Review – Finding the Core of Your Story
Finding the Core of Your Story, to borrow the Smashwords short summery, is about how every storyteller should be able to say in one sentence what his story is about. This book will help you learn to do just that with a writing tool called a logline. These handy single-sentence descriptions of stories originated in Hollywood, but filmmaker Jordan Smith will show you how to write one for any story.Â
And he does just that. Jordan has written an easy-to-read, easy-to-follow book that outlines what a good logline is and how to write one for yourself. Examples are plentiful and you are given a wide variety of loglines to learn from. Never again should you have to fear the dreaded question “What’s your story about?” Because with help from Jordan Smith’s book, you’ll have a ready reply in the form of a logline
Don’t know what a logline is? Don’t worry! That’s one of the first things Jordan covers and if you want a hint, he also covers it in the extended description of the book on Smashwords: it’s a very short description of the core of your story. It gets to the heart of what your story actually is and conveys that information in as little space as possible. Ultimately, it’s a tool you use to get busy people interested in your story.
Doesn’t that sound useful? Being able to sum up your story in one sentence instead of bumbling on for a few minutes will not only save you time with your listener, but they’re probably going to be more interested as well. Interested listeners is something you want, right? Right. Loglines are an extremely useful thing, I myself have only just begun exploring them. Though the practice started in Hollywood, you don’t have to be a filmmaker to use a logline. You just need a story that you want to tell.
Being a writer, I know I’ve got multiple stories to tell. Perhaps you’ve noticed the character description posts appearing on Friday mornings. Well, I’m going to be adding the occasional logline/logline-in-progress. To start things off, I’ve decided to try my hand at writing a logline for the book I’ve most recently been working on. First one since I’ve read the book, so bear with me, I’m not a pro at this yet.
Title: The End of Sarah Abner
Genre: Science Fiction
Logline:Â Asked to join a military rescue operation, an uptight scientist is forced to decide between her country’s future and an innocent girl with a coveted immunity.