Today’s post is a bit of silly fun. Why not? We are nearing the end of summer and your kids may already be back in school.
Need help creating the pitch for your book? It is a common thought that there is a formula for the pitch of a new book. (It’s sort of true.) I’ve been inspired by the article found on the Electric Lit website from March 28, 2019. Visit their page and website. (They have a bunch of fun infographics to enjoy, found here.) They suggest that the formula is:
“A/An ___ ___ about a/an ___ ___ ___ to ___ his/her/their ___.”
While that may sound easy, it’s finding the right words for those blanks that’s hard. So they created the handy-dandy, colorful chart below. You’ll need to click through to enlarge it on your screen. (Click here for a larger view of the chart below.)
Now take the letters from your first name (and last if needed) to create your pitch. If you’d like, post your results in the comments below. Have fun!
By the way, my pitch is scintillating. It is “A high-voltage page-turner about an agoraphobic private investigator’s dream to transcend writers block.”
What’s yours?
By the way, while this may seem silly, it does point out a starting point for your pitch. Can you take your work in progress and find the right words that actually describe your book in one sentence? Don’t post your real story below unless you’d like to. Our fun today is using this handy-dandy chart and creating smiles.
Fun Fridays – August 20, 2021
Thank you so much for this post Mr Laube! It is an eyeopener. I have never tried to write about any of my books in one sentence in a very specific way like you did for ‘writers block’!! Thanks and God bless you!
New assignment for me!
A profound story about a depressed child’s dream to reawaken her untimely death…hmmm
Oh my, I used my name and placed together this pitch. A psycho sexual war epic of an agoraphobic dictator’s
Failure to circumnavigate his birthright.
Yikes, this is not my genre, humm maybe, I should stretch and give it a shot . Sounds pretty thrilling.
“Lyrical noir depressed writer’s devotion pursue fear of spiders”
Clearly, I need to change my name!
A lyrical autobiographical novel about an unlucky child’s failure to explore his traumatic childhood.
Well….
Steve, I’d love to take part but due to the demise of my hard drive am using a phone and cannot enlarge the table.
So, if I may offer this…
Seven young and lovely girls
for seven handsome brothers,
but the guys got quick gray curls
when they met the lasses’ mother’s,
seven Gorgon harridans
of shrewish mien, so sharp,
who, when they learned of marriage plans
began to growl and carp.
The brothers harked on back to Elah,
the shepherd’s slingshot song,
and chose to send the bravest fella
against the stoutest mom,
David facing mad Sasquatch,
the mother of a mud-wrestling match!
Bwa-ha-ha Andrew! One of your best!
Thanks, Roberta!
Steve, I’m confused…where did you get the initial letters for your pitch in this blog?
H, V, P, T, A, P, I, D, T, W, B are not your initials and not letters from the alphabet.
I’m sure I’m missing a joke somewhere, but I can’t work it out.
Look at the chart for the hint.
If you can’t see the chart on your newsletter feed, it is linked in the post:
column A – S=High Voltage
column B – T=Page Turner
column C – E=Agoraphobic
Etc.
Steve, I like your pitch. I never looked at my name from this view, and the topic never entered my mind for a story of “a compulsively readable thriller about a dissatisfied mother’s mission to embrace her eating disorder.” I’ll give it some thought, possibly for a psychological mystery.
Thanks for the fun, Marilyn
“A keenly observed thriller about a dissatisfied orphan’s adventure to circumvent her fear of spiders.” That would work if I wrote thrillers–like Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” 😀
A darkly comic thriller about a doomed mistresses’ commitment to overcome her feminism. Oh my…
I didn’t use my name, but looked at suggested words. I came up with this for my current work-in-progress Journey to Senility. A desperate caregiver’s mission to discover her great aunt’s secret before dementia steals it forever.
wow – that sounds amazing!
“A surreal war epic about an unlucky mother’s promise to grapple with her fear of spiders.”
I could have written this story when my teenage son’s tarantula escaped its tank. This mom didn’t sleep well for days, until my son finally found the hairy thing peeking around the corner of a kitchen cabinet.
A profound thriller about a drug-addicted man’s mission to embrace his eating disorder. LOL (Please God, never let this happen.)
A compulsively readable thriller about a dissatisfied woman’s dream to grapple with her own birth.
Hmmm. Would this be women’s fiction or a current events novel?
This was fun, Steve!
A compulsively readable, autobiographical novel about an unlucky woman’s struggle to give up her sexless marriage!
Just wow …..
This was fun.
A richly drawn thriller about a precocious adolescent’s mission to reawaken her religious upbringing.
I love this idea – great activity! I completed this pitch based on the letters in my first name:
“A psycho-sexual story about a maladjusted soldier’s adventure to transcend his father’s murder.”
Interesting…is it just me, or does this have Edgar Allan Poe written all over it?!