Loglines

Well, hubby had an interesting birthday. Considering he spent three hours in an AM/PM clinic. He's had a bump on his arm steadily swelling the last few days. It began with what we thought was a mosquito bite. It's not. He's a welder and often goes without wearing his leather welding shirt when the temperatures are extremely hot outside.

Have you ever had a small burn...like you accidently touch yourself with a curling iron or grease pop on you while cooking? They hurt like all get out. I know his job requires him to work in extreme temperatures, but it's not as bad as when he was in Iraq. So why not endure the leather shirt to keep from having small burns all over his upper body?

One of his burns has apparently gotten a staph infection. The swelling has tripled in size and his forearm is extremely painful and hot to the touch. They've started him on antibiotics and something for pain. I doubt he'll take the pain meds because he needs clarity when climbing up a hundred feet in the air to dangle from a harness, or to walk on a 6 inch wide platform.

So last night as we're falling asleep. I teased him with a line from one of our favorite movies, Tombstone. If you've ever watched it, it's where Sam Elliot's character, Virgil Earp, has been shot in the arm and is told he'll lose the use of it. He tells his wife something like, "I've still got one good arm to hold you with Ellie."

At least I got a goofy grin. Maybe it wasn't such a great birthday, but he still got a warm, gooey turtle brownie.

Okay...back to business. Loglines. If you were having a conversation with someone, how many of you can just toss out a decent one or two line description of your book. Several editor or agent pitches rely on a high concept logline to hook immediate interest.

I personally suck at it. So it peaked my interest when I received an email from one of my Yahoo groups, it was a virtual class on loglines from Rosemary Clement-Moore. It's the Four Elements of a Winning Pitch through the Candy Havens Writer's Workshop. And just what I needed. So I thought I would share my process as I go through the motions.

The first thing she has us doing is looking at the movie descriptions in TV Guide, or the online guide for your cable/satellite service will work. Also...look online for your favorite movie descriptions. Study the strength of the verbs to create a mental image. She also has us look at how the irony in a logline or title can add strength to your hook.

After I work on crits today, I'll start listing the unique elements of my story and strong verbs to tie it together. Interested in playing along? If not...sit back and enjoy my pain. ;)