When Your Pitch And Story Don't Match

As an agent, and I know editors have felt the same way, it is always frustrating to hear a fantastic pitch or read an incredible query letter and get overly excited about a project, only to be devastated when the project shows up and we start to read it. 

What happened?

Did I miss something when I heard what you told me? Did I misread your query letter when you told me all of those amazing things about what your story was about? I mean, you told me your story was about X but now your story is about Y? 

What happened????

A lot of this stems from the way authors pitch their stories and write their query letters. Often, they are writing what they THINK they have written or what they WANTED to have written, not what they have actually wrote. Some of this also comes from the amount of time they have spent crafting that query letter or pitch to such perfection that the story is now not what it really is. 

Writers will also see what the editor or agent really wants and then "turn their story into exactly what that person wanted." They read our blog post or listen to what we say on an editor/agent panel and then will rewrite their pitch or query and suddenly their story has become something that it is not. 

Let me give you an example. I recently read a story where the author pitched me a story that I was really excited about. According to the query letter AND the synopsis, both of the characters, were coming from a place in their lives where they had been isolated from the world due to different circumstances, and now, they were finding that through their relationship, they were being able to break that shell. OK, sounded pretty good (BTW, I really simplified this a lot and tweaked it some so as to not give away the full storyline). But then, when I got into the story, one of the characters was on target (so far, so good) but when I got to the second character, it was as if I was reading a Rom Con. For someone who should have been a bit more gloomy, this was far from what I was expecting. But then, as I got further into the story, the whole, finding their way out of this isolation was no longer a factor. It was just the fact that the story started that way. Nothing about the story involved anything like that. 

What happened? Who knows. Needless to say, the story ended up being a pass because there was no conflict (see earlier post from this week).

"OK Scott, how do I fix it?" you might ask.

This is what I do with authors who pitch to me in person (so be prepared). I know all of you plan on reading your pitches. I take your pitch away from you. Just tell me about your story. Pretend you are just telling your friend about your story. What you talk about is really what your story is about. The most important things will be the things come to the surface.

I remember a writer who pitched to me once at a conference. She came in and told me over and over that everyone said her story was an inspirational but in no way was her story an inspirational. I told her OK, at which point she pulled out her pitch and started to read it. I took it away and told her just to talk. After a few breaths, she started talking, at which point, she launched in talking about how God was guiding her characters and how faith led her characters into their relationship.

Hmmmmm? What do you think?

Look, just don't force your story. Just make sure to represent your story exactly as it is.