"Get Rid Of Herpes…"
Talking for Writers
Every so often, I’m asked to speak about pitching to a group of writers. This is easy for me because I love pitching and I love writers. I also love making people cry, and that happens, I am not kidding, about sixty percent of the time. Not everyone, of course – it’s not like I force them to sit through Terms of Endearment. But one person in the room, one person with a story she believes to be unpitchable, oh, yeah. Pass the Kleenex.
Why? Why is it so amazing to hear your story pitched? I do think there’s a certain amount of relief in realizing that it can be done. But I also think we are all desperate to be heard. When a pitch is right, it conveys exactly what you want the world to understand about the heart of your story. You get heard. That’s very powerful.
So how do you get to that? How do you pitch your story? Here are the steps:
1) Be accurate. Do not worry about what the elusive “they” want to hear. Be honest. No one likes a bait-and-switch.
2) Set up their listening. What I mean by this is, prepare them for what they are about to hear. Is it a book, a webseries, a feature, a play? If the form is understood – if you’re at a mystery book convention, for instance – let them know the subgenre: thriller, cosy, procedural, paranormal. If they don’t know what to expect, they won’t be able to connect to your story. I once found myself performing in a gruesome, dark, emotionally-exhausting scene in what the judges expected to be a comedy competition. Funny only in retrospect, trust me.
3) Take the time to tell your story. There is a difference between a logline and a pitch. A logline is usually a sentence long and its only job is to get them to say, “Tell me more.” Your pitch is what you say after that, and its job is to get them to request the script or book proposal or manuscript. Don’t rush, don’t skimp. You’re a storyteller; you’re already good at this part.
4) Only tell the essence of your story. This is the tricky bit. Figure out what the heart of your story is and convey that, and only that. The details, even the character names – they don’t matter as much as you think they do. Take whatever time you need, but don’t squander their good will by being unfocused.
5) Don’t be afraid to insert your own passion and your connection to the material into the pitch. What drew you to tell this story in this way? That’s fascinating and engaging. Share.
Speaking of sharing, that’s how you’ll know if your pitch works. Share it with friends and family. Watch their eyes. Notice when they start to glaze over. Rework those bits. Also, say it out loud to yourself. If you get goosebumps, you’re on the right track.
Feeling brave? Share your logline or pitch here!
Comment
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Comment by B. Lynn Goodwin on March 14, 2012 at 2:09pm -
I have no pitch or logline to share today, but I like your clear, practical advice and I love your tone. Would you be willing to let me share this in an upcoming article of WriterAdvice, www.writeradvice.com? If so, please e-mail me.Thanks!
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Comment by Sundi Jo Graham on March 14, 2012 at 5:54am -
Great information Laura. Thanks for sharing.
About Dear Dad, Did You Know I Was a Princess? "Every woman has a father in her life, but not every woman has had the relationship with her daddy that God intended. Did you know regardless of your broken relationship with your earthly daddy, there is a Father in Heaven waiting to love you like you’ve never known love before? Join Sundi Jo on the journey that helped her discover the potential of being a beautiful woman in Christ, restored her to wholeness, and brought her to redemption. Discover it’s never too late for you to do the same."
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Comment by Heather Marsten on March 14, 2012 at 5:03am -
My memoir, Tell Me What He Did, is a story depicting a healing journey from incest and abuse. From the age of seven, my father sexually abused me with my mom's full awareness. Every morning after one of his visits,, she greeted me with, "I heard him in your room last night, tell me what he did." I had to tell her and she filled up two notebooks of visits. During this time I gave up on God and thought often of suicide. As a young adult I spent years in therapy, lived a wild lifestyle, and explored many areas of the occult from psychic ability to witchcraft to voodoo. None of these pursuits helped me heal. On day I met a pastor who helped me to put my life together and find real healing. In writing my memoir I want to encouraged abuse survivors that real healing is possible. My beta readers have told me that my manuscript is helpful in letting them see what abuse does to the victim and they are fascinated by the occult details I provide, as many of them have never explored those paths.
At the end of this month I'm taking a class with Marion Roach on memoir and part of the class is sharing my pitch, so I thank you for the offer to look at a pitch - I am new at this, fearful of the pitch, and need all the help I can get :).
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Comment by Amy L Peterson on March 14, 2012 at 3:56am -
Thank you, Laura!
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Comment by Alli Sinclair on March 14, 2012 at 1:00am
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Thank you so much, Laura. Your feedback is fabulous!
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Comment by Laura Brennan on March 13, 2012 at 9:05pm
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JOANNE! That rocks!
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Comment by Joanne Orion Miller on March 13, 2012 at 8:45pm -
Thanks Laura--I'm trying again:
Shaketown, a historical novel set in San Francisco's Victorian underworld, follows the intertwined lives of an "accidental" Madame who chooses freedom over respectability and a Chinese scholar who defies a city bent on destroying him. This unusual family saga is based on real people and events: the experiences of my Chinese relatives and a real-life Irish girl who became a notorious--and unapologetic--Madame during San Francisco's wide-open golden era. Sex, murder, true love of every stripe, and an earthquake--that's Shaketown.
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@Amy: I love your opening. The last paragraph, I would suggest losing the "humorous but compelling" part - from the title, we know it's humorous. What I need to hear is that it's a memoir. It is a memoir, right? Because later you call it a romance - which is excellent, and you can get away with that so long as you call it a memoir first; otherwise, it's confusing.
Also, don't be afraid to own up to the fact that it's your story - your plight as a suddenly-stepmom - in that last paragraph. Those fun chapter titles are even more fun if we know they're things you actually heard coming out of your own mouth!
:)
Thanks for sharing!
-- Laura
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Comment by Olga Godim on March 13, 2012 at 6:48pm -
Laura. Such a great editing! THANK YOU!
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@Mary: It's nice and clean; my only thought is that I was confused about how old they were. You called them a boy and a girl, but she has a career and he wants to be a dad - it jolted me out of the story, because I must've been ten years off in my estimate of their ages.
But it's sweet and it feels like the tone of the piece; very nice.
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