A NOVEL CONTEST: The Elevator Pitch

Birol · Feb 8, 2010

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got enough of your completed ideas in my editing folder, thank you very much.

mscelina · Feb 8, 2010

*grin*

Chop, chop! Time's a'wastin'!

Cyia · Feb 8, 2010

Birol said:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got enough of your completed ideas in my editing folder, thank you very much.

Oh Noes! She's stockpiling them!!!

Well, I'm tellin' you right now sneaky mod lady... I mailed that totally original pitch to myself... and I'll post it on my blog... and .... and... well, you just better not even think about writing anything with characters like mine or a story like mine.

If I see something else with people in it... or that's YA... or involves places... you're in trouble!!!

blacbird · Feb 8, 2010

"Could you push floor seven, please? Thank you."

caw

aruna · Feb 8, 2010

Birol said:
LOL. I just saw that thread. Waiting for permission to respond from the mod who locked it. While I'm waiting, though, let me assure everyone here, I have enough ideas of my own queued up; I don't need yours.

You made me go and look for that locked thread! What a hoot!

Birol · Feb 9, 2010

It was a first for me. I was warned it would happen one day. Guess I've achieved another badge for my writerly sash.

tiny · Feb 9, 2010

You have a sash? I never imagined you would have a sash. A belt maybe, with a big heavy buckle for whacking, but never a sash. I'm going to have adjust my thinking.

James D. Macdonald · Feb 9, 2010

I have a great idea for a novel!

You write it and we'll split the money.

Sage · Feb 9, 2010

Haha, I've actually had that offer.

Birol · Feb 9, 2010

tiny terror said:
You have a sash? I never imagined you would have a sash. A belt maybe, with a big heavy buckle for whacking, but never a sash. I'm going to have adjust my thinking.

Where else do you put your merit badges for display? I suppose I could stick them to corkboard and put them in a picture frame. That idea is actually much more me.

Sage · Feb 9, 2010

Are you getting lots of entries?

Birol · Feb 9, 2010

Oh, yes. I don't have a precise count but there's a little over 20 in my PM box, plus the ones I've received by e-mail and about 32 hours still left in the entry phase. There's usually a rush near the deadline.

Mr Flibble · Feb 9, 2010

I'm undecided as to go with the 'short query version' pitch or the er, well it's been called the concept pitch.

James D. Macdonald · Feb 9, 2010

You want an idea?

"It's like a cross between The Lost Symbol and I Am Ozzie...in space!"

(Quite seriously, there's a guy out there who's selling, for money, as the secret for how to make a pitch that agents can't resist and that leads to six-figure novel advances, use this formula: "It's like a cross between name-of-bestseller one and name-of-bestseller two, in different location." And ... oops! Now I've told you for free.)

Birol · Feb 9, 2010

I haven't actually read all of them. Bad me, I know, but I do have one that made me laugh out loud and one that made me go, "Ooo."

I, however, can tell no more than that, as I can't taint the voting.

Also, in an hour or so, I'll be updating the prize list.

aruna · Feb 9, 2010

James D. Macdonald said:
You want an idea?

"It's like a cross between The Lost Symbol and I Am Ozzie...in space!"

(Quite seriously, there's a guy out there who's selling, for money, as the secret for how to make a pitch that agents can't resist and that leads to six-figure novel advances, use this formula: "It's like a cross between name-of-bestseller one and name-of-bestseller two, in different location." And ... oops! Now I've told you for free.)

Brilliant! I actually used that formula in my EP! That means I'll get a 6 figure advance for my pitch!

(Seriously, though, isn't this an old old formula? More than ten years ago my agent used to speak of the soandso meets soandso pitch.)

Mr Flibble · Feb 9, 2010

James D. Macdonald said:
You want an idea?

"It's like a cross between The Lost Symbol and I Am Ozzie...in space!"

(Quite seriously, there's a guy out there who's selling, for money, as the secret for how to make a pitch that agents can't resist and that leads to six-figure novel advances, use this formula: "It's like a cross between name-of-bestseller one and name-of-bestseller two, in different location." And ... oops! Now I've told you for free.)

That was the kinda thing I was going for ( because it encapsulates the book v quick and succinct), but the examples linked earlier in the thread all seemed a different style; like a very short query.

Is either acceptable? Or should I use that as a jumping off point? *dithers*

ETA: *adds 'With Sex!'* to pitch. That'll work, right?

SirOtter · Feb 9, 2010

Mine's like a cross between A Clockwork Orange and Now We Are Six... underneath the sheep abbatoir that once stood where the UN building is now.

James D. Macdonald · Feb 9, 2010

My next is a cross between Silence of the Lambs and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, set in the pirate capital of Port Royal in the 17th century!

Slushie · Feb 9, 2010

Titanic, in space. The captain didn't see the asteroid until it was too late.

Old Hack · Feb 9, 2010

James D. Macdonald said:
I have a great idea for a novel!

You write it and we'll split the money.

Me too! Only my idea is better, and I'm willing to give you 51%. Only you'll have to sign a non-disclosure agreement first so I know I can trust you.

RemusShepherd · Feb 9, 2010

James D. Macdonald said:
(Quite seriously, there's a guy out there who's selling, for money, as the secret for how to make a pitch that agents can't resist and that leads to six-figure novel advances, use this formula: "It's like a cross between name-of-bestseller one and name-of-bestseller two, in different location." And ... oops! Now I've told you for free.)

I do have one novel that I pitch as, "Oliver Twist becomes Spider-man and fights Godzilla".

That's a bit too many pop-culture references, but it fits so well I keep using the line. Not in any serious query, however.

Deleted member 42 · Feb 9, 2010

James D. Macdonald said:
My next is a cross between Silence of the Lambs and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, set in the pirate capital of Port Royal in the 17th century!

They fight crime!

blacbird · Feb 9, 2010

From my manuscript, Gone with the Wind in the Willows:

"Badger, Badger, the weasels have stolen my motor-car!"

"Frankly, Toad, I don't give a damn."

caw

sunandshadow · Feb 9, 2010

Old Hack said:
Me too! Only my idea is better, and I'm willing to give you 51%. Only you'll have to sign a non-disclosure agreement first so I know I can trust you.

Hah. I have a half-dozen ideas I'd give away in exchange for a signed contract that they would actually be written.

A NOVEL CONTEST: The Elevator Pitch

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