The Dreaded Question – What is Your Story About
The dreaded question, ‘What is your story about?”
I know for me, if you asked if I read dystopian novels, I’d say no. But the truth is that I’ve probably read at least twenty in the last two years alone. They wouldn’t have been my choice to read but the authors did a very good job on selling me on what their story was about. I thoroughly enjoyed each one but I would not have sought out a dystopian type novel to read.
So what do you say, when someone asks, ‘What’s your story about?”
Setup is the underlying theme or problem throughout your story.
Capture is the heart of your story – where the protagonist is, where s/he wants to be, the hurdles s/he has to overcome, what brought them to this point, etc.
Intrigue is where you use the climax and ending to pique curiosity – you hint at who wins, who loses or what might happen…
So when someone asks what is my story about, I use the setup, which I tend to write as a bold statement, and then the intrigue. Anytime you are talking about your book, you want the other person to leave being curious. You want them to wonder what happens? What is going on for your protagonist? What will happen to your protagonist? Where does the story go? You want the other person to care.
So how do you use, Setup and Intrigue?
So the setup would look something like this:
She was kidnapped not once but twice and now someone wants her dead…
and the intrigue would be something like this:
Can she unravel 30 years of secrets, lies, and deceit, to find the truth?
When you put them together:
She was kidnapped not once but twice and now someone wants her dead…
Can she unravel 30 years of secrets, lies, and deceit, to find the truth?
to grab attention and pique curiosity.”
So the next time someone asks you what your story is about, you will have a short, punchy comeback that will intrigue them.
