Sunday, March 25, 2012

Does your story pop?

Does it have the wow factor?

If it doesn't jump off the page and grab the reader, its not going to make it. Agents and publishers read query letters looking for something different. Readers surf Amazon finding stories that grab them.  It comes down to the premise.

Two questions need to be asked: Has it been done before? Is it different from the others? Tired premises are like cliches. Everyone has heard them before. Here's a few I can think up.
  • Divorced, alcoholic detective solves murder.
  • Astronauts crash on mars.
  • Vampire invades small rural town.
How do these sound compared the above?
  • Divorced, alcoholic detective solves murder with help from an angel.
  • Astronauts crash on mars and find subterranean world that parallels earth.
  • Vampire invades small rural town and runs for mayor.
Okay ,maybe not the greatest examples, but you get it.


 Ron D. Voigts is the author of the Penelope Mystery series.  His latest book, Penelope and The Movie Star, is still available until the end of March for 99 cents.

2 comments:

  1. How about Boy Scouts must save the broken Heartland. Not too original. What if it's on the first Earth, a sentient planet? Getting there. What if Earth One chose the Boy Scout because he's a descendant of its own deceased Earth Scouts, those trained to control Earth One's crystal brain power? Is that enough?

    Edit: Oh no, captchas. Please get rid of them. They're too hard to read, especially on a phone. And Blogger does an excellent job of preventing spam. You might see an email notice but never the post.

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    Replies
    1. Now there's some story ideas that pop. Heck, they explode!

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