As writers, we get so absorbed with the storyline and characters, writing, and a myriad of creative reasons not to write that we forget about the business side of being a writer.
We lose sight of the fact that once we’re done with writing, editing, revising (rinse and repeat), we’ll need to talk about the book. In a way that’s interesting, intelligent and concise.
Cue the deer in the headlights footage.
It’s embarrassing when someone asks, “What’s your book about?” and you stand there staring at them like a deer caught in the headlights. It can be absolutely disastrous if it happens when you’re on the elevator at a writing conference and your dream agent is the one asking.
I’ve been there before.
Not on the elevator with my dream agent. But let’s just say my deer-in-the-headlights face has gotten pretty damned good thanks to some hard core practice.
What I have since discovered is that writing the premise of your story first is the key to never having this happen to you again. Today I’m over at Contemporary Romance Writers–the blog for my RWA online Contemporary Romance Writers Chapter enumerating the this and two other reasons why it pays to write the premise before you write your book.
Listen to the little diddy above (because it will seriously make you happy for at least the next three hours) then I’d love it if you popped over to the Contemporary Romance Writers blog to chat about whether you write your premise first and when your last deer-in-the-headlights experience occurred.
Thank you for this sage advice. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is when I ask a writer to tell me about their book and they cannot do it succinctly. I’m left to try to figure it out on my own and no longer have the time to do so. It can be a missed opportunity for that writer, either in word-of-mouth or a more formal network promotion and/or an immediate sale!
Thank you so much for your comment, Jonetta! You’re a reviewer for an extremely popular book review blog (The Book Nympho), so it’s especially helpful to have your input. Your practical, real-life example perfectly Illustrates the importance of knowing one’s premise and being able to communicate it concisely.
I’ll be over there shortly to check it out.
Thanks Demetria!