How did you come up with your premise for your books?

Jul 3, 2014 | Q & A

How to come up with the premise for books

How to come up with the premise for books

There are a lot of different ways I come up with the premise for my book and stories for anthologies.

These include:

  • Rewriting history – some of the chapter books I use memories from when I was a child and put the endings I wish had happened.
  • Something bugging me – with the story of the Princess and the Pea that was included in Teapot Tales: a collection of unique fairy tales, it had always bugged me that the princess hadn’t done anything to work out what was causing her to have a miserable night sleep – so I changed it in my retelling.
  • Something I’m interested in – there are a few stories I’m working on that started because I wanted people to learn about some cool things in history.
  • Random ideas – occasionally, a random story idea will pop into my head and, as I write it, it will turn into a book.

For me, I never know what is going to prompt a story idea. It could even be a comment on a blog!

Latest Blogs

What I’ve Read – March 2026

What I’ve Read – March 2026

I can't believe March is already over! I've recently come back from a two week holiday to Nepal. It was AMAZING, and I got quite a few books read. Before I left, I worked hard at finishing most of the books I had on the go. Here's what I read during March: Far From...

BTS – 3, 2, 1, Done!

BTS – 3, 2, 1, Done!

In 2011, my younger son became unwell with glandular fever. He was nine years old and he never quite bounced back. A couple of years later, he was diagnosed with ME/CFS, otherwise known as chronic fatigue syndrome. So many people seemed to think this was a condition...

BTS – 3, 2, 1, Done!

BTS – 52 Blog Post Ideas for Authors

Welcome to the behind the scenes for my next book. This time it's an ebook. When I got back to creative writing in 2011, I had recently closed my business, Business Mums Network. I had started this business in 2002 and a big part of that was blogging. It was natural...