I’d like to think I’ve gotten good at writing a synopsis, not that it doesn’t take me several drafts and advice from my wonderful critique partners. What I find tricky is coming up with a one sentence pitch that explains the premise of my book in a way that makes people say I have to read that book.
I always begin with this basic formula rolling through my thoughts:
The idea is to get to the who, what and why of a story.
I always begin with this basic formula rolling through my thoughts:
My novel is about ________ who must ________ in order to ________.
The idea is to get to the who, what and why of a story.
I was recently cleaning out my desk and came across an article by Gayle C. Krause in a 2008 copy of the SCBWI Bulletin on this very subject. Gayle had some great advice. She even included a few examples of well known books. Since examples always help kick start my thought process, I’m going to include Gayle’s below:
- Harry Potter: Sorcerer’s Stone – An orphan boy is schooled in the art of wizardry.
- Charlotte’s Webb – The story of one pig’s struggle to stay alive, and the spider who helps him.
- Magyk – The seventh son of the seventh son in a wizard family finds his true calling.
- The Golden Compass – Children living in parallel worlds deal with sorcery and shape-shifters.
If you’re still having problems, try writing your synopsis first. (See my blog post on Writing a 1-page synopsis for tips.) Having your synopsis written will help you cut through the emotional plot and sub plots to get to the main conflict. Once you have the synopsis, try writing the one sentence pitch again.
When you have a pitch you’re happy with, share your synopsis with your critique group or trusted readers and ask them to summarize your book from what they have read. Compare your pitch with their responses. Are they close? If so, you have a great pitch for your book.
Here’s my one sentence pitch for Embrace:
A teen girl discovers unseen forces and needs to embrace these forces to save her friends.
That one sentence took me a long time to come up with and I had some help from my editor. My first pitch was really two or three sentences combined with commas and semi-colons. It was cumbersome. Now when someone asks what my book is about I can tell them quickly and concisely.
Do you have any tips that helped you write your pitch?
Do you have any tips that helped you write your pitch?
This is common practice in Hollywood, not just for screenplays, but even script or TV series ideas. We had to capsulize everything in 1 sentence. Often that meant using other movie titles. Example: Aliens pitch - "Jaws in space." Those 3 words conveyed the entire movie by invoking images of a menacing man-eating creature terrorizing those in space.
ReplyDeleteFor books, authors are used to writing synopsis. However, these can often be several pages long. Rather than jumping from multi-page synopsis to 1 sentence, pare it down in stages.
1 page synopsis
1 paragraph synopsis
1 sentence pitch.
Great tip, Shawn. Paring it down in stages definitely helps. Thanks!
DeleteThese are all very helpful tips. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome.
DeleteI think it's harder to write the pitch than the book! Great tips!
ReplyDeleteI do too. I always dread it.
Deletewow, this is so timely for me. I'm struggling with a 35 word pitch for a contest. my book is fantasy, so I have to cram world building, character and plot. This is a very good start, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it helps!
DeleteIf you are good at synopses, you are ahead of most writers, Cherie.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason the one/two sentence pitch (the most essential part of the cover letter) is something I do easily. A 'come-on' line (as opposed to a summary) must be in my DNA. I've heard major publishers used to have folks for whom the dust-jacket pitch was a full time job. Now it is often left to the authors, even at the 'big six.'
Oh how I would LOVE someone to do my pitch. You should have seen some of mine until I finally got down to the who, what and why approach. It wasn't pretty. You're lucky it comes easy to you.
DeleteReally interesting read and some excellent advice, Cherie.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Ann that writing the synopsis is tougher than the book (in my experience so far) These days of self promotion/marketing the one line pitch is so important.
I think a lot of writers feel this way.
DeleteI like the pitch you came up with. I spent a great deal of time working on a 35 word pitch for a contest I'm thinking of entering, also to just have it on hand. I'm sure that there are some people who can condense their stories with ease. I just with I were one of them :-)
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone, Angela.
DeleteWow, I thought I was one of the few that got tongued when asked about my book. A one-liner? That's a challenge but thanks to your advice, it might be a tad easier. Thanks Cherie.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. I'm okay if you and I are just talking about our books, but I always try to have that elevator pitch ready for when I really do have to be quick and precise.
DeleteI did mine in the same vein that I write most of my status updates on Twitter. The space is so limited that you have to make sure all the words are useful.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good way to think about it. Thanks for the idea :)
DeleteAwesome tips. I have a hard time writing blurbs and pitches. I've been working on the one for my current WIP for a long time. This post really does help. Thank you. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. :)
DeleteI had a hard time coming up with a 300-word pitch (I mean, keeping it to 300 words or fewer) for a contest entry recently. Keeping it to one sentence--yikes! That would--or will, I should say--take me at least twice as long. I don't write novels because I'm good at being succinct. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt is a challenge. The 300-word pitch is always hit or miss with me. For my latest YA novel it was a disaster. The one before that I found to be easier.
DeleteThis is very helpful, Cherie. I know I'm not alone when I say I cringe at a thought of writing a pitch, query, and/or synopsis :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you found it helpful.
DeleteThanks, Cherie! Very helpful.
ReplyDeleteGlad you found it helpful!!
DeleteI'm struggling with the blurb for my next book. So when a friend said start with Once Upon a Time... I ran with it.
ReplyDelete"Once upon a time professor Jason Sinclair risked his life and his sanity to hunt the international killer who ran down his wife because of a dog."
It needs work, but by golly at least I finally have something to begin with. Yay!
Great post, Cherie. I'm now off to check out your synopsis post. Feels like I'm on a roll.
I like it. It's catchy. :)
Delete