Friday, May 1, 2009

Pitch Contest - Final thoughts

This was a tough excercise but I compliment those of you that tried this.

The biggest thing that makes this tough is determining what is really important and what isn't. Again, just as a reminder, you have a short amount of time and space to get the point across. Waste it on pointless facts or just re-telling the story does nothing to convince me the story is great.

I guess I also want to say that this is a reason why you really need to sit down BEFORE you start your story and figure out what makes it really unique. For some of you writers out there, you finish a story and then try to figure out what makes it special. Too often, there isn't anything and you just can't fix it after the fact.

Keep workingon this skill everyone. Will it sell your story? Nope. But it does increase your chance that we will want to read more of your story and not just pass on it with a simple, "seen it done it" response.

Off to California for the Silicon Valley RWA Conference. Will write more next week.

Oh, and don't forget to check out the Brenda Novak Auction begining May 1.

Scott

5 comments:

  1. Thanks again, Scott, for taking the time to do this.

    The best of luck to you in CA!

    Murphy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Next time you do this I will submit my pitch. I agonized over whether to send it or not. I was worried about it being cut to ribbons. I sent mine in a few months back and some of the comments were borderline nasty. I didn't see any of that here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Anon,
    Man, that makes me so mad. i can only say again, what is the point of the mean stuff? How does it help anyone to write more effectively ?
    Keep a good heart, and don't give up for a moment. People that are using the internet to be hateful, once again, are people who are afriad to write trhemselves, but want to do so. They take refuge in cruel criticism of other people's attempts to write well. Pathetic. And, they are still afriad to write themselves. Pynishment enough, say I. sail on, girl!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I had to leave for work. Anon-look on Nathan bransford's site for several good blogs on writing queries-also the excellent examples on Jennifer Jackson's blog- (DMLA)
    Don't let anyone make you feel bad. You are putting yourself out there and trying to become a better writer. They are expending time and energy attacking from cover. Likely won't get published that way either. Be steadfast.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Scott,

    Thanks for sharing your critiques of pitches. I believe that they can be more difficult to write than the novel!

    I would like to see what a good pitch looks like and what makes it good in your opinion. In any case, it would prove to be very helpful to me.

    Thanks for all of your help,
    Claudia Helena Ross

    ReplyDelete