Mo Fanning - British writer and comic

Novel

How to Pitch Your Story in Just 20 Words

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Pitch your novel

One of the hardest parts of selling a new story (to a reader, an agent or a publisher) is coming up with what us marketing geeks call ‘The Elevator Pitch”. It’s also called a log line. It’s your whole story (80k+ words) boiled down into one sentence. Two at most. And coming up with a pitch that works is a journey into hell.

“A young boy wizard comes of age” might be pretty generic, but isn’t too shabby as an elevator pitch.

The words you string together need to tell your story in one breath. They ideally need to suggest conflict. And they definitely need to get the person reading them excited.

Pitch conflict

We’ve all sat through meetings or watched insanely detailed pitches where you know the whole thing is going nowhere. If there’s no conflict in your elevator pitch, odds are there won’t be any in your story either. Your reader/agent/publisher will lose interest quickly and probably not bother to pick it up.

I’ve just completed the Cornerstones ‘Edit your novel like a professional‘ course. Eighteen weeks shared with some brilliant writers – and each of us struggled when asked to condense our work into a 500 word synopsis, let alone a 20 word pitch. Writing a story is one thing – but explaining it in such a way that you get someone excited and keep them reading…now that’s another!

Pitch in secret

Try pitching your own work at home. Keep it short and snappy; no context, characters or backstory. Just the basic premise of your story: what happens, who am I writing about and why should they care? If you can create an engaging pitch like this (and of course, back it up with a great book) then chances are when you’re querying agents later on you’ll have their attention long enough to tell them more. Writing well makes all the difference when selling yourself as much as your work.

  • Know your audience and what they want from you
  • Keep it simple and engaging
  • Give away the best parts of your story

So write me something catchy. What’s your book about?

How to Come Up with a Book Title (That Sticks)

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A title that sicks

When it comes to writing a novel, the title is one of the most important aspects. It’s what potential readers will see first, and it needs to be catchy enough to make them want to learn more. But coming up with a title that is both original and interesting can be difficult. In this blog post, I’ll discuss some tips for finding the perfect title for a book – and making sure it sticks!

First, think about what the book is about. Is it a mystery? Does it take place in space? What kind of characters are there?

Once you’ve decided on these things, then start looking at words that relate to them (or other similar topics). For example: if your character has two eyes but not one eye or three eyes – they might be called “One-Eyed Jacks.”

You could also chuck in an adjective like “spooky”.

A title with numbers

Other options include using numbers instead of letters such as ‘The Fifty Shades‘ trilogy by EL James. Or maybe even something from mythology which relates well with your story. Another option would be simply coming up with some cool sounding names for each chapter and adding those together until you create something that sounds right.

And then there’s the market. Certain titles work for certain sorts of book.

If you’re writing a book about dogs, you might come up with something like “How I Became A Dog Whisperer”. Or maybe even just call it ‘Whisper’. It all depends on who your target audience is.

Romance

Romance often needs to convey some hints about what is going to happen in the story. If you’re writing a story about an English girl who travels to America and ends up falling in love with a Native American, you might want something along the lines of “An English Girl Finds Love In The Wild West”.

Once you’ve got some ideas together, start playing around with different combinations until one particular combination feels right. Sometimes even just changing the order of words can make all the difference between sounding cool or like the kitchen-based nerd at your own party.

How do you come up with your titles? Tell me and share some tips.

The Director’s Cut

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In 2006, I stumbled upon a website called YouWriteOn. It encouraged new writers to submit opening chapters for review. The highest-ranking stories went in front of editors from a major publishing house. My first attempts were (rightly) savaged. Some reviews were so awful that I thought of giving up. And then, one idea took flight. It won the professional nod, and the editor asked for more. It won me a literary agent and was in the running for Book of the Year.

In 2008, The Armchair Bride reached the top ten in the Amazon UK best-selling list. I made enough money to enjoy a very nice holiday and redecorate my flat.

YouWriteOn went the way of so many other peer review websites. The good writers left, and it became a den of talentless infighting. The literary agent lost interest when I failed to offer a second book in anything like the timescale imagined. My confidence crumbled, and I spent four years trying and failing to write something new.

In 2012, I pulled together a short story compilation. It helped sew the seeds for a return to writing. I began to let myself tell stories again, and stopped trying to play by rules that dictated what I could and couldn’t do. Free of writing for others, I did what I should have done all along – I returned to writing for myself.

I decided to write the kind of books I wanted to read.

Just last year, I decided to revisit my first book. I wanted to understand what worked for me then and why people liked what I wrote. The basics were there, but I cringed at the ‘period detail’. The Internet cafes, the fax machines, the admiring talk of a rare mobile phone. To be fair, the cross-dressing subplot needed work too.

And so, a rewrite of The Armchair Bride took hold. At first, just the odd line here and there, but before long, whole chapters went, new ones arrived and the main character evolved. Looking back, I wondered if she might be a little too needy, so I stiffened her spine and handed out sass.

It’s my ‘Director’s Cut’. A revamped Armchair Bride. The 2017 mix.

And if you read it before, please do me the honour of a second chance. If you loved it back then, I hope you’ll like it again. If you saw room for improvement, maybe you’ll agree I’ve done just that. Or perhaps you’ll consider it a load of pish. Either way, it’s free for the next few days.

If you stumble on this after it goes back up to full price, it’s hardly going to burn holes in your pocket, so if you’ve a day or two spare, give it a go, eh?

The Armchair Bride

Online Lisa‘ runs a theatre box office in Manchester. She lives in Scandi-chic minimalistic bliss with her gay best friend. She’s sorted and she knows it.

‘Offline Lisa‘ stumbles from drunken-dating mishap to career-threatening dinner party.

Somewhat the worse for wear at a New Year staff party, Andy and Lisa resolve to change their lives. In the coming year, she’ll find love, and he’ll find fame. 

Is her goal closer than she thinks?

Available online and in really good bookstores