Skip to main content

Knowing Your Premise Before Sitting Down to Write

On Sunday's I'm a guest blogger from time to time at Utah Children's Writers. This past weekend I submitted a post about the importance of knowing your premise.



 Knowing Your Premise Before Sitting Down to Write:



Lately I’ve been reading a lot of books sent to me from
authors that have both traditionally and non-traditionally (be it
self-published, P.O.D or any other format out these days) published books from
children to main stream. Many I have enjoyed, while others I have walked away
with thoughts of how the story could have been better. But the one thing I
noticed no matter how the author went about publishing the book is this…the
stories I truly enjoyed, related to and found myself lost in as a reader all
had a well defined premise.
All well told stories start with a premise. This isn’t me
just stating my own belief about writing or how it works for me as an author
sitting down to write. This is a hardcore truth we all must face and if we as
writers sit down without knowing this premise to our story before our fingers
hit the keys—we need to be honestly open to feedback we get before and after we
publish our work.
 
Read more of my guest post at Utah Children's Writers: Knowing Your Premise Before Sitting Down to Write

Popular posts from this blog

The Comeback of 2D Animation: Why We’re Craving Realness Again

There’s something happening in animation right now that’s worth paying attention to—not because it’s simply nostalgic, but because it’s deeply human. As someone who works in the mental health and creative storytelling space, I can’t help but see these conversations about art, AI, and hand-drawn storytelling as part of a bigger theme: our collective hunger for authenticity. We live in a time where AI-generated content is everywhere—convenient, efficient, and often soulless. It’s not surprising that artists and audiences alike are looking back toward something that feels more tactile, more imperfect, more human. That brings us to 2D animation, an art form that has shaped generations and now, it seems, might just be making a comeback. Here’s what Language of the Soul podcast host, Dominick Domingo, had to say on this trend: There’s been a lot of industry talk lately speculating about 2D/traditional ANIMATION making a comeback. Recent articles confirm that although Disney has not greenlit...
Read more

We're All Souls: The Spiritual Thread of Mental Health with Carolyn Coleridge

  By Virginia Grenier I’ve long believed that healing is more than just symptom reduction. It’s not just about coping skills or cognitive restructuring—it’s about uncovering the deeper threads that shape who we are and how we move through the world. That belief is exactly why this latest episode of Language of the Soul resonated so deeply with me. Our guest, Carolyn Coleridge, is a psychotherapist, intuitive, and healer who has spent over 30 years at the intersection of traditional therapy and spiritual insight. In our conversation, Carolyn shared something that’s stuck with me since we recorded: “We’re all souls. That’s my premise.” It sounds simple, but when you really sit with it, that one sentence flips the entire clinical model on its head. What if instead of viewing our clients—or ourselves—as broken minds to be fixed, we saw each of us as whole souls navigating a very human experience? That’s the lens Carolyn brings into her work and into this conversation. And honestl...
Read more

Five Tips for a More Marketable Children’s Picture Book Manuscript by Mayra Calvani

The world of children’s picture book publishing is extremely competitive. If you’re an aspiring children’s author, you need to make sure your manuscript is in excellent shape and has all the elements editors and agents look for before you begin the submission process. Here are five tips to make your picture book manuscript more marketable: Start right with the problem.  Many times beginner writers begin a picture book with back-story. It’s okay to have this back-story in the first draft, but be sure to get rid of it when you edit. Back-story is unnecessary 90% of the time and it only serves to slow down the beginning of a story, making it weaker. You want to grab the reader right from the start. So don’t be afraid to begin your story at the heart of the problem. It’s okay to set the stage with a sentence or two—but no more! Have a protagonist readers can relate to. Generally, children like to listen to stories about other children or animals with children’s characteristics. ...
Read more