Bella Lucky And The Log Line Of Nanowrimo

BELLA LUCKY AND THE LOG LINE OF NaNoWriMo As I proceed to work via my own strategy of outlining Bella Lucky and the Monsters of Methone, I know I want a log lineâ€"a one-sentence description of what this e-book is aboutâ€"to focus my considering as I get deeper into the outline, and to assist me promote it when it’s carried out. On page 17 of The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction I briefly contact on the thought of the log line and supply a couple samples I cooked up myself, like: A misplaced alien race has left behind working starships that intrepid prospectors take to unknown destinations across the galaxy looking for riches. . . . my log line for Frederick Pohl’s Gatewayâ€"and with two phrases to spare! Since then, though, I’ve included the log line train in lessons, and considered them in slightly extra element. One thing I’ve advised is to open that word limit up a little bit in the extra word-friendly world of publishing, so we will go to as many as fifty phrases. Your log line should give whoever re ads it a way that there’s a narrative, and that that story is about folks doing things, however that’s pretty much it. The log line is all set-up, and needs to be a hundred% spoiler free. This is “gross sales copy” for you, and also you’ll use it when talking to brokers, editors, and anyone else. It’ll be part of your cowl copy or Amazon touchdown web page/catalog copyâ€"or will no less than be a basis for that. It’ll be part of each question letter, press launch, your web site or weblog, and so on. So make it count! I assume log lines for novels need three components: Even if your book has more than one hero and multiple villain, surely there’s one main character, or a minimum of group of characters, who can fill every spot. Really, you must have one principal protagonist and one principal antagonist or your story might be (not positively, however . . .) overly advanced and tough to narrate to. This is one other huge advantage of this process. It forces you to drill right down to the absolute essential. Now, in fact, no one who knows something about something will assume that this is the sum total of your story. No one is going to read this and suppose, Gee, there are only two characters? Of course we all count on that there might be a lot of twists and turns, fascinating worldbuilding, compelling ideas, and so on, however you must start someplace. So then, following that basic template, here’s one I wrote up as an example for a class: Genetically engineered androids come to Earth to confront their creator and a cynical cop has to track them down and kill them in cold blood. That’s Blade Runner or Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? in precisely twenty-5 words. The order by which we get hero, villain, and battle is entirely elective, so this example begins with the villains and what they wantâ€"and what the villain wants tends to begin each story offâ€"then we meet the hero (a cynical cop) and the battle is clear. Notice additionally that not one of the characters have a reputation. Even brokers and editors who focus on science fiction and fantasy will trip over weird character names or begin wondering if this is a character they need to have heard of already. With only twenty-5 to fifty phrases, you don’t have time for much if any worldbuilding. And notice, too, that I spent no time describing the category, style, audience, etc. The fact that it is a science fiction novel for an adult audience shall be in a separate a part of the question letter, and anyway, “Genetically engineered androids come to Earth” kinda screams science fiction, doesn’t it? With Bella Lucky and the Monsters of Methone starting off, no less than, as a brief 50,000 word straight-ahead sci-fi journey story, I in all probability don’t need as many as fifty words, however let’s see what I can provide you with. I’ll start by describing every of those three elements in the shortest possible way but in a means that’s nonetheless atte ntion-grabbing. For instance, describing Deckard as “a cynical cop” hints at an additional layer of battle versus simply “a cop.” Since I’ve thought via enough of the define that I need a huge a part of Bella’s story to be about how she’s come to depend on luck and needs to get previous that, let’s go together with . . . Hero: a police detective who’s come to rely an excessive amount of on luck The villain is rather less clear in my head. I know that Dr. Niu is reporting back to mysterious “bosses” as they explore the clandestine genetics laboratory and that she is working in opposition to Bella, but I haven’t really put a lot of thought into the why but. I’m pondering that on this future genetic engineering is frowned upon and the sort of genetic engineering that results in the creation of distinctive life forms (the monsters of Methone) is flat-out unlawful. Since I’d introduced ubiquitous robots in the quick story and robots normally have a connection with Bella via her fiancée, who works for the company that manufactures robots, I’m thinking that he gets wind of this clandestine laboratory, set up by a competitor, and is the one who blows the whistle. Bella is assigned to this hastily-assembled staff to go to Methone and investigate, however this mysterious company competitor manages to get one of their folks (Dr. Niu) on the staff to engineer a cover-up. So Dr. Niu plans to be the sole survivor of the expedition, and after securing the relevant knowledge, she needs to destroy the proof. That’s an okay start no less than, but plenty of phrases. Thinking cap on. Villain: a traitor who will cease at nothing to cover up her employers’ crimes In that thinking about the villain I additionally ended up with an excellent measure of the core battle. Bella is there to research a crime. Dr. Niu is there to cowl up the same crime. The crime itself is the creation of genetically engineered monsters. This brings me to: A police detect ive who’s come to rely too much on luck leads a small team to a remote moon of Saturn to investigate an illegal genetic engineering lab, but one of her staff is a traitor who will cease at nothing to cowl up her employers’ crimes. I make that forty-seven phrases. I selected to start out with the hero, and I’m not one hundred% sure why, however it sort of simply labored out that method. And I’ll rationalize it as wanting to place my sequence-hopeful character Bella Lucky at the entrance of the action, difficult by the villain being villainous. Notice I slipped a teaspoonful of setting in there, too. I felt on the fly that I wanted to ensure individuals knew this was house opera. This isn’t a genetic engineering lab in New Mexicoâ€"and I kinda need to explain the title since only a few individuals will be able to identify Methone. So then now the title makes slightly extra sense, we get that Bella Lucky might be the “police detective who’s come to rely too much on luck,â € that Methone is “a distant moon of Saturn,” and the monsters are the product of “an illegal genetic engineering lab.” Kind of seems like a story is brewing. â€"Philip Athans About Philip Athans Thanks for the tips about log strains (both on here and in print). I solely lately picked up a replica of “The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction” and am studying by way of it quickly. I had thought to attempt NaNoWriMo this year as properly, so I suppose the combination of the two is quite fortuitous! Thanks for the advice. It’s clear and helpful when I work on the tag line (or elevator pitch as I know it) for my novel. Thanks for also laying out a fantastic out-line to follow that’s fast and easy to duplicate, whereas at the similar time incorporating recommendation for adding a teaspoonful (as you place it) of setting. And by tag-line I imply log-line.