So you wrote a premise, now what?

When I sat down to muse over what to write about for this week’s subject title, I asked myself, “Now, if I’m The Unknown Author, why in the blog world do I think anyone out there would care about my advice?”  Which got me thinking, why not write a premise for this week’s subject. 

 What if an unknown author, who sets out on a soul searching journey to share their writing experiences with other aspiring writers, discovers the true meaning behind putting off their next great story? 

After celebrating my success in creating a premise I neatly tucked it away in my “great ideas for a story” file, allowing me to put off having to actually sit down and turn it into something.  Why is it when we writers get a great story idea, or for any of you non-writers out there who just enjoy reading my collection of words this could apply to any of your great ideas, we tend to put off the really hard work of actually turning it into something?   I once read a long time ago procrastination is a trademark of geniuses.  Now I hardly consider myself a genius but for the sake of argument {fade in} classical music blaring in background, the unknown author sits upon an old rickety chair pounding away on the next big seller {fade out} 

Okay so the truth of the matter is I believe the real culprit is not procrastination, but fear.  Yes, I’m willing to share my inner conflict; the fear of failure.  As I said, I don’t think of myself as a genius, but I do consider myself a perfectionist and that is where my inner conflict comes in.  It seems to only arise at times when I want to be the best I can and that pesky little voice of my co-author in life, better known as my subconscious, says to me, “What if it’s not good enough?”  Do you have a co-author like that too?  If so, how do you overcome and achieve? 

Now that we have established a clue as to why some of us put off until tomorrow, or maybe even the next day, in writing the next great story let’s follow the clue and see where it leads us. . .  (For me, creating a relaxed atmosphere helps to drown out my pesky co-author’s voice.  So I set the digital station on my satellite to classical, burn my favorite scented candle, dim the lights and power up the laptop.  Do you have any ritual that helps you to get into the writing zone?) 

 I reach into my "great ideas for a story" file and pull out this week’s premise.  Okay, I know what I’m going to write about but something seems to be missing.  Now is a good time to think back about our clue.  But what does the fear of failure have to do with . . . wait I get it, what is my story going to be about?!  In other words, what’s the theme?  All good stories have a theme as a foundation.  Some examples are love, jealousy, trust, revenge . . . you get the picture.   So the theme for my premise is the fear of failure.  How did I come up with that theme?  It came from my inner conflict.  I find when I take some time and do some real soul searching my co-author is pretty good at creating good writing material. 

Finding my inner voice is crucial to survival in the life of an author.  It’s what keeps me driven, and it’s what drives my stories.  It’s also what has driven me to next week’s subject . . . passion.

Until next time,

Keep on striving, keep on thriving and keep on writing!


T.K. Millin
The Unknown Author