will show you the road.
Use it on your project
teardown-apply: hold "Premise" (premise) from the teardown at https://teardownatlas.com/fiction-writing/ against my project
Paste it into a coding agent that has the teardown skills.
An AI agent wrote this map with the teardown skill. It can contain errors: check the sources before you rely on a part. About and legal