Finding the Core of Your Story: How to Strengthen and Sell Your Story in One Essential Sentence
By Jordan Smith
4.5/5
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About this ebook
What's your story about?
Do you answer with a blank stare when someone asks you that question? Do you have trouble writing your Amazon description? What if you had an attention-grabbing way to leave your audience begging for more?
Learn how to effectively pitch your story!
Story consultant and author Jordan Smith has taken a powerful technique used by professional Hollywood screenwriters to sell their scripts and made it accessible to everyone with Finding the Core of Your Story. It’s called a logline—and once you know about it, you’ll want to create one for every story you write. Whether you write novels, movies, comic books, songs, or even operas, this book is for you.
A complete logline course
The Quick-Start Logline Chapter gives you everything you need to write your own logline and hit the ground running! Two logline templates make it simple to get going quickly, plus you’ll learn the Four Fundamental Logline Rules and how to avoid common pitfalls. Practice your new skills with exercises at the end of each chapter that guide you as you craft a great logline one step at a time.
Start with the basics, then progress through the book at your own pace. With more examples than you can shake a stick at, you’ll find that by the time you finish, you’ll know how to apply your logline know-how to an Amazon description, an in-person pitch, and more.
Advanced chapters dig deeper into special cases to take your writing to the next level. Get to the heart of your story and keep it on track with loglines for characters and series.
Every storyteller should be able to say in one sentence what his or her story is about. Finding the Core of Your Story will help you learn to do just that.
Jordan Smith
Jordan Smith is the author of Finding the Core of Your Story and the producer/director of the Month of the Novel web series. He runs the FixMyStory.com blog with the goal of helping indie authors market their books effectively on a shoestring budget. He lives in Georgia with his beautiful wife and a fluffy dog.
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Reviews for Finding the Core of Your Story
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Book preview
Finding the Core of Your Story - Jordan Smith
Praise for Finding the Core of Your Story
As a screenwriter and self-published author, I’ve always sought Jordan Smith’s help with my loglines. Having read this book I can testify it contains all his best advice and provides a lighthearted but thorough crash course to loglines. If more writers would heed the advice on these pages, they would avoid the inept pitches and synopses so common among self-published authors. Highly recommended as an essential read for any writer.
Aubrey Hansen, author and screenwriter
http://www.aubreyhansen.com
"Whether you are traditionally published or have hopped aboard the self-published train, you need to do all you can to help market your book. Finding the Core of Your Story should be required reading for all who have written books and want them noticed. I did not know what a logline was until I read this book, now I realize how vital this little one line (or two or three) is. Jordan Smith gives us the benefits of his experience with both humor and integral advice on how to write the best logline for your book. This is a must read for all authors!"
LA Ramsey, author and novelist
http://laramsey.com
Not only was the book extremely helpful and well-laid out, but it was incredibly fun to read! The author is personable and down-to-earth and had me laughing several times. With this book, you are just a short, enjoyable read away from creating your own masterful logline.
J. Grace Pennington, author of Firmament: Radialloy and Never
http://jgracepennington.com
Jordan has a way of presenting his tips and tricks without getting bogged down in details, leaving readers with no doubt as to what he was trying to say. This method of precise communication enables storytellers to improve their own writing without having to struggle through understanding what was just conveyed to them.
Katie Lynn Daniels, author of the Supervillain of the Day series
http://katielynndaniels.com
As an aspiring author with two books in progress, it is really easy to get bogged down in minute details and the inflections/tone of each scene or chapter. This book helped me to take a step back and look at the big picture.
Jo M. Coleman
http://jomcoleman.com
I read this neat little book in a matter of hours, highlighting something from almost every chapter for later reference. It was enjoyable and easy to read, while teaching me a lot about story. If you’re writing a story, planning one out, or wrote one in the past, you need this book.
Jeremiah Stiles
http://www.another-otherworld.com
To everyone who believed I could...
The Stuff Inside This Book
Introduction
So, What Is a Logline in the First Place?
The Quick-Start Logline Chapter
Untangling the Threads of Your Story
You’ve Gotta Promise Me Something
It’s a Must to be Forced
Tickle Me with Your Adjective Feather
Stop Avoiding Conflict
How Ironic That We Don’t Use Irony
Do You Ever Feel Set Up?
What Makes Your Story Different?
Leave the Moral Out of This!
The Handy-Dandy Three-Sentence Trick
Characters Deserve Loglines Too
In a World Where...
Finding the Core of Your Series
I Wrote a Logline... Now What?
Who Wrote This Book, Anyways?
Introduction
Let’s say you and I get onto an elevator together and I ask what your story is about. You could do one of two things.
You could start from the beginning and try to pitch me your entire 300-page novel or two-hour film in the brief elevator ride. If you take this approach, you’ll probably be eyeing the emergency stop button as the elevator gets closer and closer to my floor while you haven’t even gotten to the story’s hook yet. But, alas, you’re too late. We arrive at my floor and I get off rolling my eyes and wondering why I asked.
Or, instead of trying to pitch your entire movie in such a short time, you could just give me one sentence that succinctly summarizes your story’s hook and key ingredients. In the time that it takes to ride an elevator, you’ve hopefully tickled my fancy enough for me to give you my e-mail address and say, I’ve gotta run now, but send me some more about this, okay?
That one sentence you gave me is called a logline. It’s a tool that originated in Hollywood and is used by screenwriters to pitch their screenplays to movie producers. Basically, it’s a one-sentence summary of your story.
But you don’t need to be a screenwriter to use loglines. In fact, I think you’re seriously shooting yourself in the foot if you don’t use them. For too long, though, the logline has been stuck almost exclusively in the realm of screenwriters, and that’s a shame. It’s not just a screenwriting tool; any storyteller can use it. It doesn’t matter if you write novels, movies, plays, comic books, video games, or even operas. Every storyteller should be able to say in one sentence what his story is about, and this book is designed to teach you to do just that.
Now, you’ll notice that the examples I use in this book are largely from movies, and that’s because my story medium of choice is screenwriting. Just remember, you can use loglines for any kind of story you like to write.
You might be wondering, though, why you need to be able to write a logline. Well, a logline is a way for you to do a few things:
You’ll be able to pitch your story quickly and compellingly. No more fumbling for words when somebody asks you what your story is about!
You’ll have a guide to make sure your story is on the right track. Handy for shaping the next revision, whether it’s draft 2