Tag: writer

Going Deep in Your Story, Part 2

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There are plenty of ways to go deep into the story you’re telling. Many people think going deep refers to deep point of view, which I covered in last week’s post. Today, I want to discuss ways to add richness to your storytelling by going deep in other ways.

One way is to use all five senses (smell, sight, taste, touch, and hearing). Yes, I know this is a basic rule. But think…in this digital age, when was the last time you put your phone away and just looked?  Learn to be an observer of people and environments. People watch. What do you notice? What about your environment? What color of blue is the sky? How does the snow look when it falls slowly?

Take a scene you’re currently working on. Have you included what the character experiences? The purr of a sports car? The stickiness of a fast-food counter? Smells are sometimes overlooked, but I love these lines from Rudyard Kipling: “Smells are surer than sights or sounds/To make your heart-strings crack…”

Sometimes I’ll include the sixth sense, intuition (sparingly). You know that feeling of knowing when someone’s lying or when your hair rises on the back of your neck? This sense is great for creating tension.

I can imagine you’re thinking, “But I can’t write the story and include all of that at the same time—it’s too much!” You’re right, it is. So just write the story first. One of my favorite quotes is by Terry Pratchett: “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” Spill everything onto the page. Don’t edit, don’t fuss about word choice. It doesn’t need to be pretty—you can add the five senses in the following drafts.

Something else you can include in the second draft (& third, and fourth, and fifth, and…) is descriptions. Metaphors and similes add to the mood of the story as well. Make use of them (again, sparingly) through the character’s eyes. For example, a high society woman wouldn’t say or think someone was “as happy as a pig in slop.” Stay true to your character so the reader can stay in the character’s skin.

Show, don’t tell, how someone feels. Telling is much weaker than showing.

Shari felt anger sweep over her. Instead: Shari clenched her shaking hands into fists.

Ron was ashamed. Instead: Ron blushed and turned away.

The Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi is a great resource to use. It matches actions to feelings to help you make the shift from telling to showing.

Enjoy going deep in your next story!

Taglines vs. Loglines

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Are you planning for a writers’ conference this summer? Or perhaps you’re planning to start querying? (Good for you!!) Either way, words like tagline or synopsis or blurb can strike fear in your heart. For the next several weeks, my blog posts will help you identify what agents and publishers want. I’ll cover some of the major items in an author’s arsenal: synopsis, blurb, one sheet, and this week’s focus, Taglines and Loglines.

 

Tagline. Logline. They sound similar, but they’re not. What are the differences?

While not every book has a tagline, a proposal may require one. (Each publisher’s requirements may be a little different.) It can also be called a sales handle. A tagline’s main purpose is to hook the reader. It should be catchy, intriguing, and give a hint of what the book is about. One-liners work best and generally no longer than ten words. Some examples: “Remember it’s only a game.” (Caraval), “Let them fear her.” (Wicked Saints), “Let the magic begin.” (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) One of the best examples I ever read was for Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. “Half boy. Half god. All hero.”

A logline is different. It’s one sentence (and one sentence only) about 35-45 words that shares what your story is about in an entertaining manner. You’ll need this when you sit down at a table to have lunch, and the acquisitions editor across from you says, “So what’s your story about?” This really happened to me. Since I was a total noob at the time, I stumbled over my words. She was interested anyway and invited me to pitch to her later. Hopefully, your logline will be better than mine and the other person will beg for more.

If this sounds like an elevator pitch, it’s not — it’s shorter. Some guidelines also call this a promo sentence. (Don’t you just love how there are several different labels for the same thing?) Anyway, the logline should establish setting, protagonist, problem, an antagonist, conflict/action, and goal.

Sounds difficult, right? But you can do this! Remember–practice makes perfect. Pick a few of your favorite television shows and work up a logline for them. (Bonus hint: Don’t use a rhetorical question in your logline—it has to be a sentence.) If you’d like more information on how to craft this magical unicorn, check out the article at https://blog.celtx.com/learning-series-lesson-1-creating-a-logline/. It goes a little deeper on how to begin setting one up.

One final note: while taglines display your knowledge of how to sell your book, an agent will probably never ask for one in a pitch. She or he will ask for your logline (“What’s your book about?”), so if you only have time to work on one of these things, make it your logline.