“basking in the sun” by devi laskar
I don’t always start a project this way. Sometimes I write about the idea I’m having, or try to write the thing out without doing any planning. Invariably, I come back to making a plan because I get lost. All projects feel too big. I need to break them down. And I need to find the root of the story that makes me excited to write it. How do I do that? Well, I brainstorm on what excites me about the idea. I’m not going to share my brainstorming because I do think talking TOO much about what you’re writing can kill your energy for a project.
Step One: So step one you do on your own. Make a mind map, write a freewrite exploring the feelings, images and characters or completely cerebral idea that brought you to consider this project. Collect it all in your mental basket. You’ll need this for the next part of this project. Give yourself fifteen minutes, not more. Just pull it all together in a free form way. Then sit back and make sure you’ve got everything you can think of. Your gut will tell you if you’re missing something. And when we make the premise and log line, you’ll have a chance to gut check again.
Step Two: Now that you have your basket of fun, we’re going to write what Lajos Egri calls a “premise.” It’s sort of the emotional thesis statement. Egri has lots to say about this idea, and you can read about it in his work The Art of Dramatic Writing.
But for now think of premise this way:
1) Your premise is the emotional root of your writing.
2) And your premise does take the form of an argumentative statement.
I’ll give you an example and you’ll have the urge to argue with the truth of the statement. “Peace conquers self-interest.”
Here’s the form of a premise: Giant abstract statement does something to another giant abstract statement. It’s a belief that you as the author carry and want to pass off as TRUTH (there’s nothing wrong with that; it’s your unique personal view).
For the piece I’m working on, my first attempt at a premise is: “Being part of a community will overcome being on your own.”
Well, that doesn’t quite meet what I want to write about. I know “community” is my first abstract statement, what I want to do something to something else. The piece is sort of an anti-super hero spoof. And duh, being part of a community will overcome being alone because you’re not alone when you’re in a community. That’s a gut and brain check. So how about: “A community of ordinary folks working together is stronger than “special” people working alone.”
And that’s my premise. Seems very bland and general. It is. But it covers my emotional truth. And it makes you want to argue with it. Great. I’ve got my premise.
Step Three: Now on to a logline. A log line in this sense is a paraphrasing of your whole story in one sweep. So in this case, I might write, “A super hero loves the dependence of a community on her special powers until she faces the strongest villain ever — one she can’t beat alone. She must teach the community to stand on its own without her in order to save them all.”
Okay, that’s two sentences. But it’s okay, it covers my whole story. I know where my character starts at the beginning, and I can see her arc over the course of the story. I can also intuit how it will end. I’m actually pretty happy with log line — especially since we’re in the middle of moving and I’m fitting this in between moving boxes and looking for something to cook in. You get the idea. The beginning, middle and end are there, the challenge is there.
Why do I mention this? All of this — the brainstorming, the premise, the logline, should all feel flexible and easy. It’s the first building block of your story. But it’s also the rough outline of your sculpted story. Doesn’t have detail, isn’t perfect and it’s not forever.
Okay — your assignment:
1. Brainstorm for 15 minutes and collect everything that feels important to you about this project.
2. Write a premise. If your brain automatically thinks “but that’s not true (or so-and-so wouldn’t agree) and here’s why” you’re on track.
3. Write one to two sentences that give the general sweep of your story.
Fill in your thoughts below and let me know how the process worked for you. I can’t wait to see what you come up with — in public!
Angie, you really want these here? Not a thread? Anyway, thanks for the good exercise. This is the start of my next book, though there are some things that came up that clarify the current book so triple thanks. I’ve been wanting to get something “formal” down about that book, and now it’s started. I’ve been doing geneaology research that of course pertains to both. Happy moving! Send pictures!
1. So Aunt Serena was fighting all alone to be what she wanted to be I can’t believe she wasn’t bitter and difficult in some ways when she was a child because she became old and querulous, and a spinster but she must have loved very deeply and cared the way petals care and need care and there she was wanting as a young woman wanting to marry a Catholic which one? And her mother put the squash on that according to my mother Serena never recovered and we will never know more because my grandmother burned her journal after Serena died my mother, grandmother and I were in the same room (a complete rarity) things happen in ordinary families and for my grandmother it was a confession I realize now at the time I was 11 or so and I thought she was nuts I didn’t understand the sheepish look on her face “I burned Serena’s journal” “Why’d you do that?” me incredulous My mother didn’t have a reaction that I could see she must have felt something I feel some need for my grandmother to be defended because she was awful just awful jut awful to hide to destroy forever anything that Serena really held dear fortunately I’m here but still, the cost, the cost, the cost, the cost of Grandma doing that, why did she? She was the only stable one of the four, not alcoholic not sex crazed not crushed down she did her own sort of crushing now that I think about this it is so intense are all families this intense? But Serena kept trying she illustrated that book she wrote poetry and wrote to newspapers and lived — Jerry was so upset when she died I remember they didn’t tell him right away at the Farm, what was he doing there, anyway well yes so they did do some things right at the farm at the end of life, it was the middle part they couldn’t fathom Serena tried writing for the comics that one time that we know of what was she doing since then all these years up until 1966? I never ever saw her after that one time at Grandma and Grandpas but she was alive until I was 11, my mother never took me to her and she loved being with Serena even Bob loved going to see Serena which was a surprise to find out from Karen but also according to Karen or was this face to face with Bob? They weren’t supposed to talk about Serena: I know: she tried to kill herself at least once. She probably had an eating disorder and so maybe this goes down to my mother, too, with her eating disorder and then me I do not have eating disorders I do like control, though I inherited so much of Grandma that way, order in front of lots and lots f Chaos.
2. Premise: My family has failed its members by not valuing the Dionysian in those who can’t help but act on it.
3. Logline: A woman who tries to live as an artist dies unfulffilled, childless and alone and her attempts to bear witness to life are taken up by the generations who come up after her.
This was a most helpful exercise. I got so excited I even color-coded my mind map!
Premise: Actions, even “naughty” ones, transform loneliness.
Logline: The Shakespeare Twins, missing their extraordinary father, will go to almost any lengths, including “naughty” ones, to maintain communication with him when he is in faraway London.
First of all thank you guys for hanging in there with me – We’re moving and my internet won’t be up until next week so for now, I am depending on the kindness of strangers for my internet connection…
So yes, Melanie – great. Love the free form exploration, the collection of notes about what is important to you. And yes, we aren’t doing this in a forum thread because this activity is actually open to anyone who wants to do it, and the forums are only inside of the BWW for now.
How did developing a premise feel? I’m a little caught between the premise and the logline. Try taking a step back into generalities in your premise – which you are close to. It can help clarify the logline. Right now the premise sounds like the work is about loss, but the logline sounds like the work is about redemption in some way. What do you think? Is it loss? Is it redemption? Something else? I’m excited to see this as we go along. I think it will be interesting and cerebral in the best sense. You’ve done a great job completing the arc here – there is clear movement on the part of the characters. There is an implication that this taking up of bearing witness is a good thing. Go ahead and say it right out here in your logline. Great work.
Judith! Great to see you here as well. I think you should take a picture of your color coded mind-map and post it for us! Great work on the premise. Simple, straight forward and clear. You’ve gotten the abstractions down, and you might even explore a bit something more specific than “actions.” It’s hard to avoid taking action on some level. Do the characters tend to have difficulty taking action? Are they overly obedient, and so this adventure is a change of some kind for them? You could even focus just on the “naughty” actions. And to what is the loneliness transformed? Community? Intimacy? Those are still abstract, but a little more specific abstractions. If that isn’t an oxymoron.
The logline does a great job of giving us tone of the piece as well as informing us about the arc of these characters. Great job!!
Thanks, Angie. That was so helpful. Not exactly off the top of my head, I’d say it’s about redemption. I’ll rework it later, though. Reading yours, Judith, helped a lot, too. It was great to read!
This is all hindsight, but I am having the Worst Time going back to pull out the basic thread of the book. I just went through last week’s exercise and gave it a shot. I will post what I did, even though it does not pass the gut test. I wrote this before reading the above comments– and I learned a lot from the conversation and examples, so I am going back to the writing board, but I am putting my efforts, flat as they are, here.
1. Brainstorm for 15 minutes and collect everything that feels important to you about this project.
Ho hum
dadt
choice
authority
discipline
rhythm
you are enough
but need info
clarity
love
anger
guilt
fear
action
conversation
inspiration
understanding
commiseration
recognition
guidance
sharing
inspiration
ideas
practical
useful
easy to read
equality
offering
judgment- none
make life a bit easier
get along with kids
less stress
more harmony
even keel
act with less doubt
permission to act
companionship and support
truth
perspective, ways to see
problem solving
clarity– see self, see kids
learn the value of language
meet conflict, emotions
toolbox- emotional and practical
beacon of light,
find own path but not walking it alone
2. Premise: Nothing is more important to parents than doing a good job raising their children, but they are missing crucial information.
3. Parents, who want nothing more than to do the right thing in raising their children, worry that they will never be enough. By learning how to remove the obstacles of guilt and fear, their path will be clear.
This is harder than writing the whole freaking book.
OK, following your advice to get more to generalities in the premise, and taking a cue from your comment that the premise should be my emotional truth and that it should incite argument…. here goes: (and if I didn’t already have a whole book written, you would think I was poaching Judith’s premise, which I am in a way… you could just substitute loneliness for guilt, anger, worry, fear)
Premise: Parents don’t need to be better; they need to do better.
Logline: Still working on it.
Logline: By learning how to get past the most common roadblocks, parents will feel energized, motivated and inspired to act.
Limping along here!!
NEW PREMISE: Redemption only makes sense if there is loss.
NEW LOGLINE: A spinster dies leaving a legacy of unfulfillment, loss and loneliness, all of which are redeemed by the efforts of the generations who come after her.
Premise and logline on My Backyard (not the same as above):
Premise: Family happiness depends acting on two maxims: the Serenity Prayer (knowing what you can change and what you can’t, and being able to tell the difference) and the reverse (Jewish?) Golden Rule (don’t do anything to anybody you don’t want done to you)
Logline: Having received the apology she craved from her mother only two weeks earlier, Cassidy finds her mother in the hospital. While attempting to get along with her angry and then dying mother and then accepting the services of the palliative care team, Cassidy finds herself musing over her own first eleven years, starting from her parents’ unhappy marriage and ending with her own earliest discovery what things happen — and don’t — when you take your life in your hands, until the palliative care team comes in and turns off life support.
OK, this is it. This logline is more accurate. The premise is the same.
Premise: Family happiness depends acting on two maxims: the Serenity Prayer (knowing what you can change and what you can’t, and being able to tell the difference) and the reverse (Jewish?) Golden Rule (don’t do anything to anybody you don’t want done to you)
Logline: Faced with her mother’s death and her own eleven year-old’s daughter’s growing up, Cassidy Song finds herself going back over her own first eleven years, starting from her parents’ unhappy marriage and ending with the discovery of what it means to take your life in your hands.