It doesn’t happen often for those without a track record, but it can happen. But film is somewhat unique in that during certain periods of any selling cycle, a pitch, written or verbal, can sometimes be enough to get a sale (or at least interest). Nothing can be critiqued, edited, promoted, or sold until it’s real. Remember to keep the logline short and to the point in order to hook the reader into reading the entire book.Every scriptwriter’s first job is to finish their script. You can also join our Facebook group for authors and share your logline there to get feedback from fellow writers. See if you can put together 3-5 different examples of your logline, then workshop it with your friends and/or other writers to put forth the best product possible. Try this exercise with your own book or manuscript. (NOTE: This example fuses three of the elements together-the coma acts as the catalyst, the antagonist, and the main conflict.) Write Your Logline When a selfless art teacher (protagonist) falls into a coma (catalyst/antagonist/main conflict), she meets a man who makes her realize death could be more romantic than life. See how the template is used to create the loglines for these particular books: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (NOTE: These elements don’t necessarily need to be introduced in a particular order.) Logline Examples End it with a hook to keep the reader wanting to learn more. Introduce the catalyst, the protagonist, the antagonist, and the main conflict in one short sentence. Now, string the aforementioned steps together using this foolproof template we use here at TCK Publishing and Quilla Books: What must be accomplished for your protagonist to achieve their goal, and what primary obstacle do they have to overcome? Logline Template The main conflict is what drives the action toward the story’s climax. The main conflict of a book or manuscript is the protagonist’s defining desire/goal clashing with an internal or external obstacle. Rather than calling your antagonist ‘Voldemort,’ say ‘a dark and dangerous wizard’ or ‘the Dark Lord.’ Instead of ‘Hannibal Lecter,’ say ‘a conniving cannibal.’ Instead of ‘Buffalo Bill,’ say ‘a deranged serial killer.’ 5. Who (or what) is working against your protagonist’s goal(s)? Who or what stands in their way of succeeding? Again, for the sake of the logline, don’t name your antagonist-find a way to describe them as uniquely as possible in a couple of words. A name is simply a name a short description gives your character an identity.įor example, rather than calling your protagonist ‘Harry Potter,’ say ‘a boy wizard.’ Instead of ‘Michael Corleone,’ say ‘the ambitious son of a mob boss.’ Instead of ‘Clarice Starling,’ say ‘a novice FBI agent.’ 4. Who is your main character, and what makes them unique? For the sake of the logline, don’t name your protagonist-rather, find a way to describe them as uniquely as possible in a couple of words. We might actually see the detonation in the first few chapters, or it might have happened before your book even begins. In this case, nuclear detonation is the catalyst. For example, your book might be a dystopian sci-fi, and your protagonist’s story begins after a nuclear detonation. Why does your story start on the day it does? What event happens that launches your story? Some might call this the inciting incident (here’s looking at you, screenwriters).īut the catalyst might also be part of the setting, something that happens prior to the first chapter. This is the plot that is central to your protagonist, their main goal, and what is hindering them from achieving that goal. For the logline, only focus on the A-Plot. Most books and manuscripts usually consist of more than one plotline-the A-Plot, B-Plot, C-Plot, and so on. We’ve created a five-step structure that makes creating the logline quick and painless. How on earth do I boil down 90,000 words into a single sentence?” How To Write a Fiction Logline in 5 Easy Steps “There’s so much that happens in my book. This might sound simple, but when many authors sit down to write their logline, they’re suddenly struck by a question, and it usually sounds something like this: The logline is a 1-2 sentence summary of your book or manuscript, typically used as a marketing piece to hook a potential publisher, agent, or reader in a query letter or book description. For some, the most difficult aspect of publishing is devising the logline. For many authors seeking publication, writing the actual manuscript isn’t the hard part.
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