Okay, probably not the best title to start with, but let’s just move forward, shall we?
Pitches. Like all newer writers (and by new I mean to the actual crafting, not vomiting words), I utterly suck at this. There, I said it. Post over.
Not really.
At least once a week I have an epiphany about my writing. This week’s aha moment came when I started thinking about #PitMad, coming up on 9 June. I have a polished manuscript. I have a synopsis, a query (that I need to rewrite) and a 3-line pitch (that I think may have actually rebuffed an agent). Not intentional, just a poor word choice. So, my apologies.
I’ve been looking at all of these pitch tools wondering what I might be doing wrong. I’ve gathered zero interest from anyone. Zero. Then it hit me – I didn’t actually pitch my story. What I did pitch was my main character and the emotional trauma/core of the story.
*bangs head on desk till blood flows*
Seriously. My main character is a slave girl with a fiery attitude. She’s been raped, tortured, beaten, pushed around, and made to feel like her life is something she’ll never have control of. This also happened before the story started. >.<
So what is my story really about? Dragons, a mountain wall, a legendary Well to another world, and eventually the decision the MC makes to stop hunting her lost son to protect his life.
Yikes.
Now as I look at the above six lines, I can see why my initial pitches suck more than a Hoover.
So…. for anyone out there in the universe that’s polishing up those pitches and queries, here’s a few tips:
- Pitch your story, not your character’s trauma. Rape, torture and murder are not hooks.
- Spell check. You’ve seen it in nearly every article, but just pushing that across the table again. It happens to the best of us.
- Look for redundant words. I once thought I had my pitch just right, then saw 4 instances of the word ‘force’. Whoops!
- Read it aloud. I hate doing it, but hell if it doesn’t work.
- Have a friend, or ten, read it over. If they’re like my reading friends, they take off the kid gloves and don’t spare your feelings. Like seriously. I have feelings guys.
- Walk away, take a shower, go for a walk, whatever, and read it one final time when you’re eyes aren’t two inches from the screen.
- Cross your fingers and hope for a little luck.
Cheers and Happy Friday! 🙂
