The Art of the Pitch

One of the more challenging things about readying a manuscript for submission is coming up with the hook - the one sentence description that fully encapsulates a story in all of its complexities. 

And oh yeah, it's got to instantly interest the (potential) reader.

In the film industry, they call it the "elevator pitch."  As in, you have the duration of a short elevator ride to sell a movie executive on the appeal of your story premise.

In the age of Twitter, with all of the pitch contests running throughout the year, it's an essential weapon in the writing arsenal.

Observing how other authors tackle this deceptively simple and innocent task has become a personal pastime and, without a doubt, my favorite has to be Jay Kristoff.

Case in point - here's his pitch for his latest book, LIFELIK3:

"It's Romeo & Juliet meets Mad Max meets X-Men, with a little bit of Bladerunner cheering from the sidelines."












Yeah, sold.

Mr. Kristoff goes into a little bit more depth about the story in his blog, which is definitely worth a read. (I particularly found it fascinating to read his early blog entries on how his writing career took off).

And he clearly knows what he's doing because it's not the first time he has hit a pitch out of the ball park.  Check out his description of Illuminae:

"ILLUMINAE is the classic tale of Girl Meets Boy:



Girl Loses Boy:



And Parents:



And Planet:



and Ends Up on a Crippled Spaceship:




with a Mad Computer:



and a Deadly Virus Outbreak:



in the Middle of an Interstellar War:



It's without a doubt the coolest book I've ever written.

I'm pretty sure you've never read a book like it.

So . . . enjoy!"

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Even established authors have been happily sucked in by his pitches, as seen by this blurb from Patrick Rothfuss on the cover Kristoff's first novel, Stormdancer:




"What's that?  You say you've got a Japanese steampunk novel with mythic creatures, civil unrest, and a strong female protagonist?  I'm afraid I missed everything you said after 'Japanese steampunk.'  That's all I really needed to hear."

      Patrick Rothfuss







It brings to mind a great quote from author Chuck Wendig:  "Focusing on GETTING PUBLISHED instead of WRITING COOL SHIT is a danger, because you've set the wrong metric for yourself."

Well said, Chuck.  And Jay?  Mission accomplished on both fronts.  Keep it coming.