Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Hook, Line and Stinker

So I've been steadily procrastinating lately. The dreaded administrative stuff that goes along with publishing. Requests for art work and blurbs and tag lines.

Shoot me now.

I know what my characters look like, but having to describe them down to a "T" is a major pain in the wazzoo. Because artists need details to get it right, and by the time I get to this part of my work, I'm already onto something new. So I have to dig up all those messy points of fact and relay them all over again. Plus, I'm a creative writer, not paint/picture artist. Half the great covers I've had have come from the artists' fertile imaginings, not from me.

Then there's the blurb/tag line sheet. Every publisher has it, though they'll call it something different. Some want you to fill out tables of information, others want more generalized paragraphs. Either way, I drag my feet each and every time I have to write one of these.

Think about it. You might buy a book based on the blurb, so it's very important to get it right. Imagine taking 50,000 words and condensing the gist of those words into 300 words. A short, engaging synopsis to make the reader want to buy the book.

Like pulling out my fingernails one by one. And then the water torture starts--the dreaded tag line.

If 300 words is hard to get to, imagine 25. Writing the one liner is very difficult, at least for me. I want to be witty; I want to make that reader look deeper into my story. From the cover to the tag line to the blurb, excerpt, and--hopefully--to purchase the book.

Yeah, I know, "quit your whining." Hey, it's Tuesday, and though it's nearly noon, I've barely had any coffee. Gimme a break, and pray I get through my tag lines with my sanity intact. Though, my sanity is questionable on the best of days. Toodles.

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