EXERCISE: one sentence to rule them all

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 24 September 2009

Writer's Digest, March 2004, page 42 to 49, has a bonus section with the title, "Novel Writing Boot Camp," by Bob Mayer. I'm probably not going to summarize all of the bits and pieces, but let's pick out some of the odds and ends.

First, on page 42, there's a little sidebar with the title Your Turn Know Your Idea. It says:

Write down the original idea for your book in one sentence. Try using the "what if" technique, as in, "what if a secret organization of West Point graduates has been covertly manipulating our government's policies for the past 50 years and now appears to be planning a coup against the president?" Analyze your sentence over and over until it's clear and precise. Then leave it alone. This sentence helps clarify your idea and will remind you each morning of your constant theme. It'll also come in handy when submitting your manuscript to agents and publishers, who may read only the first line of your query letter. This sentence should be that first line.

That's what Bob says. Let's consider that for a minute. Of course, you may be working on a short story, or even a poem. Still, that one line summary, that idea in a nutshell, can be very helpful. Spending some time thinking about what's the core of this work, what's the idea that I want to show to my readers, and polishing that in a very small format before spending a lot of time writing it out at length can be helpful. Whether it's zombies in a backyard, or maybe ghosts in the factory, and what happens then -- take a few minutes, write it out in one short sentence, and tweak that idea so that it's really exciting -- something you want to write about and you know people will want to read about.

You might even do several of them, and then pick out the one that is the best and expand that.

One sentence. It all starts with just one sentence. And then...