Rob Parnell's Writing Academy Blog

I've been reading a few thrillers recently, branching out into authors I'm unfamiliar with. I thought this might be good for my writing - to get to know what other writers are doing. I noticed a pattern, as is my wont. Good reads are not always just about drama, conflict and characterization. More and more there seems to be a need for an over-arcing theme that is independent of the story. Often this will take the form of an historical event or a branch of science or an intimate affinity to a subject unfamiliar to the reader. I remember that Stephen King once said that he'd noticed that novels written by people with specialized knowledge had less trouble getting published than himself sometimes. (Who knew?) Tradesmen who knew how to fix fences or pan for gold - and who weaved their specialization into their fiction - could sometimes create stories that were more compelling than mere dramas. I suppose that's why certain authors have used their former profe...

I was asked this question by an esteemed subscriber this week and thought it might make an interesting article. In the publishing and movie industry the terms theme and premise are bandied around liberally - and it's assumed that writers know the difference, even if agents, publishers and marketing  people are not so up on the precise meanings. Basically the premise to a story is your starting point. It's the idea behind it - its reason to be. I've seen members of writer's groups ask the question: "Can you write a story without a premise?" I would have to say you could try - but fairly soon you'd run out of things to say. You need a premise to give a story legs. Besides which, most writers are able to sum up what their story is about - or going to be about - in a short sentence of two. So what makes a premise? Mostly an intriguing idea, a what-if scenario or a justaposition of two disparate notions fused together. The premise is usually an...