Creating an Informal Pitch, Part 2

Last week, I considered the terrifying moment when we're asked what our stories are about. To be prepared for such an occurrence, I began the process of creating an informal pitch for two of my projects: my novella, Through Time, and my novel (possibly duology or trilogy), Raiders' Rise. You can read the post here, where we gathered all the building blocks for our pitches. Today we're going to make them into something coherent.

Step Two: Smash It All Together

Through Time: Through Time is a futuristic, semi-dystopian novella that retells the story of Beauty and the Beast through the eyes of the "Beast," Tristan, a young billionaire orphaned in car wreck and given cyborg implants, who is now dying of an incurable disease. He utilizes his parents' discovery of time travel to search for a cure, eventually landing in eighteenth-century France and meeting Alette, who he brings back to his time as part of a theory he has. As time counts down, he wars within himself, struggling to control his anger and learn the definition of real love.

Raiders' Rise: Raiders' Rise is a Greek-inspired tech-fantasy that focuses on the journeys of Alexandra, Princess Jewel of Meristos, and her brother Davian, Heir to the Throne, as they seek to take back their country from raiders who invaded it. Davian is held hostage in the raiders' home country, Parahan, where he meets another hostage – Simone, Princess of Klyptos. Meanwhile, Alexandra finds herself on a pirate ship, where she meets a sailor named Gavin. As each seek to escape, they'll find themselves in a fight bigger than either expected, a fight to save their nation.

Courtesy of Pixabay

Step Three: Make it Informal

So, that's a lot. All the information is in each, but it feels more like an info-packed synopsis than an informal pitch. Rolling all of that off my tongue would be hard. What I need to do now is make the pitch simpler, easier to pull out at the trigger of, "What are you writing about?"

Through Time: Through Time is a futuristic, semi-dystopian retelling of Beauty and the Beast. For now, it's a novella, though that may be expanded, that tells the story through the eyes of the "Beast," Tristan. He's a a young billionaire orphan who has cyborg implants and is dying of an incurable disease. His parents discovered time travel, and he uses that to search for a cure. On one of these journeys, he lands in eighteenth-century France and meets a girl, Alette, who he brings back to his time as part of a theory he has. But the closer he gets to death, the more he wars with himself, struggling to control his anger and learn the definition of real love.

Raiders' Rise: Raiders' Rise is a Greek-inspired tech-fantasy novel that focuses on the journeys of this princess, Alexandra, and her brother Davian, who's the heir to the throne, after their country, Meristos, is invaded by raiders. Davian's held hostage in the raiders' home country, Parahan, while Alexandra finds herself on a pirate ship. Each, of course, seek to escape, and they find themselves in a fight bigger than either of them ever expected.

I highly recommend recording yourself reading the pitch at this stage. It will help you transfer it from the formality of a written form to the type of pitch we're looking for.

Courtesy of Pixabay

Step Four: Make a One-Sentence Version

When someone asks what you're writing about, they're probably not expecting a lot. And sometimes short is better if it comes off your tongue easily and smoothly. Besides, you can always explain further after an initial hook. With that in mind, I'm going to turn my informal paragraph into a one-sentence summary, with only the most important, interesting information included.

Through Time: Through Time is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast set in a futuristic, time-travel setting and told from the perspective of the "Beast," Tristan.

Raiders' Rise: Raiders' Rise is a Greek-inspired tech-fantasy about two royal siblings who have to fight for their country after it's invaded by raiders.

 

Ultimately, what I've ended up with probably won't come out in that exact form when I'm talking to people. But I've created a form in my mind that will help with the mind-blankness and, hopefully, make my stories sound somewhat interesting.

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What do you think? Did I create decent pitches? What about your stories? Pitch them to me in the comments!