: Re: Story first approach in plot outlining I have been wondering a lot recently about a method of writing which I haven't read about anywhere but seems like it must exist. It would fall somewhere

@Murray831

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I have seen some books that talk about a related idea. Stanley D. Williams's The Moral Premise focuses more heavily on what life lesson the story illustrates. Williams doesn't necessarily encourage starting with the moral premise in mind. That can lead to a pitfall that I'll say more about below.

Sandra Scofield has a very nice, short audio workshop about Writing from Premise. This is not the same as Williams's moral premise. It's about what you are trying to say with the story.

Your approach less about the premise (the point you are trying to make with the story), and more like a one-line description focused on the core challenge or conflict. Some people call that the "spine" or the "through line." See for example Robert McKee's Story. Others refer to "the dramatic question," which is a related idea.

Randy Ingermanson developed an approach he calls "the snowflake method." You start with a one-liner (perhaps similar to your approach), then incrementally expand it into a plot. Lots of people like that approach.

I have never written a story starting from the spine/through-line/premise. My preference these days is to start with as little as I possibly can, and see where it goes. I don't know whether that makes my stories any better, and it frequently leads me into dead ends that I can't write my way out of, but it gets me writing.

One pitfall I've heard when writing from premise is that the story may feel forced, rather than organically arising from the characters. Depending on how strongly the premise includes a moral element, the story can come out sounding less like a story and more like a lecture.

Some writers avoid the pitfall by writing the first draft without having a theme strongly in mind. When they're done, they discover the theme in their draft. Then while they revise, they consciously edit to support the theme.

Bottom line:
I think that anything that helps you put words on the page is good.

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