C. Lee McKenzie

Young Adult and Middle Grade Author

Celebrating Small Things & Recounting Some Writing Experience, Especially Loglines and Taglines

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VIKLIT
Co-Hosts

LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge

Katie @ TheCyborg Mom

CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse
This week my small celebrations are:
finishing line edits ahead of schedule on Double Negative.
writing one short story for Heroes of Phenomena Book Launch.
composing a fairly decent logline and tagline for Double Negative. (See below.) 
staying cool during our 102 degree day. Yuck!
Oh, and not succumbing to my triskaidekaphobia today.

Oh no! Not Friday the Thirteenth.

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I’m visiting another UNCOMMONYA author this week, MELISSA WRAY. It would be great if you’d stop by. You can read me in my verbose, writer mode. It happens sometimes.
MELISSA WRAY, AUTHOR OF DESTINY ROAD
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Are you good at writing LOGLINES or TAGLINES? It takes some practice, I can tell. You. And are you clear on how these two are different? If not, here’s what I know about them.
LOGLINES tell you in a single sentence what the story is about.
TAGLINES are intended to catch your interest.
SOURCE
An example: Jaws

Logline: A sheriff must find and kill a man-eating and frighteningly intelligent shark before it murders again and scares away all the tourists who support his beach-front community.

Tag Line: Don’t go into the water.
Tell me what  you think about mine. I could use some help if you see where these could be better, please tell me. 
Double Negative

Logline: Shackled by near illiteracy, a teenage boy decides escape from his alcoholic mother and absentee father will give him a better life, but his bad choices trap him in even a worse place.

Tagline: Going to juvie wasn’t part of his escape plan. (I’m still fiddling with this one. I may be back with another version next week.)

Are you celebrating anything this week? Are you good at loglines and taglines? Triskaidekaphobia much?

Friday Celebration of Small Things

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SIGN UP BEFORE APRIL 1
SIGN UP AND JOIN OUR FRIDAY CELEBRATION

I’m celebrating having all my A to Z Blog Challenge Posts done! Yes. All 26 are now written and scheduled. 
  • Thank you computer for not dying on me again (another reason to celebrate). 
  • Thank you bloggy friends for adding your support through tons of droopy days.
  • Thank you, Rain Gods in the Sky for sending California some wet stuff. We sorely needed it.
I won’t see you Monday, but. . . guess what? April 1 arrives on Tuesday and I’ll be here. See you then.

Celebrating Friday Among Other Small Things

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THANKS VIKLIT

  • My computer hasn’t exploded yet today.
  • I’ve gradually recovered most of my data from the nuclear explosion on my C Drive last week.
  • I enjoyed the Academy Awards Ceremony with some friends.
  • My high school presentations went well. The kids were great.
  • I have my Young Writers’ Workshop organized for Saturday.

That’s enough to Celebrate, don’t you think? What are you celebrating this week?

Celebrate The Small Things, Hint #5 On Sequels, The Boy Who Loved Fire

By

VIKLIT
Californians are celebrating rain. 9 inches in some spots last week.
RAIN

At the higher elevations we’re celebrating some fresh powder. I’ve seen cars with skis heading out of town! Proof that we have some white stuff in Tahoe.

SNOW

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Tip #5 How to Write Sequels


Author “. . .the advice I would give a person writing a sequel is to publish the books back to back. Put them all out at the same time or at least the first two if writing a trilogy.”
I can’t take this hint. I didn’t decide to write a sequel to Alligators Overhead until two years later.  How do you feel about waiting a long time between series books to read them? I’m sure it’s harder work to re-interest readers and that’s why Rowlings and others kept ’em coming.
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I finished Julie Musil’s book, THE BOY WHO LOVED FIRE, last week and really enjoyed her fast-paced, page-turner story. Her protagonist is Manny, a boy who is self-centered and selfish, but who is given a chance to change his destiny, much in the same way as Scrooge. Musil cleverly brings her visiting spirits up-to-date for readers in this century and increases the tension to the very end of the story. While the story centers on a teen boy, it has an Everyman aspect that teen girls will also be caught up in.

If you haven’t signed up for the A to Z Blog Challenge, shame on you. Still time, though.

And if you like the idea of a beautiful BLITZ, sign up for that, too!