![The Swivet [Colleen Lindsay]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ydq3peK34xU/S6mKLbLIBzI/AAAAAAAAAWc/nSRAcSuIQ9U/S760/swivet+blue+header.jpg)
This was her [slightly tongue-in-cheek] advice for the hook in your query letter:
"I tell people that I want to see your plot summed up like a TV Guide entry: three sentences. No more. If a writer can't do that, I know there's something missing."So, kids, get crackin' on your TV guide entries!
=======
EDIT TO ADD: Okay, from the comments, I'm guessing that some of y'all missed the "tongue-in-cheek" part of the above. Hmmmm...
Posts
9 comments:
8pm, Cathouse. Buddy has a surprise in store when Stinkyboy hides in the bathtub. And why is the magical food bowl empty? Guest starring the ghost of Don Knotts.
(Ooh, La Gringa and S. E. Ward have invented a cool new game!)
11pm, Roar Masters. Trina discovers it was Jayden, not Amanda, who spiked her A.C. with bodily fluids, but she can't confront him until after they win the truck rally.
This is a tough one for me. I can sum my plot up like a TV Guide entry, but TV Guide entries don't give spoilers. And I thought most agents want the spoiler in the query. Is that not so much the case? I thought we were supposed to save the mystery for the readers but lay it all out there for the agents. In a previous post, you said to try to keep the query letter to 2 paragraphs. So one can be the "hi, I got your name from..." and the other is the "hook"--with the conflict as well as the resolution in that paragraph? I know sometimes longer hooks just raise more questions than they answer, so I can see why shorter is often better. And do I just have too many voices/opinions shouting in my head right now? Oh, what to do, what to do.
Just practicing here . . .
When Abriel's husband kicks her out, she decides to become a warrior. However, she never expects to have to fight a god.
If three sentences are good, are two even better?
I've heard of the ol' elevator pitch, where you try to sum-up the story in 25 words or less. Does that seem like too little?
Oooooooo I'm totally using this for my Monday blog post at SFC
Re: your edit. Not really. Just some early morning fun.
Okay maybe I took it too seriously but with all the talk in bloglandia lately about query letters, maybe it's not a bad exercise *ggg*
Post a Comment