Squawk Radio

When reporters interview you, they ask WHAT IS YOUR BOOK ABOUT? While editors are deciding whether to read your manuscript, they ask WHAT IS YOUR BOOK ABOUT? Relatives — oh, yes, especially relatives, ask WHAT IS YOUR BOOK ABOUT? (They only do it because they’re nosy and can’t believe little cousin Christina could possibly stop daydreaming enough to write a book.)

But still, there you are, trying to condense a 90,000 word book into one sentence — a sentence which sums up your excitement about the story and the bones of the plot. Of course, you could stammer around like an idiot (I favor this method, in fact I utilized it a couple of times on my recent booktour), or you could look in a video guide and study the way reviewers sum up a movie plot.

These one-sentence synopsizes provide both type of story and plot in the briefest form possible.

For instance, for CASABLANCA — "In a classic romantic tearjerker, a cafe owner helps couple escape from Nazis in Morocco, losing his heart yet gaining self-respect."

For DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE — “Horror holds center stage as a potion frees Victorian London doctor’s bad side.”

For ANNA AND THE KING — "A sweeping historical saga highlights an English widow’s royal romance as she tutors the king’s harem and 67 children."

You define the type of story in the first few words — “classic romantic tearjerker,” “horror,” or “sweeping historical saga.” Then you lay out the plot swiftly and cleanly, using action verbs and hooks that capture a reader’s attention and whet their appetite. This is short-hand, a method to pitch a book in a way everyone comprehends.

For THE BAREFOOT PRINCESS — "Like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, THE BAREFOOT PRINCESS combines thrills and adventure when an exiled princess fights to right a wrong and discovers kidnapping an English nobleman leads to dire peril — and illicit passion."

Easy, right?

Oh, sure!!! You do it!!!

No, I’m serious. You do it. Write a one-line synopsis for a book you recently read — or for the book you’re currently writing. Define the type of story, give a sense of the plot, use action verbs, and whet the reader’s appetite for more.

No, everyone cannot use Lisa Kleypas’s DEVIL IN WINTER! I haven’t got to read it yet and you’re just making me crazy with envy when you talk about it!

Now write that impossible, wonderful, tantalizing sentence. Go for it!