Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot about LOGLINES on different blogs. These little devils are tricky and not easy to write. I speak from experience. My loglines started out darned sucky, they’ve progressed to somewhat satisfactory, and I’m still hoping to write brilliant ones one of these days.
I find these steps help me start.
*Be sure to include your MC, what they need or want and why they can’t get it.
*Don’t name the character in the logline, but clearly identify them.
a zombie
a lizard
a gas station attendant
*Use one adjective to describe your character. Be sure this adjective is unique to that character in the story.
a talented zombie
a heroic lizard
a clairvoyant gas station attendant
*Give the MC’s main goal clearly and succinctly.
A talented zombie wants to perform Hamlet before he’s destroyed.
A heroic lizard must save his community from a Cat.
A clairvoyant gas station attendant must prevent his own murder.
*Tell who/what the antagonist is, but don’t overshadow the MC, so this bit should be short and concise.
A talented zombie must elude his sister, a zealous zombie hunter, so he can perform Hamlet before she destroys him.
A heroic lizard must escape life threatening enemies to save his community from a Cat.
A clairvoyant gas station attendant must track down his killer to prevent his own murder.
There’s more, but I’ll stop here for now. I need to practice this much, then I’ll get back with more ideas about how I’d write that “perfect” logline.
In my Hat’s Off Corner
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| SAMANTHA GEARY JONES |
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| CARRIE BUTLER/PK HREZO |
My Quote for the Day
“When you cease to make a contribution, you begin to die.” Elenore Roosevelt.
Really brilliant tips! ๐
These are amazing tips. THank you!!!!
I am going to have to give this a try. Can I declare a day off so I can write fun stuff and try things like this? ๐ There will have to be some dark chocolate present too, I'm thinking. For inspiration, you know. ๐
Gosh I want to know more about the lizard saving all of us from the Cat. Cats are evil. Please don't tell my cat I said that. He already hates me ๐
Awesome post. Thanks for sharing!
I'd never heard of a logline until recently. Fun exercise coming up with some.
Lee
Tossing It Out
Great tips!!! I hadn't even heard the term "logline" until now!
Sounds different from a tagline. But I should write loglines for those 'short' descriptions.
Hi Lee – this is great .. something I struggle with – so to have loglines succinctly set out is good news .. cheers Hilary
Awesome post. Definitely one worthy of keeping in the bookmarks.
Good post.
I have to be careful not to get loglines and taglines confused.
I am saving this. I need all the help I can get with loglines, blurbs, synopses…it's so hard to condense a novel into a few lines.
Great tips! I'm planning on starting with a log line before I write my next book, which should be now, but just haven't had a moment to breathe. Thanks for the timely reminder!
Great logline tips. I'm not good at writing them either, but they sure to help me stay on track when drafting the story.
Great tips, Lee. And I love the quote you shared with your readers. I try to contribute and give back to the world in every way I can because I know how important acts of kindness are to the universe.
Interesting ways to approach it. I find that the tension must be there from the get go. And some hope. If I have those two elements in a line, I know I've got it.
Those are really helpful tips for writing log lines! Thanks!
Ooh I love this! I'm definitely taking notes ๐
I like this post! A lot of helpful stuff here. I hadn't thought of throwing an adjective in. I notice all of the final revisions have the word "must". Do you think that's a must?
This is the one I've been playing with:
A woman is abducted by a painter who is obsessed with her.
But that's passive. I'm guessing we should avoid passive log lines as well?
Using one adjective is always the hardest part for me. I want the world to know so much about said character. It's always a struggle to choose. Thanks for the great tips, CLee!
Helpful stuff, Lee. I find that I have to think hard to come up with something half decent.
Wow! These are great tips.
Oh yeah those log lines are hard to write. I really struggle with them. I usually end up writing three sentences, then replacing the periods with the word and.
Gosh, I'm pitiful! I've been wrestling with synopses and finally came away with my sanity intact. Now I hear of 'loglines'! …But at least I'm lauging like a fool! WHEN will you be coming out with the Heroic Three-Fer (zombie, lizard and gas station attendant)? I'm good for a copy. You aren't? Dang!
I wasn't sure what you meant at first until you gave the descriptions and now I want you to create a story for each one:) I love the quote and it's so true so that means the Kardashians will soon leave us…bring out the bubbly
Nice tips!! I'm not good at shortening something into a simple line.
Those are awesome tips! I haven't tried a logline yet, but you make me want to try it. ๐
That's awesome. I have a horrible time coming up with loglines. This helps so much. Thank you!
What great advice! You really breakdown the logline in a way that makes sense to me. They are tricky. Thanks! ๐
~Jess
by george, you've done it! Save the Cat has similar advice, but this is much easier to see in basic steps!! i love it!
Ah, yes, the away you break it down makes it easy to write a logline!
You make it sound almost easy. Thanks for the examples.
Thanks for the checklist Clem.
Thanks for these tips. I hate writing loglines. It takes me forever. I'll look at your ideas for the next one.
This info is great!
From the outline I'm working on, and some of the content, I'm going to practise writing a log line. One of these days. It will be my first. *bites nails*
Hat's Off to the Tree Of Life collaboration. Sam just announced that the book trailer is almost ready for a preview.
And I just finished How I Found The Write Path – it's such a heartfelt collection…
Trying to write a logline like this for one of my WIPs was what clued me in to the fact that I had chosen the wrong main character for the story! A devilishly important thing to discover before I actually started writing!
You bet! Glad you are so smart. You saved yourself tons of time.
Now I wanna watch an animated movie about a heroic lizard ๐ Can he have a timid raccoon as his sidekick?
Whatever you want DEZ!
What a great way of breaking the logline down. I'm definitely bookmarking this for the future. Thanks for sharing!
Hope it's helpful.
Great advice/list. I will practice, too.
I'm counting on practice to get better. Fingers crossed.
Ooo, that actually is super helpful. You had me figuring out log lines for my stories as I read.
This list really helped me when I was struggling. It still helps me because I struggle with loglines all the time.
Such a simple and straightforward way to create those dreaded loglines! Thanks for sharing!
Madeline @ The Shellshank Redemption
I like things as simple as possible. My brain can wrap around it so much more easily!
Excellent break down on loglines! And, despite not being a fan of Zombies, I might go for story about one that really wants to perform Hamlet. ๐
I chuckled while writing that one. I'm definitely not a zombie fan, but I love Hamlet!
Loglines are the devilish cousin to the Short Synopsis and Query Letter. I think your checklist makes a lot of sense in breaking the logline down in an easy to follow formula.
It's worked for me. I at least have a way to start.
It sounds like a fun way to come up with a story, too.
I use it. If I can't get the logline, I don't write the story.
I like that checklist! I have a harder time with the synopsis. (I'm better with fewer words. I'm sure that doesn't surprise you.)
It's the commenter gene, Alex. Very valuable to have that one.