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Nathan Bransford

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How to Write a One Sentence Pitch

May 20, 2010 by Nathan Bransford 93 Comments

One sentence pitch

Last week I outlined the general necessity of whittling down your plot to one sentence, one paragraph, and two paragraph pitches in order to give yourself a head start on the literally thousands of times you are going to need to summarize your work over the course of a book’s lifetime.

Today I want to zero in on the one sentence pitch.

Caveat time: I don’t want to oversell the importance of a one sentence pitch. It’s really not something that is going to sink or float your book. A good pitch is not going to mean your book gets published and a bad pitch doesn’t mean your book won’t get published.

At the same time, the one sentence pitch is the core of all the summarizing you’re going to do in the future. It’s the heart of your book, whittled down to one sentence. It’s what you build around when crafting longer pitches.

And there’s an art to it.

There are three basic elements in a good one sentence pitch:

  • The opening conflict (called the Inciting Incident by Robert McKee)
  • The obstacle
  • The quest

The quest can be a physical or interior journey, but it’s what happens to the character(s) between the moment when the plot begins and ends. The opening conflict is the first step in that quest. It’s how the journey begins. The obstacle is what stands in the way of that journey.

The resulting very basic pitch is: When OPENING CONFLICT happens to CHARACTER(s), they have OVERCOME CONFLICT to COMPLETE QUEST. There are lots different ways of structuring these basic elements, but they should be there.

The important thing to remember is that a good pitch is a description of what actually happens. It’s a one sentence description of the plot, not the theme.

The danger of describing the theme in your pitch instead of the actual plot is that it invariably sounds generic. The pitch of Eat Pray Love is not “A recently divorced woman searches for love and happiness.” That sounds like, well, a million books published every year. A better pitch would be “A recently divorced woman travels to Italy for pleasure, India for spirituality, and Bali for balance, but she finds love instead.” That’s what actually happens.

The last key element is a dash of flavor: anything you can do to flesh out your pitch with some key details that give a sense of the character of your novel (funny, scary, intense, tragic, etc.) will go a long way to giving the recipient of the pitch a sense of its unique personality.

I am by no means suggesting that I have a perfect one sentence pitch and will not be winning any pitch awards any time soon, but I have tried my best to live by the philosophy I have detailed above:

Three kids trade a corndog (FLAVOR) for a spaceship, blast off into space (OPENING CONFLICT), accidentally break the universe (OBSTACLE), and have to find their way back home (QUEST)

Once you have your one sentence pitch down pat the rest of your descriptions will be gravy. On corndogs. Yum.

Need help with your book? I’m available for manuscript edits, query critiques, and consultations! And if you like this post, check out my guide to writing a novel.

Art: The Actor by Fritz von Uhde

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Filed Under: Book Marketing, Query Letters Tagged With: How to Find a Literary Agent, Jacob Wonderbar, writing advice

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Joanne Bischof says

    May 20, 2010 at 9:45 pm

    Its a terrible feeling when someone, especially someone in the industry asks you what your book is about and you say "uh…" Thanks for laying it out so clearly. I love the concept of adding flavor!

    Thanks

    Reply
  2. Remilda Graystone says

    May 20, 2010 at 9:45 pm

    Thanks! I needed to read a post like this because I've been having problems with the pitch for my current WIP. Now I have an idea of how I can actually begin.

    Thanks, again.

    Reply
  3. April Wendy Hollands says

    May 20, 2010 at 9:47 pm

    Another really helpful post, written in an easy-to-understand AND easy-to-follow-in-yer-footsteps way. Thanks Nathan.

    Reply
  4. Jaydee Morgan says

    May 20, 2010 at 9:52 pm

    That's a very simple way of breaking it down – and one that doesn't seem quite so intimidating.

    Reply
  5. salarsenッ says

    May 20, 2010 at 9:53 pm

    Love the simple diagram. Already copied it on that sticky note in my head. Felt like I was in freshman English, again. Thanks for the time warp. Seriously, the more plainly put for me the better.

    Kudos!!

    Reply
  6. Jennifer says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:05 pm

    Nathan, what about multiple POV novels like White Teeth or The Corrections???

    Reply
  7. Nathan Bransford says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:10 pm

    jennifer-

    Then it's time to get creative. I think it's a matter of picking out some key elements or generalizing a bit more and filling in whatever specifics are possible. Easier said than done, I know.

    Reply
  8. Talei says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:11 pm

    Brilliant! Thanks so much for sharing your expertise I've learnt alot this week from your posts! 😉

    Reply
  9. Candyland says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:12 pm

    Excellent! Easy tips to boil it down:)

    Reply
  10. Amanda Sablan says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:13 pm

    And now it's my turn to craft that perfect pitch. Your tips will certainly help. Thank you. 🙂

    Reply
  11. Marilyn Peake says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:16 pm

    Love your one-sentence pitch for JACOB WONDERBAR! And I agree about EAT, PRAY, LOVE. A couple of days ago, I saw a trailer for the movie that mentioned those three key elements of the book (although, since it was a movie trailer, there was more than one sentence). I’ve seen the book cover a gazillion times, but once I realized the story was about three types of very interesting travel experiences, I immediately purchased the book.

    Thanks for breaking down the three key steps in writing a one-sentence pitch. That’s very helpful!

    Reply
  12. Maureen says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:21 pm

    Great post, thanks for putting it so simply — that makes it so much easier to understand and craft THE sentence.

    Reply
  13. Steph says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:26 pm

    As usual, super helpful. I have been struggling with this a lot recently, thanks for breaking it down as simple as possible!

    Reply
  14. Ishta Mercurio says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:29 pm

    Great post, as always. Nice and clear – thanks!

    And I'd like to add that working out your one sentence pitch can be an important writing and revision tool. Being able to identify the core elements of your novel can help you stay focused during the writing process, and helps you identify unnecessary elements during the revision process. At least, that's what it's been doing for me this week! And that goes for all forms of writing, I think, from lengthy novels right down to 32-page picture books.

    Reply
  15. Nicole L Rivera says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:39 pm

    Awesome post. You are the first person to actually explain how to write a pitch. Most people simply suggest to go look at the one line in bold print on the back of the book. I literally went to a book store and took pictures of these one liners with my IPhone. I went home and studied them and still felt lost. I really needed this post. I'm going to print it out and keep it in my notebook 🙂

    Reply
  16. Magdalena Munro says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:45 pm

    Well said and I appreciate the pointers! I am a professional recruiter (Disney) and I always conclude interviews with candidates by asking them the simple question, Who Are You? There are a lot of similarities to what you wrote that I look for in a one sentence pitch/response from a candidate and it's nice to see the overlap.

    Reply
  17. madisonwoods says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:48 pm

    Thanks! Your direction made it easier than I thought it'd be to sum it all up in one sentence. But, wow, the sentence is a mouthful 🙂

    Reply
  18. Meredith says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:57 pm

    Thank you so much for this. I have been struggling with this for weeks, and then I read this, sat down and banged out something that encapsulates my WIP perfectly. (Ok, I banged it out, then had to edit it 4 times). But it works now! Thanks!!

    Reply
  19. lbdiamond says

    May 20, 2010 at 10:58 pm

    Lovely! Great tips! 😀

    Reply
  20. Simon Hay Soul Healer says

    May 20, 2010 at 11:00 pm

    Thanks for that. In narrative nonfiction would you replace obstacle with theme? I'm just trying to apply your directions to a series of events.

    Simon.

    Reply
  21. Nathan Bransford says

    May 20, 2010 at 11:01 pm

    simon-

    It depends on the genre, but usually it would still be as much as possible about what happens. But if it's a particular subject matter, yeah, it could be the subject and the angle, if that makes sense.

    Reply
  22. Lia Keyes says

    May 20, 2010 at 11:08 pm

    Nathan, you darling man, thanks for posting on this topic. It's the subject of #ScribeChat, the weekly chat for writers on Twitter this evening (6 pm PT/9 pm ET). I was going to write a post to introduce the topic on The ScribeChat Review but have been feeling like death warmed up all day. If you have no objections, I'll do a short intro and link to your post here instead, as you've done such a great job, as always!

    The one-sentence pitch is a truly valuable tool. I found myself sitting next to an editor from a major publishing house at dinner during the Big Sur Workshop and when she asked what I was writing I used a quick pitch, not wanting to bore her, and as I left at the end of the meal she asked me to submit it to her.

    At the SCBWI conference a film manager asked me for what the movie industry calls a logline (the one sentence pitch) and liked it enough to request a one page synopsis.

    But four years ago, when I first started writing this book, I couldn't have done it. Sometimes you have to know your book very well before you can identify the heart of it.

    Reply
  23. Claudie says

    May 20, 2010 at 11:14 pm

    Thanks for that post, Nathan!

    I have a tendency to write books with multiple central characters and thinning it all down to a sentence is a hardship. This will be a great deal of help.

    You rock!

    Reply
  24. Anonymous says

    May 20, 2010 at 11:15 pm

    Thanks, the last post on the subject led me to do exactly what you described today.

    My first really intelligent effort at a query resulted. It's very similar to selling used cars and nothing at all like writing a novel. Until now I've been trying to re-write my novel as a paragraph.

    tjpfau

    Reply
  25. T. Anne says

    May 20, 2010 at 11:22 pm

    This helps.

    My sentence seems a bit paragraphish though. I'll have to iron out the bugs.

    Reply
  26. Olivia Herrell says

    May 20, 2010 at 11:27 pm

    Great post, thanks for your instructions!

    Reply
  27. Elizabeth Briggs says

    May 20, 2010 at 11:45 pm

    Great post. Maybe you could also do a few 1 sentence pitch critiques on a Monday (since that seems to be critique day now).

    Reply
  28. Susan Kaye Quinn says

    May 21, 2010 at 12:10 am

    I didn't want to believe you, that it could be this simple. But it was – it took about a half an hour, but my logline when from really? to rockin'.

    Darn you Mr. Bransford, must you always be right? 🙂

    Reply
  29. Tambra says

    May 21, 2010 at 12:12 am

    The best advice I was given was to look at how the TV guide summarizes movies.
    It really helped give me a starting point to work with.

    Wish I had Nathan's advice when I started having to write the pitches.

    Thank you, Nathan. I'll go back and check the one-liners I already have and save the instructions for a future time.

    Best,
    Tambra

    Reply
  30. Angelica R. Jackson says

    May 21, 2010 at 12:13 am

    I tried this a while ago and came up with one I mostly like:

    After escaping a treacherous attack at sea, Isabelle Brandt is determined to see justice for her murdered friends—-only to face imprisonment and hanging as the killers accuse her in turn.

    The main problem is, there's no room in it for the ghosts that appear in my book!

    Reply
  31. ryan field says

    May 21, 2010 at 12:16 am

    You explained this well. I enjoyed it and I'm going to be practicing it in the future.

    Reply
  32. wendy says

    May 21, 2010 at 12:29 am

    Nathan, I second the request to do a sentence critique next Monday. And as so few have the opportunity to be critiqued by you, could we also post our sentences for a crit from each other?

    Your post today was really helpful, and I'm feeling more optimistic about my one sentence pitch.

    Thank you. 🙂

    Reply
  33. A Pen In Neverland: Angela Peña Dahle says

    May 21, 2010 at 12:48 am

    Fabulous! This is so great I had to retweet it. Thanks! Usually I do pitches and queries first before I sit down to write it all. It helps to flesh it out, It keeps me focused. Anyone else do this?

    http://www.a-pen-in-neverland.blogspot.com

    Reply
  34. Mira says

    May 21, 2010 at 2:12 am

    This is great – you explained it in very clear, simple terms – very readable and easy to apply. Thank you!

    I'm wondering – could this translate to queries? It seems like the synopsis part is the most difficult for folks, and that's what this is – especially the two paragraph pitch. If so, this approach could help with what is the hardest part of the query.

    Just a thought.

    Reply
  35. cheekychook says

    May 21, 2010 at 2:17 am

    I was dreading the idea of writing a one sentence pitch but the tips you gave have made it kind of fun. Not corndog-quality kind of fun, but definitely more fun than I originally anticipated. Thanks, as always, for the excellent advice!

    Reply
  36. Debbie says

    May 21, 2010 at 2:22 am

    What do you suggest for nonfiction books? I know EAT LOVE PRAY was nonfiction but it reads as fiction.

    Reply
  37. J. T. Shea says

    May 21, 2010 at 2:28 am

    You mean they don't fix the universe? What a bad example for kids! I bet JACOB WONDERBAR'S publication will be followed by a significant upsurge in reported universe breakages!

    Sarra, if you've got a greater evil than the zombie apocalypse, spell it out a little! If you've got it, flaunt it! Like Robert McKee's famous eyebrows…

    Reply
  38. Anna Murray says

    May 21, 2010 at 3:32 am

    Rancher brothers adopt trail-orphaned sisters, fight a range war, nurse their ailing mother, and work to build a family amidst the hardships of post-civil war Montana.

    Reply
  39. k m kelly says

    May 21, 2010 at 3:49 am

    Hey, and you did it in under 25 words, Nathan. Wonderbar!

    Reply
  40. Jessica Peter says

    May 21, 2010 at 4:17 am

    Greatly informative. I've been fiddling with mine for a while now, and my one-sentence pitch is technically.. two sentences. I think with this lovely formula, I may be able to make it just one!

    Reply
  41. hannah says

    May 21, 2010 at 4:41 am

    For BREAK, my one sentence pitch has always been, "Jonah is on a mission to break all his bones." It doesn't have the elements you mentioned, but it's enough to make people go "What the–!?" which is one way to peak interest!

    Reply
  42. Anonymous says

    May 21, 2010 at 4:53 am

    Around 40 comments and about 90% women — for an article that was not gender slanted.

    Houston, we have a demographic problem!

    (Q. How many of you gals are writing about vampires?)

    Good post though.

    Reply
  43. neurotype says

    May 21, 2010 at 5:57 am

    The problem I'm having is translating this for a work of literary fiction: at the moment, I'm basically defining character developments as the plot.

    Reply
  44. Kathryn Paterson says

    May 21, 2010 at 6:42 am

    I'm having sort of the same problem, neurotype, although I'm trying to go more mainstream than literary. But I have three POV characters, each of whom has her own quest. The quests all collide fairly soon, but I'm having a really hard time zeroing in on the "quest" part of the formula. For me the one and two paragraph pitches were much easier. I came up with about eight different one-sentence pitches, all of which I thought sounded good, but none of which actually captured the heart of the novel.

    That said, the exercise itself helped me to clarify the catalytic event and some fuzziness in the characters' motivations, so THANKS!

    Reply
  45. Claire King says

    May 21, 2010 at 8:10 am

    This is a really helpful post. Thanks, Nathan.

    Reply
  46. crawshawus says

    May 21, 2010 at 9:00 am

    What a great teacher!

    Reply
  47. Elie says

    May 21, 2010 at 11:06 am

    This is really, really useful. It helps with unravelling plot muddles too!
    Thanks.

    Reply
  48. author Scott Nicholson says

    May 21, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    Do you think the character/conflict/quest has to be in any specific order, Nathan? I suppose that lends a natural beginning/middle/end structure but it may take some maneuvering.

    Scott Nicholson

    Reply
  49. Erika Marks says

    May 21, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    A great post, Nathan. As someone who is going to have start marketing my debut novel in the next few months, I have been trying hard to come up with the one-sentence pitch and the mention of "flavor" is a helpful one.

    Friends or booksellers–everybody wants to know: What's the book about? Of course they do–but funny how it ends up being a challenge to articulate it in a concise way.

    Reply
  50. Anonymous says

    May 21, 2010 at 1:36 pm

    A one sentence pitch! wow that seems hard! Good luck!

    S.J.

    Reply
  51. Tamara Narayan says

    May 21, 2010 at 2:00 pm

    My old one-line pitch:

    A young girl is kidnapped, and instead of destroying her life, the crime saves her and hundreds of others.

    Boo hiss!

    My new one-line pitch:

    When a reluctant psychic (FLAVOR) kidnaps a three-year-old girl (OPENING CONFLICT), an FBI agent fights to keep the kidnapper free (OBSTACLE) in hopes she will lead the Bureau to a stolen cache of explosives (QUEST).

    Better. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Excellent post.

    Reply
  52. Eric says

    May 21, 2010 at 2:39 pm

    I'll get back to work on my pitch after I memorize this excellent post.

    Reply
  53. Dara says

    May 21, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    Thanks for such a helpful post. It definitely showed me how I need to craft my pitch into something that actually makes sense now and isn't a rambling mess 😛

    Reply
  54. Malia Sutton says

    May 21, 2010 at 2:48 pm

    Good stuff 🙂

    Reply
  55. The Zuccini says

    May 21, 2010 at 3:00 pm

    I really enjoyed reading everybody's pitches. There are some great sounding books out there.

    Reply
  56. Diana says

    May 21, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    Question for Nathan: when pitching a three-part series, does one aim for a 1-sentence pitch that captures the ENTIRE series? Or one that captures only the first book?

    Reply
  57. Kermit Rose says

    May 21, 2010 at 3:35 pm

    Helen Troy believed her newly acquired super powers would help her persuade everyone to quit their tobacco addiction, but found it only increased the number of problems to be solved.

    Reply
  58. mkcbunny says

    May 21, 2010 at 3:59 pm

    This was very helpful. Thanks.

    Reply
  59. Dick Hannah says

    May 21, 2010 at 4:08 pm

    Nathan,

    As an avid reader of your blog, I'm hoping you saw (or will link to my blog wherein I mention and review) the article on e-books in today's WSJ.

    Keep up the good work,

    Dick Hannah

    http://puborperish.blogspot.com/

    Reply
  60. patlaff says

    May 21, 2010 at 4:15 pm

    When struggling novelist Sean Keating finds out the best way for a debut author to get published is through non-fiction, he decides to writing about love, something he knows nothing about…until he reunites with his prom date.

    That helps. Thanks, Nahtan.

    Reply
  61. Linda Gray says

    May 21, 2010 at 4:17 pm

    This is excellent — thanks! I recently read a literary agent's advice to never use the names of characters in a query letter. It's distracting. What do you think of that, and also, what about in a one-sentence-pitch?

    Reply
  62. Sara Martin says

    May 21, 2010 at 4:32 pm

    Linda – I've also heard that about omitting character names. I look at the NY Times bestseller lists occasionally for one-sentence pitch ideas, but some use character names and others don't.

    My problem is I can't decide how much detail to include. I have this spare, simple one-line pitch:

    A teenage girl is drawn to a fictional relationship where she discovers a surprising reality.

    But when I try to give it more detail, I feel like it gets too long:

    A teenage girl is drawn to a boy she meets in a recurring dream, discovers his existence isn't entirely imaginary, and must uncover the truth of their mysterious connection before someone else does.

    I wrote the longer one pretty quickly, so it could be better… but I'm just wondering if I should stop at the simple one.

    Reply
  63. Steppe says

    May 21, 2010 at 4:39 pm

    I followed this link from your site to a blog and then a website. It offers the long form in free e-book
    http://www.writeagreatquery.com/

    I decided to add a new five pages to my opening, very reluctantly; at first, but I think I was able to marry an active opening that makes my protagonists motivations and quest extremely clear to a follow on segment that logically and hypnotically engages in world building that seems: "this could be possible."
    I have your formula suggestions and breakdown of your plot sequence as the practical intro to that longer ebook.

    Its a tough task but I accept it is essential. Maybe you could cover suspension of disbelief and first three chapters in the future. Thx N.

    Reply
  64. Steppe says

    May 21, 2010 at 4:44 pm

    My three "candidates" left standing.

    1.) Quantum physicist Pierce Daniels must survive butchery carnage and mass slaughter to prevent the top secret experiment that leads to The Armageddon of 2012.

    2.) Thirteen miles of defenses known as The Bell Devil’s Hellfire Walk separates America’s annihilation from Physicist Pierce Daniels 7337th death.

    3.)The atomized obliteration of the United States of America in 2012 can only be stopped by the person who originally ignited the conflagration that engulfed all of mankind; Quantum Physicist and Nobel Laureate Dr. Pierce Daniels.

    Reply
  65. Stephen Prosapio says

    May 21, 2010 at 5:00 pm

    Awesome! I've never seen this spelled out so clearly and logically. Definitely a keeper. Thanks NB!

    Reply
  66. Linnea says

    May 21, 2010 at 5:06 pm

    Great post Nathan. I think a one sentence pitch helps the writer focus on the through plot to see if it has enough meat. I love loglines anyway so I always try and describe my WIP in a single sentence.

    Reply
  67. Maya says

    May 21, 2010 at 5:08 pm

    Thanks! Very useful.

    Reply
  68. Jared says

    May 21, 2010 at 5:27 pm

    Long time reader, first time poster. This is not related to the current blog post, but as someone who clearly enjoy filmed drama and children's literature, I felt I would be amiss if I didn't wise you to a guy making "Golden Books" style pages out of classic (R-rated) movie scenes: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2010/05/golden_books_th.html
    for a gallery of them, check out:
    http://kotaku.com/5540330/these-golden-books-are-not-for-children/gallery/
    (He already has a book deal)

    Reply
  69. Sheila Mary Taylor says

    May 21, 2010 at 5:27 pm

    This is such good advice, not only for being able to tell a top class agent you have the luck to meet in the lift at a writing conference why it's imperative that he should read your book, but also to guide you when you're doing those last few vital edits before submitting the manuscript. It would keep you focused and might even make you realise you aren't quite on the right track. Thank you so much.

    Reply
  70. Jared says

    May 21, 2010 at 5:30 pm

    Since I am already posting irrelevent links, I think you might also enjoy the next link on Brainiac (a wonderful little blog that the Boston Globe puts out): Adult authors who write children's books… and how to get them.

    Again, http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2010/05/graham_greene_w.html and http://wetoowerechildren.blogspot.com/

    Reply
  71. Anonymous says

    May 21, 2010 at 5:31 pm

    I'm not fond of deep-fried cornbread-wrapped weiners on a stick, but then I'm not partial to traditional carnival foods. I've preferred beer and then booze. Even those delights are denied me now. The one constant from childhood that remains my favorite, savoring the flavors of interpersonal and group interaction dynamics. People as inciters, flavors, obstacles, quests.

    Reply
  72. K. M. Walton says

    May 21, 2010 at 6:38 pm

    What a logical recipe to follow. I spent last night crafting my one sentence pitch according to your template, and I still wrestled. A lot.

    But it is in the wrestle…the very struggle, that provides the opportunity to think, and think deeply.

    Thank you for that.

    Reply
  73. Anonymous says

    May 21, 2010 at 7:33 pm

    This morning I reviewed my pitch based on your recipe and found that it seems to follow suit. This is one of your best posts ever. Also the previous "one paragraph, two paragraph pitch" post rocks.

    Reply
  74. Anonymous says

    May 21, 2010 at 7:50 pm

    Thank you so much for posting this! Maybe I'm just thick-skulled but, I would love a few more examples from well-known adult or YA fiction novels. I think the whittling down is the trickiest part.

    Reply
  75. Lalena Grantham says

    May 22, 2010 at 1:30 am

    As usual your post is very helpful. The examples are a great guide we can build on. Now we simply have to make our stories sound dynamic, intriguing and heart felt in one sentence. Thank you for showing it can be done.

    Reply
  76. Nancy says

    May 22, 2010 at 3:01 am

    I read a book on script writing that mandated starting with your logline before you even begin writing the story. When you know what your story is about, it's much easier to decide between potential subplots and character choices.

    Reply
  77. Andrea Wenger says

    May 23, 2010 at 1:51 am

    Thanks, Nathan. I thought I had my one-sentence pitch down until I read this. But I'd stated the quest too generically. Once I made the quest specific to my novel-in-progress, I realized something I hadn't before: the protagonist's quest in her personal life is mirrored in her professional life. Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply
  78. Sully says

    May 24, 2010 at 1:34 am

    This is awesome. Very helpful.

    Reply
  79. Patty Blount says

    May 24, 2010 at 1:46 pm

    After I refined my one-sentence pitch following this blog post, I attended a cousin's communion, where someone asked me about my current project.

    Perfect opportunity to perfect the pitch, right?

    So, I launched right in. It must have been a hit… two tables of guests kept asking me, "And then what happens?"

    Thanks, Nathan!

    Reply
  80. Sheila Deeth says

    June 8, 2010 at 10:15 pm

    Wow! That's just what I needed. So glad Judith sent me here.

    Reply
  81. del lobo says

    August 27, 2010 at 4:53 am

    The one sentence pitch could keep me focused on my story. Thanks for the insight.

    Reply
  82. AchingHope says

    October 24, 2010 at 5:08 am

    Dude! This is exciting. I thought I was doing these one-liners wrong.

    Thank you so much for the info. 🙂

    Reply
  83. Dawn M. Hamsher says

    September 17, 2012 at 6:00 am

    Nathan, I love formulas! You've given easy to follow directions and a great example, especially adding the corn dogs…what fun!

    Reply
  84. Kameel says

    May 1, 2015 at 4:13 am

    Great advice, and love the idea of adding flavour. Definately going to use that!

    Reply
  85. A. Eller says

    February 7, 2018 at 5:17 pm

    I’ve written a book wherein the protagonist has two major, disparate conflicts – which climax in a confluence of events. If I can’t state it in one sentence as a result, does it mean there’s a flaw in the book?

    Reply
    • Nathan Bransford says

      February 10, 2018 at 10:50 am

      It’s possible there’s a flaw in the book, but you may also need to take a step back at what the real quest is. For instance, in my novel the protagonist also has two competing desires — he wants to find his dad in outer space, but he also wants to get back to Earth, and these come to a head in the climax. But it wouldn’t work to get into all that in the one-sentence pitch, and I instead just focus on getting back to Earth.

      So it’s possible you might just need to focus on one over the other, or you could find a way to weave them in.

      Hope that helps!

      Reply
  86. Alice Carty Fulgione says

    March 1, 2018 at 2:26 pm

    I loved your helpful suggestions, Nathan! Thanks for simplifying the basic pitch elements!

    Reply
  87. Princess Hughes says

    June 20, 2018 at 2:41 pm

    This is incredible information. Considering I’m a new writer, who’s always wanted to be an “ACTOR” not just a writer. Have you ever heard of person who brings home all the beautiful ornaments and topper for a Christmas tree. The ornaments have so much detail so different, they really are uniquely different in their own way. Then you ask yourself, “What the hell were you thinking?” Where’s the Christmas Tree. I have so many good ideas but I don’t know how a foundation a beginning, a middle or a damn ending. Me and my friend are writing this story about my father who was basically a Voice for young black youth in Dallas Texas -like an activist! We have over a 100 pages and I still feel lost! Anyway we’re going to a writers conference and all your information is going to help us re-group.

    Reply

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About Nathan

Hi, I’m Nathan. I’m the author of How to Write a Novel and the Jacob Wonderbar series, which was published by Penguin. I used to be a literary agent at Curtis Brown Ltd. and I’m dedicated to helping authors chase their dreams.

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