all u need is one line

tengraceapples · Feb 20, 2012

Hey guys!

I just remembered a writing activity we were made to do in in school.
I found it really helped to write queries. I'm sure some of you have done it.
Can you reduce your ms to one line? Don't cheat. No run on sentences. I'm always doing that btw. So just one clear line that tells us what your ms is about. I can't wait to see what you guys are working on. I can start.

" a girl has to save the world by staying away from the only boy she loves"

thebloodfiend · Feb 20, 2012

That's called a logline.

Mine is bad (just made it up ten seconds ago).

When his best friend dies in a car accident, seventeen-year-old Nick Finley drops out of school and heads to California to seek a career in music -- and escape the mother who wants him to go therapy.

Windcutter · Feb 20, 2012

I often have trouble doing those which sadly means I rarely have high concept plots.
This one will hopefully get queried very soon:
A ruler's teen sister has to stage a revolution against her own brother in order to find her missing friends.

maybegenius · Feb 20, 2012

To avenge her murdered father and destroy his cybernetic killers, 16-year-old Clara may have to sacrifice her own beating heart.

Becca C. · Feb 20, 2012

A sixteen-year-old boy goes to boarding school in England and falls in love with the Prince of Wales, who soon after becomes King.

I'm pretty 'meh' about that, but it sums it up.

ladybritches · Feb 20, 2012

An indentured servant tries to earn her freedom by aiding a rebel baron in his fight against the nobles.

redsoxboy123 · Feb 20, 2012

In order to save his brother, a 14 year old boy must fight corruption.

tengraceapples · Feb 21, 2012

I think the hard part of taglines is giving it conflict
In addition to the sizzle. I'm still trying to get better at it.lol
These ms sound interesting. Will add a new one tomorrow

scarecrow · Feb 21, 2012

A young girl takes on the problems of the world and discovers that lessons learned are more important than mistakes made along the journey to success.

Unfortunately the author is discovering the same thing.

scottprotege · Feb 21, 2012

I am 25% done with my WIP and I have never actually tried to summarize what it's about. Here goes.

After unexpectedly being ordained to a lifelong position on the Council Of Tegea, Althea fights to both clear the name of and free her best friend Pharanike; only to unravel the true conspiracies and characters responsible for their predicaments.

SanStormin · Feb 21, 2012

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A Texas teen in Ireland reforms himself and reinvents his future by chasing a Fae treasure and a girl’s affections.[/FONT]

LadyA · Feb 21, 2012

After a disastrous joy-riding incident lands his girlfriend Cat in prison and 'perfect' Si Winter with an electronic tag, he spends the heatwave summer saving up for their escape, trying to live up to his mother's expectations, and trying not to think about the hippy girl next door - but the trial date looms ever closer...

(OMG I've just realised I'm writing a love triangle!

Heaven help us all...)

Sage · Feb 21, 2012

A boy and a girl fall in love during their battle for the rights of androids made to be disposable boyfriends, only to find out that he's one of them created just for her.

heza · Feb 21, 2012

To save humanity, a young man must embrace the powerful society that has marked his brother for death.

wampuscat · Feb 21, 2012

This is the logline I came up with prior to starting my WIP:
A genetically engineered girl must choose between her privileged life and the normal boy she loves.

And this is the one for the first draft sitting in a drawer:
A teenage girl's last tie to her dead sister are her reoccurring dreams, but when they mysteriously stop, she needs to figure out why.

Super generic, but I wanted to scribble down the essential main conflicts before I brainstormed for outlines. Yea. Not very exciting.

Mclesh · Feb 21, 2012

This is what I've got so far -- and I'm going to have to get this right:

A smart, funny girl copes with high school, her sister’s breakdown, and heartbreak while searching for “normal” in this bittersweet coming-of-age story.

lauralam · Feb 21, 2012

Intersex daughter of a noble family runs away to join the circus as an aerialist, but mysteries about his/her origins won't stay in the past.

Rhoda Nightingale · Feb 21, 2012

Not a new idea, but still a useful and fun one. For mine, Fire Worker:

Teenage sorcerer-in-training must face down his evil former mentor, and also learn to control his powers and start being nice to people for a change.

mickeyDs4 · Feb 21, 2012

A Ghost of You: Seventeen year old Ithaca deals with HIV, famous parents and boyfriend troubles while maintaining her sanity.

Indiana Jones Never Mentioned This: Most kids go to summer camp; but Casey Dennis chases ancient artifacts across the desert.

Silent Sonata: Sixteen year old Lexie Porter rides the rough waves of her parents divorce and wonders what her life would be like if her sister had never died.

The Sword of Troy: Helen of Sparta was the biggest idiot of ancient Greece and now Casey has to prove it.

Whispering Willows: Voodoo Queen in training deals with isolation at school in this modern version of The Crucible.

Missus Akasha · Feb 22, 2012

This is a really, really crappy attempt for my WIP, Girl of Chaos:

Seventeen-year-old Amara Petronelle Silvestrova lives sheltered life in a dieselpunk-drenched world where religion is law and the practice of alchemy is punishable by death, but chaos ensures the day she meets Nicholas Flamel and is tossed into a war where alchemists aren't fighting against religion but each other.

MrsBrommers · Feb 22, 2012

For the YA horror I recently finished: A girl's visions of the haunted house next door uncover the truth of the previous residents' murders.

For my adult WIP: Divorced lady bakes evil pies and falls in love with a sexy-as-hell exorcist. (When explaining this one to my agent, all she could do was giggle and say, "Write it." :ROFL:

)

Dagrami · Feb 22, 2012

A group of teens imbued with extraordinary powers must flee to escape the bleakness of their fates, and on the way discover not only themselves, but a will to fight back.

MelodySRV · Feb 22, 2012

A young boy starts his memoir to stop the corrupt government from taking over, only to find his family in the middle of a civil war.

I really don't like how that sounds. It's hard to get all of my concept in one line.
I'm going to try again. Thank you for the exercise.

all u need is one line

tengraceapples

thebloodfiend

Cory

Windcutter

maybegenius

might be a giant

Becca C.

ladybritches

late to the party

redsoxboy123

Training in a Taekwondo studio

tengraceapples

scarecrow

If I only had a brain...

scottprotege

SanStormin

In the ozone

LadyA

Always lurking, never posting...

Sage

Our Lady of Parentheticals

heza

wampuscat

Recovering adjective addict

Mclesh

It's too hot

lauralam

Moonshade

Rhoda Nightingale

Vampire Junkie

mickeyDs4

Missus Akasha

I'm a monster. I'm a saint.

MrsBrommers

Dagrami

stuck in the middle

MelodySRV