Manna from Storymakers 15, Part 1

Boy, do I have some writing k-bombs (knowledge bombs) for you. Last week was the three-day LDStorymakers conference at the Provo UVCC, and I, if I could scribble fast enough, would have a tome of advice from nine break-out classes, one 2-hr MFA intensive, a "new deal" author chat, keynote speech, and a publication primer workshop I attended. 

Instead, here are a few of my notes:  


PART 1: PITCHES, SYNOPSES, & FIRST PAGES

• The elevator pitch needs to be clever, interesting, concise and should include the title and sometimes comparative texts. (Mark Gottlieb, agent)
• My attempt -- 
• With wit similar to Jenny Lawson's in Let's Pretend this Never Happened and the darkness of The Liars' Club, A BIRD IN MY HEAD is a loss of innocence memoir about Rena, an eleven-year old, gap-toothed Mormon girl wrestling with familial expectations and her own ambition. 

•  Synopses (Josi S Kilpack, writer)
• Why do you need one? 
• You need it for preparing for pitches or writing queries.
• An agent will need to see how the story arc works
• Editors - same 
• Marketing Dept. - need it as a quick way to become familiar with the story
• Art designers - same
• Compress or condense your story down to the bones. Keep in mind your MC and plot.
• Should be 2 pages or 1,000 words approx.  
• 12 pt font, TNR, put info in the top right-hand corner
• Capitalize your characters' names the first time you use them in the document
• Single-spaced, unless the synopsis is two pages.
• Write it in third person, present tense. 
• Don't write as one of the characters. 
• Tell how the story ends; no cliffhangers in the synopsis. 
• When write one? Before or after? 
• Before it can serve as an outline
• Makes writing it easier
• It's revisable
• After it can assist you with revisions
• Agents, editors want it

• First pages (Jennifer Rofe, agent)
• It is a promise to the reader that something in these first few pages will come true. 
• If it isn't going to matter later, get rid of it. 
• How does your first page reflect your last? 
• When revising your first page, consider: 
• Did you start in the right place? 
• Do you place the reader in the world of the story? 
• Do you give the reader a taste of the conflict to come? 
• Is it tightly written? 

Up next: Slush Pile Secrets and Plotting: Hill-shapes and BEYOND.