Three tips for creating an effective and intriguing logline or elevator pitch

03/31/2014 The Perfect Elevator Pitch (Also Called a Logline)

I came across this article from "The Write Practice" about creating a perfect logline or elevator pitch. The last place I saw an explanation this simple yet thorough was "Writing Fiction For Dummies", (Affiliate Link). I wanted to archive this information for my later reference. The following is on excerpt from the article.



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The Nitty-Gritty

Final tips for creating an effective and intriguing logline:

1. Start with your protagonist. Who or what leads the action of the story? In Star Wars, that’s obvious: Luke Skywalker. But what about an ensemble film like Pulp Fiction? IMDB has a great logline for Tarantino’s film: “The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster’s wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.”

1. With a logline, you really need to think about your verb. Steer clear of the infinitive “to be.” Look at the Lion King example above: tricked—flees—abandons. All verbs that get you thinking more about the how and the why within the main plot.

1. Finally, that brings us to the basic “what happens” of the plot. What happens in Star Wars? “Luke Skywalker, a spirited farm boy, joins rebel forces to save Princess Leia from the evil Darth Vader, and the galaxy from the Empire’s planet-destroying Death Star.”

Simplified further: “A spirited farm boy joins rebel forces to save a princess from evil forces, and the galaxy from a planet-destroying starship.”  

To read the FULL article (Click Here)

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This Longline or Elevator Pitch can be used in nearly any arena where you might have a product, service, idea, book, or story you want to convey to other people in 30 seconds or less.

"I'm Joe. I run Mama Mia's Pizza in downtown Brooklyn, NY. We serve fresh - old world style- pizza daily, just like Mama used to make." 

This could become the way this imaginary Joe would explain his business to anyone he meets.




I subscribed to "The Write Practice" and you should too if you want other great tips. I've really enjoyed their articles so far.



Live Long And Prosper, Darrell

Resource: 

For more information on writing fiction, this is my favorite book on the subject to date.

Writing Fiction For Dummies", (Affiliate Link). 

A complete guide to writing and selling your novel 

So you want to write a novel? Great! That’s a worthy goal, no matter what your reason. But don’t settle for just writing a novel. Aim high. Write a novel that you intend to sell to a publisher. Writing Fiction for Dummies is a complete guide designed to coach you every step along the path from beginning writer to royalty-earning author. Here are some things you’ll learn in Writing Fiction for Dummies: 

Strategic Planning: Pinpoint where you are on the roadmap to publication; discover what every reader desperately wants from a story; home in on a marketable category; choose from among the four most common creative styles; and learn the self-management methods of professional writers. 

Writing Powerful Fiction: Construct a story world that rings true; create believable, unpredictable characters; build a strong plot with all six layers of complexity of a modern novel; and infuse it all with a strong theme. 

Self-Editing Your Novel: Psychoanalyze your characters to bring them fully to life; edit your story structure from the top down; fix broken scenes; and polish your action and dialogue. 

Finding An Agent and Getting Published: Write a query letter, a synopsis, and a proposal; pitch your work to agents and editors without fear. 

Writing Fiction For Dummies takes you from being a writer to being an author. It can happen—if you have the talent and persistence to do what you need to do. 

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