First,
I’d like to wish you all health and success in 2020. Happy New Year, Everyone! As
I continue to crawl forward in revision on my college memoir, I’m thinking
about loglines and taglines. When I researched online about these
pitching tools for fiction or memoir, I gleaned the following definitions from
blogs and webinars at writerly sites:
A Logline gives the
gist of your book in a sentence. It tells something about the main character,
the conflict, and the stakes. So, the WHO, the WHAT, and the WHY of your story.
A Tagline is a catchphrase
that sucks the reader in. It’s the idea behind your book. Also known as the
hook. It might be on the front cover of your book. The tagline’s job is to evoke emotion.
According to JennieNash of Author Accelerator, a pitch or logline is one line that gives some sense of the character arc of
change; who they are, what the plot is, and where the plot goes.
Okay, so how
do we do it? I found some questions that are helpful to answer when creating a
logline and/or a tagline. So I answered them.
WHO is your main character? Victoria, a mother of 5 young children
WHERE does the story take place?
South Jersey home and college
campuses
WHAT is the situation? Victoria
tries to allow her special needs daughter Marie a chance at living her dream of
attending college, but they are told Marie would never succeed.
WHY does it matter? Victoria
was told the same thing when she wanted to attend college.
HOW does the character solve the problem? By swallowing her own fear of failure and
beginning college herself first.
Now that we
know who, where, what, why, and how, we condense it into what we as writers
hope is a pithy logline.
“A South
Jersey mom of five gives her special needs daughter the opportunity of college
by swallowing her own fear of failure and beginning college first.”
Does it work?
I think there’s an arc of change in the protagonist, the mom, from a
paralyzing fear of failure to actually beginning college.
We know what happens; she’s going to attempt college.
And we know why it matters to her; she wants to help her daughter.
Of course the story is
much more involved than just these few pieces, but does it make someone want to
read the whole book?
The tagline,
the idea behind the book, according to our definition, the hook. The tagline is
supposed to evoke emotion. I came up with many, but here are two I’ll share for
your comment.
Every
important journey begins with doubt.
Find permission within yourself to begin a difficult journey.
What are your thoughts on these?
Do they evoke emotion? Is doubt even an emotion? Does finding permission within
oneself sound more personal? Can other people [readers] relate easier to it
than the more general statement about journeys beginning with doubt? Is finding
permission more original?
These are necessary questions for
all writers to consider as they try to condense their stories into pithy
loglines and taglines.
*Please feel free to offer any insight or ask any
questions regarding the details of my college memoir logline or taglines. It
would be truly appreciated.*
Has
anyone prepared a logline or tagline for their story? I’m interested in how you
came to condense your story into a sentence or two. Please share any tips you
may have about loglines or taglines in
the comments section of Adventures in Writing. Thanks so much!
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