Lately, I’ve noticed a lot of blog contests that involve crafting a one-sentence pitch for your novel. We even had one here! Writing one of these is a challenging process, and you can find lots of how-to’s in the online writing community. But until yesterday, I’d never entered one of these contests.
After the mad scramble to get my entry in, I read through the other pitches. What I noticed:
1. If a one-line summary is too general, it doesn’t capture my interest. It needs some specific details about the conflict or story characters. But too much detail makes it hard to read. I try to avoid long explanatory phrases or multi-hyphenated descriptions.
2. It gives you an idea of the kinds of stories other people are writing. If you were writing in a popular genre, e.g. a YA paranormal, your own summary would really have to sizzle. Some summaries stand out just because they reflect a different type of story.
After the mad scramble to get my entry in, I read through the other pitches. What I noticed:
1. If a one-line summary is too general, it doesn’t capture my interest. It needs some specific details about the conflict or story characters. But too much detail makes it hard to read. I try to avoid long explanatory phrases or multi-hyphenated descriptions.
2. It gives you an idea of the kinds of stories other people are writing. If you were writing in a popular genre, e.g. a YA paranormal, your own summary would really have to sizzle. Some summaries stand out just because they reflect a different type of story.
3. My own one-sentence summary could use some fine tuning. In the company of others, it was easier to see where it didn’t read quite right, or where it needed a bit of clarification or a little spark. This is the hardest part – trying to give it a little bit of sparkle when it’s so short!
-- Andrea
