If I were to ask you what your story is about, what would you say? While it seems like a simple questions, a lot of writers actually struggle with this. After all, how do you know how much information to give away? You want to hook readers in, but you don’t want to reveal too much about the story.

The answer to this is a story premise. This is a short paragraph that will perfectly describe your story every time. (The story premise is not to be confused with a book blurb, which is slightly longer description usually found on the back cover of a book.)

There are several elements to include in your premise that will give your readers enough information to be drawn towards your book.

1. The Protagonist

When you’re introducing your main character, you’ll want to give a brief description of them. To keep it short, I like to use only two or three descriptions. A few things you might want to indicate are their name, their age, their occupation, a favorite hobby of theirs, or any things that are important to your story.

2. The Situation

During your character introduction, you’ll want to offer a glimpse of the situation they’re in at the beginning of the story. This is what we would call “The Normal World,” which you can learn more about in my Plots and Character Arcs series. Insert linkThe situation might include the time period, the country, the state of the main character’s relationships, or any important events that happen just before or after the story begins.

3. The Objective

This is what we would refer to as “The Want” or “The Goal,” depending on what kind of arc your protagonist is on. The objective is the thing your main character wants more than anything else in the world, and it’s important to introduce it in your story’s premise. So whether they’re trying to save the world, their marriage, or a few extra bucks, make sure that your main character’s objective is clear.

4. The Opponent

If you don’t want to reveal the identity of your antagonist in the premise, make sure to only allude to his presence. So while you don’t have to actually give away your villain’s identity, you’ll want your audience to know that there is a villain. Of course, the antagonist doesn’t even have to be human. It could be a natural disaster, a robot, an out-of-control situation, an animal, or even the main character themselves. It all depends on your story.

5. The Disaster

Not only do you want to give your audience a glimpse of your antagonist, but you also want to show them that the threat is real. Whether you reveal the entire disaster, or simply allude to it, you need to let the audience know that bad things are coming for the main character. Often, the disaster you talk about in your premise will be The First Plot Point of your story (see aforementioned series if you don’t know what that is).

6. The Conflict

The antagonist and the disaster provide a lot of conflict on their own. But it’s important that you also draw your audience in using internal conflict. This means that you want to show any struggles your protagonist is having with either the supporting characters or within themselves.

So, now that you have all of the elements for a good premise, it’s time to put them together. It doesn’t matter a whole lot what order you put them in. Of course, you’ll usually want to introduce your protagonist first, but that doesn’t always have to be the case.

When you’re writing your premise, make sure not to get carried away. Only include a few bits of information for each element, and keep the length to about a paragraph. You don’t want your premise to get too long and boring, and you definitely don’t want to give too much away. Try to leave the audience with a question so that they’ll want to find out the answer.

Lastly, it’s a good idea to memorize your premise. That way, next time someone asks you what your story is about, you’ll have answer ready for them.

Comment below the premise for your story!