What are You Writing About?
The pitch, or how to talk about your writing without losing your words.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you tell someone you are writing a novel, they'll inevitably ask the dreaded question: "What's it about?"
Of course, if it were easy to sum up your book in one pithy sentence, it would hardly seem necessary to write all 80-something-thousand words of it in the first place. But whether the asker of The Dreaded Question is an editor, an agent, or Karl from the weekend BBQ, it's vital to be able to talk about — or "pitch" — your book. Your purpose, in all these cases, is to get the other person to light up, lean in, and say:
“Tell me more.”
The Basic Elements of a Pitch
More than anything, a pitch should fuel curiosity and spark an emotional response. In order to do that, you need to find the most interesting pieces among the core elements of your story. Take a moment to identify:
Your Protagonist, including their goals
Your Central Conflict, including the inciting incident and/or hook
The Essential Stakes, and what your characters stand to lose
As much as possible, use specific and evocative phrasing. In addition, you might find it useful to write down a few thoughts about:
The Setting
Your Themes
The Climactic Choice
Any Unique Tropes, Literary Techniques, or Speculative Elements
How to Pitch your Novel...
...if you have 1 line:
(the tagline, the intro to your query letter, or as a brief answer at a networking event)
Simply this: choose your two most interesting and evocative elements and show how they relate to each other:
“Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist.”
“Cast Away if it were set on Mars.”
“Clumsy, accident-prone pre-teen struggles to survive magic school.”
“A fantastical murder mystery, told through footnote annotations of the victim’s seminal poem.”
“Alice in Wonderland, but backwards.”
Note: this is a great place to use an effective comp title as a kind of shorthand for archetypical plots and conflicts.
...if you have 2 sentences:
(the elevator pitch, when talking to friends, or for your first intro during an agent 1-2-1)
This will usually work as an expansion on the above, but make sure you include at least the basics about your character and conflict, and remember that nothing adds power to this two-sentence description more than the stakes:
Six kids with very little to lose, all for different reasons, are offered a huge amount of money to try to pull off what may be a suicide mission. If they can, their lives will be changed — but that means that they’re going to have to not kill each other first.
-Leigh Bardugo on Six of Crows
...if you have 3 paragraphs:
(your query blurb, your back cover blurb, when your friends or a potential agent asks for more)
This is your chance to throw it all in there, but stay focused. Make sure to establish character and conflict; the goals and stakes should be crystal clear. It can often help to include some allusion to your theme as well — just make sure you don’t give away too much.
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.
But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
Hopefully this gives you a few ideas to help you face The Dreaded Question with a little less dread. So, reader, let me ask you: what’s your novel about?
Other Updates from The Editor’s Desk
Work schedule: Currently taking bookings starting from October. Get in touch or schedule a free 30-minute consultation with me to talk about your work. I’ll also be taking on a mentee through Round Table Mentor this year, so keep an eye out for the mentee applications (opening 31 October) if you’d like to work with me on anything SF/F!
Client Love: This is My Sea is a #1 Irish Bestseller! Chasing the Light is also now live and out in the world — Julia Boggio’s photo campaign for her second book is brilliant.
Currently Reading: The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel | Rebel Skies by Ann Sei Lin | Mina and the Undead by Amy McCaw | The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab
Thank you for this!