If you ever meet an agent and make your pitch, they'll ask, "What makes your book special?" What sets it apart from every other pitch they will get that week? Why should they buy into your book?
Have you given this thought? What would you say? Now remember, you'll only get about a minute to grab their attention.
NEW ADDITION: This is my response to a relevent comment that I thought I would add here:
Originally Posted by FOTSGreg
backslashbaby, Learn to love 'em, please! You'll be doing yourself a favor.
They don't have to be a completely formulated or well-thought-out idea. They just need to be an idea that gets written down and recorded for your posterity and convenience.
Get a notebook. Start writing those ideas down. Use AW threads like these. I can't tell you how many times I've gone back through a thread on AW where I'd dropped a hint or idea that came back to me weeks or months later that I could then actually make work.
It's called brainstorming in many areas. That's what I use this thread (and a few others) for.
That's pretty good advice. The reality is that the more we do it, the easier it becomes, and the more we realize what works and what doesn't work. We're learning to prune the fat.
I'm surprised by how many people are ruled by fear of ridicule. I understand it, but if that's what stands between us and success, we have to get past that.
I realized something very fascinating. It's not just the agents. Every time a friend or relative would ask me that question, I realized that long technical answers didn't cut it. I would notice when they lost interest and would change the subject.
Brief- but not trite. "A fifteen year old boy disobeys his mother and gets lost in an enchanted forest."
The forest really isn't enchanted. It's the crossroads of an intergalactic war. The war has destroyed planets. But there's no way I can fit all of that into a sentence. He's not simply disobedient, other forces are compelling him. He does not know this.
And so I'll cut to the fact that it has a fairytale/myth/fantasy quality.
Well, as much as that sounds like a formula, it's a formula with promise, because it works. Then they want the second sentence that elaborates on the first.
"Lord of the Rings, meets the Silmarillion, meets Gilligans Island" might garner a laugh. But it can't stop there
Have you given this thought? What would you say? Now remember, you'll only get about a minute to grab their attention.
NEW ADDITION: This is my response to a relevent comment that I thought I would add here:
Originally Posted by FOTSGreg
backslashbaby, Learn to love 'em, please! You'll be doing yourself a favor.
They don't have to be a completely formulated or well-thought-out idea. They just need to be an idea that gets written down and recorded for your posterity and convenience.
Get a notebook. Start writing those ideas down. Use AW threads like these. I can't tell you how many times I've gone back through a thread on AW where I'd dropped a hint or idea that came back to me weeks or months later that I could then actually make work.
It's called brainstorming in many areas. That's what I use this thread (and a few others) for.
That's pretty good advice. The reality is that the more we do it, the easier it becomes, and the more we realize what works and what doesn't work. We're learning to prune the fat.
I'm surprised by how many people are ruled by fear of ridicule. I understand it, but if that's what stands between us and success, we have to get past that.
I realized something very fascinating. It's not just the agents. Every time a friend or relative would ask me that question, I realized that long technical answers didn't cut it. I would notice when they lost interest and would change the subject.
Brief- but not trite. "A fifteen year old boy disobeys his mother and gets lost in an enchanted forest."
The forest really isn't enchanted. It's the crossroads of an intergalactic war. The war has destroyed planets. But there's no way I can fit all of that into a sentence. He's not simply disobedient, other forces are compelling him. He does not know this.
And so I'll cut to the fact that it has a fairytale/myth/fantasy quality.
Well, as much as that sounds like a formula, it's a formula with promise, because it works. Then they want the second sentence that elaborates on the first.
"Lord of the Rings, meets the Silmarillion, meets Gilligans Island" might garner a laugh. But it can't stop there
Last edited:
