There’s a Twitter Pitch Party coming up. You don’t think you’ll enter. Here’s why: (1) It’s hard to write a concise and compelling description of your work in less than 280 characters. (2) You don’t want to put your work out there for everyone to see. (3) What if no one likes you?
These are all appropriate justifications for not attending a pitch party, but here are three reasons why you should:
(1) Yes, it is hard work to boil your story down to its nub and pique the curiosity of an agent or editor. But this is why you are a writer. Drink a tall glass of creative juice, bring up your word bank if you made one for your story, put to use all the tools of the craft – alliteration, word play, similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia – and get to work. You could follow the formula: When this event happens to main character s/he must overcome some obstacle and the result is theme. But not all stories conform to this. So be creative. It may take an hour, it may take three, or it may take two days and one sleepless night, but in the end, you’ll know that you’ve nailed it and you can do the happy dance in your heart. Plus, not only do you now have a Twitter pitch that sings, you also have the perfect lyrics for your traditional query. You may beef it up a little with story name, word count and age, but isn’t it just right for your query now? And in the process, you may unearth a truth about your work that makes you go back and tweak it here and pop it up there.
(2) There are no new ideas. There are only new ways to craft them. No one can write what you want to write exactly like you. So don’t worry about someone taking your idea. Because if you want to be a published picture book writer, you need to take all the chances, enter all the parties, and grab all the opportunities you are given. Be brave and take that leap of faith.
(3) And now that you’ve written the best, craftiest, most beguiling pitch ever, you never know, you may actually get a like.
In the end, in my book (as it should be in yours), you’re a hero just for completing the first two steps.
Books by Marilyn Wolpin 