My solution

Many authors find themselves floundering while working on novels. Even those who outline chapters and compose character profiles become lost. Often they travel in endless circles trying to reconnect with their work. Some begin with a plot idea and end up with everything but the original. Not that this doesn’t happen at times. It’s not unusual to begin writing and discover chapters later that your story is moving in a different direction. Sometimes it works; but not always. Many times you’re just lost.

I’ve been there so frequently in the past, it was frustrating. I was endlessly stumped and couldn’t work through some of my novels. In other cases my plot wandered in so many directions it became convoluted and confusing. At that point I searched for a positive solution and found it when a former agent of mine mentioned the word ‘Premise’. It was the easiest answer but it kept eluding me. Simply put: The premise can be compared to a Theorem: a proposition embodying something to be proven. To simplify it even more—whether it’s a novel, short story or a screenplay—all works implant a suggestion in readers’ minds. These suggestions come from ideas the writer is willing to prove.

Choosing a premise is paramount to continuity in your story. For example: an easy premise is `Crime Doesn’t Pay’. In the early 1930’s and 40’s, this premise was heavily used in movies. If you’re a film buff and have seen WHITE HEAT with James Cagney, or BONNIE AND CLYDE with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, the criminal always paid in the end in those movies, sometimes through a lengthy jail sentence, and sometimes through death from a shootout with the police. It was important for the writer to prove his/her premise that ‘Crime Doesn’t Pay’. This was due to the fact that at one time film and publishing censors worked with a Code of Ethics and Morality that ruled or you were finished. God forbid a thief went free and the public received the wrong message--that crime did pay and stealing profitable. Therefore, if your thief went free at the end your work was discarded.

Those writers were very aware of sticking to their premise or they were never published, their screenplays never made into movies. Today, however, with changing times and changing morality a writer has the freedom to use, ‘Crime Does Pay’ so long as they prove their theorem.

The important part here is the
proving of the theorems so that readers have a clear perception of your message. Most often the premise or theorem is the silent message readers receive without realizing it. It doesn’t have to be glaring statement. In fact, it’s better if the premise remains a proven idea implanted in a readers’ or viewers’ mind.

What if a writer decided to revive the ages old Lindbergh Baby kidnapping that took place in 1932? What if the writer performed extensive research and discovered new evidence proving that Bruno Hauptmann, the alleged executed kidnapper, was innocent? Using the premise, ‘Things are not always as they seem’, it would be up to the writer to prove his point. Focusing on his/her premise, the writer would be nailed to the plot and there would be less chance of him/her straying. A premise becomes intense and rides heavily on a writer’s mind. To coin a legal phrase, ‘The Burden of Proof’ lies with the writer.

Researching the story and presenting their side of it becomes an almost overwhelming obsession. Everything written has to be tied in with the premise so that the writer can prove their point, leaving little room for wandering off track with your plot.

Another oft used premise these days is, ‘Good vs. Evil’. With the ongoing investigations of many Biblical stories and subsequent revelations of the dark side many scholars and Biblical characters faced, this theme is riding a wave of success. What’s important here is to have a better than average knowledge of your material in the sense of familiarity; not only with the Bible but with the underground evil determined to undo everything that goodness stands for. Choosing this sort of premise will keep you focused on the plot because of the amount of research required. When choosing a difficult and complicated premise such as this, researching material seems a never ending process. Plus, the overwhelming passion to prove your premise, that either good or evil wins out in the end will keep you focused. In my novels, the evil side never won. I preferred it that way.

In a previous paragraph I mentioned changing horses in mid stream if you’ll pardon the cliché. Meaning, sometimes a writer is mid plot and comes up with a much better idea of where the plot is going. This is fine. It happens to thousands of writers. However, if the change is enough to cause a fault line in your premise, then you must review the previous chapters to be assured that they gel with the rest of your plot. You must also be mindful of the premise. If changing your plot means a changing premise, review your entire manuscript or you’ll find yourself floundering again.