What is your Elevator Pitch?

[Jemini]

A piece of advice I once got talking to a real published author at a writing event is that you should be able to find some way to sum up your story in a short 15 second speech, saying something that will be appealing and very interest catching in as short a time as possible.

This is important for several reasons. It will better define the focus for your story, and it will also help you to gather interest for your story.

I will give a tip, it helps to make a world bible. That is, a documented encyclopedia of all the facets of your world building that are important enough to note down. It wasn't until I started writing my world bible that I had enough material to draw all the themes together into an elevator pitch for my story.

I've finally worked mine out for my "Key to the Void" story.

A guy makes a deal with a fallen goddess to heal his paralyzed granddaughter.

He dies as part of the price and then gets reincarnated in a world called "Hell" as the twin sister of the very goddess who just killed him.

Of course, that sparks an entire list of questions in the listener's mind. That's exactly the point. Get them asking questions and wanting more. Now you've got their interest with that short little snippet. From there, you can go on and fill in the details. Or, maybe they just read your story and find out for themselves.

So, let's hear an elevator pitch for your series from all of you. The requirement is that you need to be able to read off the words you have just written at a conversational pace in 15 seconds or less.

(And yes, the world my story takes place in is literally called "Hell." And the ones who named it really did mean "that" hell. It is a beautiful place though, lots of lush forests and fertile fields of grain, and oceans with floating islands on the backs of giant turtles.)

 

[Biggest-Kusa-Out-There]

Bro you like futas? The mc is one.

Ty for coming to my elevator pitch.

 

[Anon_Y_Mousse]

Alright, lets try this, one for ROTGC
"10,000 year old military dictator gets backstabbed by his daughter, reincarnates in a world with no name and people that pull weapons from their souls.
He teams up with three other reincarnators to find more about the truth of the world."

Yes, the world has no name(at least to the public) because true names have power.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

A depressed genius psychopath gets reincarnated in a fantasy world and finds the meaning of life in studying magic.

 

[killwrites]

Guy reincarnates into a world that is completely f-uped by its creator, decides to fk the world up even more.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

A piece of advice I once got talking to a real published author at a writing event is that you should be able to find some way to sum up your story in a short 15 second speech, saying something that will be appealing and very interest catching in as short a time as possible.

This is important for several reasons. It will better define the focus for your story, and it will also help you to gather interest for your story.

I will give a tip, it helps to make a world bible. That is, a documented encyclopedia of all the facets of your world building that are important enough to note down. It wasn't until I started writing my world bible that I had enough material to draw all the themes together into an elevator pitch for my story.

I've finally worked mine out for my "Key to the Void" story.



Of course, that sparks an entire list of questions in the listener's mind. That's exactly the point. Get them asking questions and wanting more. Now you've got their interest with that short little snippet. From there, you can go on and fill in the details. Or, maybe they just read your story and find out for themselves.

So, let's hear an elevator pitch for your series from all of you. The requirement is that you need to be able to read off the words you have just written at a conversational pace in 15 seconds or less.

(And yes, the world my story takes place in is literally called "Hell." And the ones who named it really did mean "that" hell. It is a beautiful place though, lots of lush forests and fertile fields of grain, and oceans with floating islands on the backs of giant turtles.)

I think that you wrote the summation of the prologue, not the story. I may be wrong, I haven't read your story but here's why I think the way I do: how does the fact that the protagonist has a paralysed granddaughter influence the story? Is it in any way a focal point? He's (she's? Whatevs) the twin sister of the goddess who reincarnated him, but that seems more of a part of a set up for the rest of the story rather than the story itself. So, it feels more like the tldr for your prologue.

 

[Jemini]

I think that you wrote the summation of the prologue, not the story. I may be wrong, I haven't read your story but here's why I think the way I do: how does the fact that the protagonist has a paralysed granddaughter influence the story? Is it in any way a focal point? He's (she's? Whatevs) the twin sister of the goddess who reincarnated him, but that seems more of a part of a set up for the rest of the story rather than the story itself. So, it feels more like the tldr for your prologue.

If it is a properly written story, the starting premise IS a focus on the rest of the story. This should be especially true with stories that have highly unique methods of getting your character to the other world.

I have now written 3 different Isekais with 3 different methods of death, all are meant to be a focus for how the story is going to be from that point forward.

Key to the Void: Protagonist sells his soul in order to benefit someone he cares about. The focus of the series is a negative character arc in which the MC allows herself to do progressively more and more repugnant things, all in the name of protecting those she cares about. (There are only 3 ways this can end. She either becomes 1. A drug dealing kingpin a-la breaking bad. 2. She becomes a warlord in a 3rd world country. 3. She becomes a politician in a 1st world country. JK.)

A New Hero God: Protagonist dies physically shielding a student in a school shooting, and finishes with a literal death-grip on the shooter's leg until the police can come and arrest the guy. He gets reincarnated as a super hero in a super hero world. I think you should be able to see the thematic connection on this one.

The Class of Outworlders (Not yet publicly released): Protagonist dies as a soldier in WW3 at the hands of demons. He is then reincarnated as a child slave. The story is a positive character arc about this kid fighting against the unfair lot that life has given him as he tries to gain the strength to fight against all the forces that want to use him and toy with him.

 

[SuperHeiyan]

So, basically naming convention of Japanese novels.
Like "I was sent on recon mission into the weird world full of anime tropes from my apparently not that ideal utopian future society and it wasn't went as planned. "

That was about real story I am beta editor for, but it's on Russian. It's called "Обычный инопланетный разведчик" if you are capable of reading on Russian and interested.

 

[Jemini]

So, basically naming convention of Japanese novels.
Like "I was sent on recon mission into the weird world full of anime tropes from my apparently not that ideal utopian future society and it wasn't went as planned. "

That was about real story I am beta editor for, but it's on Russian. It's called "Обычный инопланетный разведчик" if you are capable of reading on Russian and interested.

Yeah, you actually could say that the webnovels with descriptive names like that are literally using their elevator pitch as their title.

 

[Agentt]

1.Dude gets isekaied but realises that demons have feelings too, so he tries to form peace among them, but his friend, who also gets isekaied is the hero and is against it,


2.Weird stuff happenes

3. Magical girl gets isekaied to a world where a hero already exists, includes tragic and depressing themes

4. A study into how anime girls have boobs which are anatomically different from real girls.

 

[Zirrboy]

Though I'm a firm believer of this quality check, my own ideas fare horrible with it

 

[BenJepheneT]

Wolf boy who's good at beating the shit out of people gets the shit beaten out of him because he feels guilty about beating the shit out of people.

 

[Jemini]

1.Dude gets isekaied but realises that demons have feelings too, so he tries to form peace among them, but his friend, who also gets isekaied is the hero and is against it,


2.Weird stuff happenes

3. Magical girl gets isekaied to a world where a hero already exists, includes tragic and depressing themes

4. A study into how anime girls have boobs which are anatomically different from real girls.

Ok, I don't think #2 on the list there really works. Yes, it meets the "in under 15 seconds" bench-mark, but you also have to think about the "gets people interested and makes them want to know more" hurdle as well.

 

[gaylolis]

i'm probably getting on the FBI watchlist if I did that, no thanks

 

[Agentt]

Ok, I don't think #2 on the list there really works. Yes, it meets the "in under 15 seconds" bench-mark, but you also have to think about the "gets people interested and makes them want to know more" hurdle as well.

Well, no. 2 doesn't have any plot, it is my two-three friends just saying random words and i convert it to a story

 

[Ddraig]

Hm since I am just a reader, let's try with some tl'd novels,

• Mondaiji tachi - 3 humans with supernatural gifts gets teleported to a world where multiple timelines, myths and universes meet and converge. Yet even this world has a huge gambling problem, and the humans summoned attempt to make a thriving community by winning the wagers.
• Spice and Wolf - Forced of her role of being a Harvest goddess by the appearance of a new religion, A wolf goddess accompanies a merchant northwards on a journey full of romance and economics.
• Sukasuka - A hero petrified is revived 500 years after he failed to defeat the world ending calamity. With the calamity destroying all but few floating islands, he takes on a father role for a set of girls who are raised to die for the sole purpose of defending against the aforementioned calamity.
• Maria from Hell - A girl stuck in a timeloop finds herself to be fated to die and go back to the start no matter what. With multiple loops in, she finds the only one dear enough to her to spend an eternity solving the loop with.
• Legend of Sun Knight - A comedic story with tragic undertones about a set of generational knights trying their best to act like the mythical characters which are far apart from their true personality.

 

[Jemini]

Well, no. 2 doesn't have any plot, it is my two-three friends just saying random words and i convert it to a story

Ok, now, you see... THAT is what has to be your elevator pitch for that story. "Weird stuff happens" does not give enough information to peak anyone's interest. It sounds like an incomplete fragment of a though, and people will just shrug their shoulders and ignore it.

However, "I convert whatever random words my friends say into a story, and weird stuff happens" is actually a lot more interest getting.

 

[SuperHeiyan]

Ok, now, you see... THAT is what has to be your elevator pitch for that story. "Weird stuff happens" does not give enough information to peak anyone's interest. It sounds like an incomplete fragment of a though, and people will just shrug their shoulders and ignore it.

However, "I convert whatever random words my friends say into a story, and weird stuff happens" is actually a lot more interest getting.

Sounds like J. K. Rowling, alright

 

[RepresentingCaution]

The best one-star story you will ever read!

 

[Snusmumriken]

A mind of a highly advanced civilization finds itself in the lower rungs of the well-established magocracy. Knowledge, limited by the lack of tools and infrastructure, in a world governed by individual and familial power. Diplomacy, negotiations and other tongue-related activities.