Lore & LilacStage 01 of 05
Spark
Find an idea worth a year of your life
Most novels begin as something smaller than a story: an image, a question, a person you can't stop thinking about. This stage is about catching those sparks, testing which ones can carry a whole book, and shaping the strongest into a premise you can say out loud.
Nothing here needs to be final. The aim is to start drafting or planning with a clear sense of who the story is about, what they want, and why it will be hard.
Guides in this stage
Will this idea last a whole novel? Tests to run before you commit
An afternoon of honest testing can tell you whether a spark has a novel's worth of fuel, and where it's thin.
7 min read
From spark to premise: saying your story in two sentences
A premise is the frame everything else hangs on; here's how to build one you can steer a whole draft by.
6 min read
Keeping an idea file (and research notes) you'll actually use
An idea file works when capturing is quick, sorting is regular, and every research note says where it came from.
6 min read
Key concepts
- PremiseThe core situation of a story in a sentence or two: who it's about, what they want, what stands in the way and what's at risk.
- LoglineA one- or two-sentence summary of a story that conveys its protagonist, central conflict and stakes, used mainly for pitching.
- Dramatic questionThe central yes-or-no question a story raises early and answers at the climax, which keeps the reader reading.
- ProtagonistThe central character whose wants, choices and change drive the main line of the story and give readers someone to follow.
- Want and needThe pairing of what a character consciously pursues (the want) with what they actually must learn or accept to be whole (the need).
- StakesWhat a character stands to gain or lose depending on whether they succeed, which gives the reader a reason to care about the outcome.
- MisbeliefA false idea about themselves or the world that a character holds at the start and that the story's events put under pressure.
- GenreA category of fiction defined by shared reader expectations about content, tone and, above all, the kind of experience and ending a book delivers.