Finish Writing Your Novel Now!, Novel Writing Assignments

How to Write a Novel: Concept and Premise

Are you ready to start writing your novel? At the end of today’s post, you’ll find two brief writing assignments to help you get started!

Two basic elements of story

In novel writing, a concept and a premise are two different elements of a story. A concept is a basic idea or notion that provides the foundation for a story. It is the starting point for a novel and is usually expressed in a single sentence. For example, “a young girl discovers she has magical powers and must defeat an evil wizard to save the world” is a concept for a fantasy novel.

Every novel has both a concept and a premise at its core. Image created using Canva AI Image Generator.

A premise, on the other hand, is a more detailed description of the story. It includes the characters, setting, plot, and conflict, and explains how the concept will be explored in the novel. A premise is usually expressed in a paragraph or a few sentences. For example, “In a world of magic and dragons, 11-year-old Hermione Granger discovers she is a witch and must join forces with her friends Ron and Harry to stop the dark wizard Voldemort from taking over the wizarding world” is a premise for the novel Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

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