Searching for a premise

Do you want story ideas based on the character you described, or just ideas on helping to come up with your own storyline?

I couldn't even think of thinking to start writing a book without have a premise (and title).

The way I do it (and I admit it's kind of different) is I come up with a cool title that my editors like then I write a one sentence "log line" that describes the premise of the title. Then I write a one paragraph summary of the story from beginning to end. By the time I am done with this the premise and the structure of the book to be are fairly clear.

For starters . . .

The method John described is similar to the "snowflake method": http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/art/snowflake.php

Some people like doing it this way, and some find it somewhat stifling. You might at least take a look at it and see if it's something you would find helpful.

alleycat said:

Some people like doing it this way, and some find it somewhat stifling. You might at least take a look at it and see if it's something you would find helpful.

Click to expand...

I need stifling or else I would be roaming all over the place and never get anything done.

And while I do start with a fairly complete road map of the book I do allow myself to take detours now and then.

I don't know how good an idea it is for us to think up a premise for you ...you may find it interesting now but if its not truly your idea you will lose interest quickly IMO. But I will say, since you do have an MC, get to know her better and perhaps she will lead you to the story -this is how it works for me.
From what you said about your MC and your sci-fi/fantasy romance interest, I could think of a few questions. Like what abuse did she survive –in sci-fi/fantasy anything is possible and what we consider to be abuse may not be the same in her society. Explain why this is abuse and if she desires to protect others from said abuse -perhaps a story may develop from this.
Or does being a female warrior play heavily in her life -like is she one of the few females to be a warrior or is she from a society where sexism doesn't enter the equation and females are as strong as or stronger than their male counterpart?
If it’s a romance, she’s going to need a HEA so you should think of the mate best suited for her and why (s)he is suited for the MC.
What is her function in her society? Being a female warrior is good but is she on the bottom of the food chain or is she the queen bee.
Just some questions that may help you dig deeper in your character and perhaps discover a compelling premise.

I think your best bet is to take your theme ("You can have a full life after abuse") and apply it to both the character (her full description--lady warrior, pansexual, etc.) and the various subjects you're interested in (Japanese culture, how societies work, etc.) and see how the different ideas mesh and how they might conflict with each other. Where they conflict, that's where good ideas for an actual plot could come into play.

For example, the woman's past as an abuse survivor has affected how she's viewed in her particular society, and she has to take up the mantle of warrior to overcome certain things, all within (or beyond) the constraints of the society she's living in. I realize that's very vague and general, and would need a lot more to become an actual story, but I can't come up with your plot. Just a suggestion. Try to find a way that all the various things can tie together or conflict with each other and you might come up with some ideas.

A premise has to contain a few words about the major action/plot happening in a story. It's usually also good to think in terms of a problem that needs to be solved. You can even split the premise into two clauses or sentences, one for the problem and one for how the mc acts in attempting to solve and/or avoid it.

Personally I write more than one premise, because I think each plot strand needs its own - one for the main character's internal conflict, one for the main character vs. the other character(s), one for each other important character, and one for the 'objective' viewpoint of the story that looks at the cast and world as a whole rather than being biased towards the main character. But, I don't write premises at all unless/until I get stuck on actually writing the story.

Seems like you're trying to write a character-driven story...

So why not just drop your character in the middle of a situation in your world and then see where it leads you?

Your warrior does have to have a problem to overcome. The overcoming of sexual abuse is the internal part. Now she needs to have an external conflict to face. It can be personal, or global, whatever. In order to develop that external conflict it sounds like you'll need to do some world-building. You say you're not interested in western European cultures. Good! You'll be writing something different from everyone else. But I'm not going to throw darts at your board until I hit the right one for you. You have to do some thinking and come up with something, maybe something that doesn't exist yet.

Personally I take a bath and think about situations I want my MC in. The MC and I sometimes chat, too. But I make those situations as dramatic, powerful and horrible and interesting as I can, and then it's a matter of figuring out what conditions would create those situations and/or lead to them.

I save the most compelling and difficult situation for the climax. Gotta save the best for last.

You can do it without an outline (I do it without outlining) but if you're struggling to find structure you can snowflake or outline some other way. It may help.