Comments on: More Critiques of One Sentence Summaries

By: Daan Van der Merwe

Daan Van der Merwe — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 07:17:31 +0000

Thank you for your suggestion Gerhi. And also for asking the question “What is a high concept novel?” I also don’t know but was too shy to ask.

By: yeggy

yeggy — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:48:05 +0000

I think a high concept novel is when the stakes are high. Above Randy says Hope’s novel is not a high concept novel. It’s more about a journey and the need for a girl to find money to buy a cow. In the last blog he said Chris’s was ‘fairly high’ concept. Daan’s, about rape and murder, is a ’strong’ high concept novel. More is a stake than the first two I quoted.

Randy, am I on the right track?

Anybody else got any ideas?

By: Hope Marston

Hope Marston — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:23:51 +0000

Thanks, Randy. My use of the word “earn” gave the wrong idea. My character will “earn” her calf by taking care of her baby sister (11-months old) on the trail to central New York while Ma walks behind the sleigh alert to dangers. I will get to my re-write today.

P.S. This past weekend I attended Margie Lawson’s Empowering Characters’ Emotions in Syracuse. Awesome! Both Margie and her presentation. To all of you reading this note, I say, “Haste you to one of her workshops.” It will revolutionize your writing.

By: Livinus

Livinus — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:25:15 +0000

Thank you Randy for that ‘exegesis’! I now have something like this:

“A young Nigerian environmental scientist tracks a shadowy anti-Western militant for a $120 million reward.”

I’m still trying to see if I can be more specific about the bad guy.

By: Pam Halter

Pam Halter — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 14:53:31 +0000

hi Randy and all ~ I also attended Mt. Hermon (which was an amazing conference) and one day after getting home, we took off for a family vacation. Whew! I missed you all.

I came home from the conference with an agent and a publishing house interested in my middle grade fantasy, so I’m working on the proposal now. Here’s my stab at a one sentence description of the book:

A fifteen-year-old girl is thrust into a quest that will save the world but end her life as she knows it.

By: Lois Hudson

Lois Hudson — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:37:25 +0000

Congratulations, Pam!

From reading the illustrations above, and my personal curiosity, I’d like to know more about the quest. Using Randy’s suggestions, the word “thrust” suggests a compelling event, the details of which we don’t have to know–we know it’s coming. But the quest that will “save the world” is such a hook I think a hint of its essence would clinch it. We don’t even have to know why it will end her life “as she knows it” provides intrigue to me.
P.S. Is it futuristic?

I, too, missed the post on one-sentence summaries, but from the tutorial here, I’m working (and working, and working) on condensing my finished, but in revision, novel.

Great discussion! Thanks.

By: PatriciaW

PatriciaW — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:10:28 +0000

Randy, if you’ve addressed this before, just point me in the right direction but I too need to better understand “high concept”. We hear we need one. Okay, but not all books have one. That doesn’t make them bad or boring books, so is a high-concept really necessary? (Granted, I’m sure it increases the likelihood of publication.)

What exactly makes one concept “high” and another “not high” or “low”? Is the need for high concept even across all genres?

By: Mark Goodyear

Mark Goodyear — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:46:50 +0000

The way you trimmed Livinus’s one sentence summary was really helpful to see.

By: Camille

Camille — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 22:26:02 +0000

Ditto Mark - you read my mind.

By: John

John — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:42:41 +0000

After the advice already given for other people’s sentences, I thought I would try mine again:

“A racer, an heiress and an old hero must escape from an alien planet driven mad by an eclipse.”

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:39:42 +0000

Well I’m not really sure, but from what I cansee, hihg concept is either what Yeggy says, or just a fairly complex novel. I don’t really know, though, so don’t take my word for it.

By: Karla

Karla — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 02:22:05 +0000

Learning a lot as usual! Thanks, Randy!

By: Pam Halter

Pam Halter — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 18:17:17 +0000

thanks for the encouragement, Lois. It’s a fantasy novel for upper middle grade readers (ages 12-15). I’m not sure how to give more details on the quest without spilling over into another sentence.

I really stink at one liners. I’m just getting a handle on improving my synopsis.