Sure, why not?
Let’s learn to write a blurb!
We all need to do it, and practice makes perfect!
But.
Let’s write one for a book or movie we all know, to learn the process. Because while we’re all slapping down words in volume to build a story, a blurb is baiting the hook to get readers to read the story. Completely different.
It’s a tease, a sales pitch, a… baited hook.
In her book Gotta Read It, Libby Hawker says there are 5 steps to a good blurb.
- A Character, who
- Wants something, but
- Something stands in her way, so she
- Struggles against that force, and
- Something important is at stake
We’ve seen something similar to this before.
In December 2013, Digital Book World’s Beth Bacon posted “4 Easy Steps To An Irresistible Book Blurb” Which we used to make some fun stuff.
(1) Situation.
(2) Problem.
(3) Hopeful possibility.
(4) Mood, tone or spirit of the story.
The next things Bacon recommends are:
- Make it short.
- Make it dramatic.
Readers want tension in a blurb.
If your blurb doesn’t hook your readers, they’re going to assume your book won’t hook them either.
And we did some of that for my new story. But like anything else, the more you practice it, the better you’ll get.
Let’s try it. Write your own blurb for a well-known movie or book. We will probably all come up with something similar, but we can see who’s we like the best. Vote for the best one by clicking LIKE or just saying you like it. (Write yours before looking at the other ones, or just go ahead and improve on somebody else’s, no problem.)
Here are your movies or books:
1 Titanic
2 Hansel And Gretel
3 Schindler’s List
4 The Little Red Hen
5 Jurassic Park
Savvy Stories – Oops! How did that get in there?
6 Chicken Little
7 Tom Sawyer
8 Noah’s Ark
9 The Hunt For Red October
10 The Terminator
Use the Random Number Generator, HERE to select your story. (Spin again if it gives you one you don’t know.)
Pick one and have at it. I’m curious to see what we come up with, and I’ll be posting my latest BIP (Blurb In Process) for The Water Castle soon!
Invite your friends to play along, especially if they are good at blurbs.
.
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Got a QUESTION? ASK IT! Hit the Contact Me button and I’ll see what I can do. (I have lots of smart friends.)
Dan Alatorre is the author of several bestsellers and the hilarious upcoming novel “Poggibonsi: an italian misadventure.” Click HERE to check out his other works.
Damn you! What a great idea haha
Let’s hope so!
You’re killing me…. I have to be up for work in five and a half hours 😴💤
I’ll do it tomorrow evening!
Meh. Call in sick. This is way more important.
Should have done, but I ended up spending three hours in the Emergancy department with my child, so still wouldn’t have got it done. Still haven’t, what a failure! Got sidetracked by something else. December might turn out to be my least productive month of all (outside of the day job… If that’s not productive, I’m screwed!)
Yeah, I thought that was a change in plans from what you told me. Everything okay?
(And December is everybody’s least productive month.)
Best made plans… hmm. Luckily it’s just a bad sprain to her ankle, but she’s limping around feeling sorry for herself! This time last year my youngest sprained her wrist, the year before, just after new year, she broke her other wrist. I should wrap them in cotton wool for all of December and January!
I had hoped to get the first draft of LA2 finished by the end of the month! Booooo!
That’s awful. But not an excuse for you to not finish. YOUR wrist didn’t get broken!
(Seriously, I hope she’s feeling better.)
Wow, when do we sleep? Lol, ok, I need a day, I’m drowning!!! 🙂
We sleep… later, right? When that is, I don’t know…
Many of us don’t know what that is – we’re lucky we remember how to spell it, lol. 🙂
I lose track of sleep when my daughter wakes up in the middle of the night fussing about something. She goes to sleep and I become a zombie.
I know that zombie. It happens when hub gets up for a whiz. He falls back asleep nicely, and my creative mind begins to wander. 🙂
That’s hilarious
A heroic tale of a German factory boss in the Warsaw ghetto, Oskar Schindler, who risks his own life by formulating a plan to save the lives of a thousand Jews from being exterminated in during World War II. – Schindler’s List.
Very nice!
I think… you are the first one to actually do this.
Shock value! Lol.
The start of an avalanche, maybe.
🙂