Tell us your Plot in One sentence (merged with writing exercise)

[Stew21]

Maestro said: If you can't summarize your story in one sentence, or if the summary is something like "three women live through their lives, contemplating their future" then there's a problem, because there may be no direction, no overall structure or themes or arc. in another thread, so I thought it might be interesting to see if we can tell our plots in one sentence.

I don't wanna go first.


Go for it: One sentence, tell us what happens.

[CaroGirl]

I'll try:

A mute young foster girl falls for a dangerous boy, runs away with him, and must survive on the mean city streets, voiceless and, ultimately, alone.

[Stew21]

gads, that sounds good, Caro!

[Cindyh2k]

Someone is using information from the state's Sex Offenders website to kill sex offenders in a mid-sized town and the investigator assigned to the crime has to deal with the sexual abuse in his past while working on solving the murders.

[Soccer Mom]

Are we a bunch of scaredy cats or what?

So few takers?

Deep breath................now jump.................

Sixteen year old Glory Jean Whitten clears her father's name, catches her aunt's killer, and wins the heart of the town badboy during one KILLER SUMMER.

[Meerkat]

An accountant concludes from previous historic events that life as we know it ends, mid-August 2030, and that executives in his and every other corporation are already acting as if they are aware of this.

[MidnightMuse]

Yep, scaredy dog here.

But what the heck:

Legacy: A police detective on the trail of a serial killer employs the help of his father, a retired detective and now famous true-crime author, only to discover the killer is his father.

[Meerkat]

Okay Stew, you're not first anymore--spill it!

[Soccer Mom]

Yeah! C'mon Stewie!

[scarletpeaches]

There's this person, and another person. Someone does stuff and it affects the other person. Some more stuff happens. The end.

[MidnightMuse]

There's this person, and another person. Someone does stuff and it affects the other person. Some more stuff happens. The end.

That's not one sentence.

[scarletpeaches]

There's this one person and another person and the first person does stuff that affects the other person then some more stuff happens and then the end.

Happy now?! :rant:

[Soccer Mom]

"The guy in the hat kills the other guy in the hat."

Reps to anyone who can I.D. that movie.

[davids]

Two crazy dudes meet on the top of the skeleton of a not yet finished skyscraper in Chicago to do mortal combat, but, it is their journey that makes the read really worthwhile.

[Stew21]

:sigh: shit. ok.

At his dead father's last request (and with the help of the ghost of Ernest Hemingway), Eric has to seek out one of his dad's old Army friends who is mentally instable and reluctant, in an attempt get both of their lives on track.

It's called Taking Lessons From Ernest.

[Stew21]

"The guy in the hat kills the other guy in the hat."

Reps to anyone who can I.D. that movie.


big Chill.


The guy in the hat did something bad.

[davids]

:sigh: shit. ok.

At his dead father's last request (and with the help of the ghost of Ernest Hemingway), Eric has to seek out one of his dad's old Army friends who is mentally instable and reluctant, in an attempt get both of their lives on track.

It's called Taking Lessons From Ernest.

If that aint a freaking great title-I'd like to know what is!!!!

[Meerkat]

"The guy in the hat kills the other guy in the hat."

Reps to anyone who can I.D. that movie.

Toy Story 3

[Soccer Mom]

big Chill.


The guy in the hat did something bad.


Nope. It's a line from a movie, but not that one. ;)

[Soccer Mom]

Toy Story 3


You bad little Meerkat.

No.

[Meerkat]

There's this one person and another person and the first person does stuff that affects the other person then some more stuff happens and then the end.

Happy now?! :rant:

Plagiarist!!

[maestrowork]

The Pacific Between: When an American suspects an affair between his ex-lover and late father, he embarks on a transpacific journey to confront the secrets and the truths.

WIP: A Malayan man and a British girl must endure the Pacific War, holding on to a shred of hope that each other is still alive.


Or something like that.

[MidnightMuse]

Throw Momma From the Train?

[Soccer Mom]

Throw Momma From the Train?


Yay! Give the doggie her reps!

[JoNightshade]

Oh gosh, this is hard. Okay: A disabled computer science teacher pursues a relationship with the scary butch gym teacher, discovering in the process that he has to face himself before he can cope with anyone else.

Current WIP: A young surgeon is forced to confront the demons within his makeshift family-- unexpectedly assisted by a girl who may be able to thaw his foster-father's icy heart...

[scarletpeaches]

"A man and a woman living in a garden are deceived by a serpent into eating an apple which sets off a chain of events leading to a really cool guy being nailed to a tree until he dies...or does he?"

[Cindyh2k]

Throw Momma From the Train

[maestrowork]

Two crazy dudes meet on the top of the skeleton of a not yet finished skyscraper in Chicago to do mortal combat, but, it is their journey that makes the read really worthwhile.

Highlander XII?

[Cindyh2k]

Oops! I was too late!

[JoNightshade]

"A man and a woman living in a garden are deceived by a serpent into eating an apple which sets off a chain of events leading to a really cool guy being nailed to a tree until he dies...or does he?"

You didn't write that!!! ;)

[scarletpeaches]

And how do YOU know, my child?

[Stew21]

Nope. It's a line from a movie, but not that one. ;)


This is what I was thinking of:

Sam Weber[Sam enters a room where Nick is up late watching TV] What's this?
Nick (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000458/): I'm not sure.
Sam Weber (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000297/): What's it about?
Nick (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000458/): I don't know.
Sam Weber (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000297/): [Sam shakes his head, pats Nick on the shoulder, then sits in a nearby chair] Who's that?
Nick (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000458/): I think the guy in the hat did something terrible.
[shot of TV shows a man being thrown through the glass window of a door]
Sam Weber (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000297/): Like what?
Nick (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000458/): You're so analytical! Sometimes you just have to let art... flow... over you.
[Sam rolls his eyes]



It's funny because All the men in the movie they are watching are wearing hats.

[maestrowork]

It's funny because All the men in the movie they are watching are wearing hats.

Dark City?

[Soccer Mom]

This is what I was thinking of:

Sam Weber[Sam enters a room where Nick is up late watching TV] What's this?
Nick (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000458/): I'm not sure.
Sam Weber (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000297/): What's it about?
Nick (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000458/): I don't know.
Sam Weber (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000297/): [Sam shakes his head, pats Nick on the shoulder, then sits in a nearby chair] Who's that?
Nick (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000458/): I think the guy in the hat did something terrible.
[shot of TV shows a man being thrown through the glass window of a door]
Sam Weber (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000297/): Like what?
Nick (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000458/): You're so analytical! Sometimes you just have to let art... flow... over you.
[Sam rolls his eyes]



It's funny because All the men in the movie they are watching are wearing hats.

That's a great scene. I was referring to the Danny Devito character in Throw Mama from the Train. He writes a story and that's the plot. "The guy in the hat kills the other guy in the hat."

[JoNightshade]

And how do YOU know, my child?

This is totally off topic here, but is there some reason why everyone keeps referring to me as "my child" or "my dear" and things that seem to indicate that I am, well, an adolescent? Cuz honestly, I am an adult. I've been out of college for several years now and I'm even married and stuff! Reallies!!! :)

I find this slightly weird because it's actually something I wrote into my novel-- my MC (male) is always annoyed because people call him "dear."

[Stew21]

This is totally off topic here, but is there some reason why everyone keeps referring to me as "my child" or "my dear" and things that seem to indicate that I am, well, an adolescent? Cuz honestly, I am an adult. I've been out of college for several years now and I'm even married and stuff! Reallies!!! :)

I find this slightly weird because it's actually something I wrote into my novel-- my MC (male) is always annoyed because people call him "dear."


lol, I think she said my child because she's indicating she is God and that she wrote it. :)

[alaskamatt17]

Orion's Key: On the second world of the Athena system, ancient testing ground for the most dangerous biological weapons in human history, Armon and a handful of strangers from Earth struggle to make their way to the eastern continent, where a powerful artifact holds the key to their escape.

The Blight: The people of Spruce Creek, Alaska unite in the face of the most devastating epidemic in North American history.

[MidnightMuse]

This is totally off topic here, but is there some reason why everyone keeps referring to me as "my child" or "my dear" and things that seem to indicate that I am, well, an adolescent? Cuz honestly, I am an adult. I've been out of college for several years now and I'm even married and stuff! Reallies!!! :)

I find this slightly weird because it's actually something I wrote into my novel-- my MC (male) is always annoyed because people call him "dear."

Oh dear.




:D

[scarletpeaches]

lol, I think she said my child because she's indicating she is God and that she wrote it. :)

I am and I did!

(Wait 'til you read the sequel...it's a hoot)!

[JoNightshade]

lol, I think she said my child because she's indicating she is God and that she wrote it. :)

Well, I already knew Scarletpeaches was God. But does she have to call me child??? :)

[Stew21]

But does she have to call me child??? :)
perhaps you should pray about it, therein lies the answer...

[Soccer Mom]

Well, I already knew Scarletpeaches was God. But does she have to call me child??? :)


There, there, dear.

:pats arm condescendingly:

[scarletpeaches]

perhaps you should pray about it, therein lies the answer...

I won't answer. I'm in a huff.

There, there, dear.

:pats arm condescendingly:

I'll smite thee, you know. I really will.

[jhtatroe]

I fear this might be almost as wishy-washy as "three women live through their lives, contemplating their future," but:

Fourteen-year-old Nickie learns that her world isn't as small as she once thought when she begins to see her small, midwestern town through the eyes of an aging beauty queen.

[Stew21]

I fear this might be almost as wishy-washy as "three women live through their lives, contemplating their future," but:

Fourteen-year-old Nickie learns that her world isn't as small as she once thought when she begins to see her small, midwestern town through the eyes of an aging beauty queen.


jenn, i think it sounds really good!

[LeslieB]

Here goes nothing.

My WIP - A young woman becomes an assassin's target, and has to try to survive long enough to unmask the killer, learn to lead a country, and work up the nerve to come out from under the bed.


My project that is in the outline stage - A police detective enters the gritty world of fairy strip clubs and unicorn pit fights to learn who is murdering supernatural creatures to harvest body parts. (My working title for this is Fairy-A-Go-Go.)

[scarletpeaches]

I've taken my derail to this thread (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1356047#post1356047).

As you were.

[Lady Esther]

Wow. I just realized I have no idea how to write my story in one sentence. You guys are amazing.

[Stew21]

Wow. I just realized I have no idea how to write my story in one sentence. You guys are amazing.
ah, it's in there somewhere, LE. Just try it.

[AJ Clare]

I fear this might be almost as wishy-washy as "three women live through their lives, contemplating their future," but:

Fourteen-year-old Nickie learns that her world isn't as small as she once thought when she begins to see her small, midwestern town through the eyes of an aging beauty queen.

Wishy washy? No way. I'd read that.

[davids]

Highlander XII?

Shit thank God the damn thing sold-Whew-just imagine if they were like Ray-they would have seen how I stole the whole damn thing-actually it is stolen from Highlander XXV1-a guy can't even steal good no more!!!!

[julief]

I don't think I can do this really. When I try, this is what comes out:

For sugar cane plantation owners the Lanceys, success and failure in the cane field, in love, and in life is all about weathering storms.

But I think that's more of a tagline than a true plot sentence.

[Jordygirl]

I'm going to have to give this a try... and figure out if my books even have plots. Any thoughts?

Wishing On Stars: The summer carnival is the catalyst of change for the sisters, for Jasmine it's a sudden outburst of emotion that results in a friend lost and for a Caris a stupid lie will eventually bring her to a realization of the truth.

WIP: In one summer two of her friend have left her "unescapable" town; now it's Kris' turn.

[callalily61]

An ex-nun PI could be responsible for three deaths--including her own--if she doesn't figure out who's stalking her.

[Blurb]

Jim has vivid nightmares as himself as a Knight battling monster and the atrocities he's hunting the monster for are starting to happen in the real world.

And
A man has to deal with life no matter how badly he wants to die because living for 400 years is a bitch when everything you touch starts to die.

[AJ Clare]

No idea. I'm bad enough at synopses, never mind condensing stuff even further. How's this?

A baby goes missing - again.

[NicoleMD]

With wit sharper than his aim, disgruntled freighter pilot Joe Truluck must figure out how to turn a profit on his cargo gone rotten, fight off the advances of an octo-hootered seductress, and (weather permitting) save his home world from the planet-killing death beam of the neighborhood alien menace.

[Namatu]

WIP: The goddess Shekina will lie to and manipulate friends and allies - and collude with enemies - if it means she can stick it to her husband and get her old job back, but her willingness to pay any price may bite her in the end.

[underthecity]

An amateur inventor creates a machine to catch ghosts, and we see how the results gradually destroys his marriage and sanity.

(but there's a whole lot more than that . . . .)

allen

[Cindyh2k]

WIP - A woman abused by her husband and children tell them the day of her death, ten years before it happens, and when it actually happens, the family reflects on the life they have led while it is determined whether her death is suicide or natural causes.

[ChaosTitan]

The WIP: A resurrected huntress has seventy-two hours to stop a pack of Low Dwellers from unleashing a savage demon species, and success requires remembering a powerful secret that she's been killed for once already.

[Namatu]

The WIP: A resurrected huntress has seventy-two hours to stop a pack of Low Dwellers from unleashing a savage demon species, and success requires remembering a powerful secret that she's been killed for once already.
I want to read it!

[valeenc]

A writer posts the plot of her WIP in a forum without a password and an unregistered lurker hijacks it, writes and sells a book and movie deal from it, thus causing the originator of that plot to seek revenge in truly horrible ways.

:poke:

[Tasmin21]

Avarice: A rebellious princess-turned-smuggler must save her poisoned brother and root out the mastermind behind a throne-toppling conspiracy.

As yet untitled WIP: The last modern samurai retrieves souls sold to the devil, and ends up battling not only for his own, but for that of a fallen comrade.

[Azure Skye]

A writer posts the plot of her WIP in a forum without a password and an unregistered lurker hijacks it, writes and sells a book and movie deal from it, thus causing the originator of that plot to seek revenge in truly horrible ways.

:poke:

That sounds like the same book I'm writing. Hmmm....

;)

[deathwizard]

A wizard capable of committing temporary suicide via concentration meditation uses the powers he absorbs in the realm of death to battle an all-powerful sorcerer who absorbs magic from sunlight.

[Sassee]

Ninjas.

....... okay maybe not. But you know you like ninjas anyway.

[JBI]

Without going Dickens with the commas,

A tragic tale about two lovers, and the jealousy that their relationship unfolds.

[Zoombie]

"Two teenagers, one of whome is an advanced cybernetic life form, are hunted by a nine foot tall space lizard and neither of them know exactly why."


And they don't find out for another twenty pages. But it involves a long unsettled score, a massive gamma ray burst and the tottal anhillation of the human race.

And we don't have enough nine foot tall, three eyed, gun toting space lizards in fiction anymore.

[davids]

A gay transvestite cross-dressing robot rebels against straight robotical society!

[Zoombie]

How can a robot be gay unless it was programmed to be gay. And who would be mean enough to program a gay robot and not make other robots tolerent of it...

A jerk, that's who.

Wait, how can a robot be any sexual deviation unless programmed that way...

I'm thinking too much about this, aren't I?

[MelodyO]

This is freaking hard. But so fun to read yours!

A time-traveling grifter must go back to 1987 to change the history of her father's killer before the space-time continuum eats her.

Maybe that should be my new query. :D

[MelodyO]

And we don't have enough nine foot tall, three eyed, gun toting space lizards in fiction anymore.

IAWTC

[tammay]

There's this person, and another person. Someone does stuff and it affects the other person. Some more stuff happens. The end.

Scarlet, your point is well taken :Thumbs:.

I actually got into a bit of a scuffle with a writing teacher on this one. He insisted we all do this and "polish" our one-liners throughout the semester. While I agree that this is the best way to get a handle on your story, I also think it's misleading. For people who write highly-plotted novels, it's easier than for people who focus more on character where not much "action" might be happening in terms of physical, but a lot is happening psychologically.

That said, I have been mindful of trying to describe the plot of my current novel (a rewrite, actually) in one sentence and here's what I came up with:

Three young people break away from family myths.

Very vague, I know, but the best I can come up with, since I focus more on psychological reality rather than physical action.

Tam

[julief]

Off topic:
Melody, I love the yin-yang cats!

[davids]

How can a robot be gay unless it was programmed to be gay. And who would be mean enough to program a gay robot and not make other robots tolerent of it...

A jerk, that's who.

Wait, how can a robot be any sexual deviation unless programmed that way...

I'm thinking too much about this, aren't I?


Way too much-fantasy and all that!!!! It is all in the programming they say-it has to be the evil prof!!!!

[scarletpeaches]

Maybe these robots are a mechanical sex army for a gay professor who wants a piece of robo-luvvin'? Android/vibrator hybrids?

[Zoombie]

IAWTC

What chu talkin bout?

No, seriously, what does IAWTC mean?

That bugs me, we're on a forum...you have more then five seconds to replay. You don't need to use abbrevations, FCS! Jeeze, you LMers and your AIMing ways with all your CCTAFBAGs...

[davids]

Maybe these robots are a mechanical sex army for a gay professor who wants a piece of robo-luvvin'? Android/vibrator hybrids?

Hey ever thought of a co authorization with the old lobsterino?

[MelodyO]

What chu talkin bout?

No, seriously, what does IAWTC mean?

That bugs me, we're on a forum...you have more then five seconds to replay. You don't need to use abbrevations, FCS! Jeeze, you LMers and your AIMing ways with all your CCTAFBAGs...

ROFL! :tongue It means "I agree with this comment". I actually have never used that acronym before, I was just being silly. YMMV. <3 <3 <3

[drose]

A struggling San Francisco novelist conjurs a dysfunctional grandmotherly genie who systematically animates her heroes, gets her fired, evicted, arrested, and published.

[MelodyO]

Off topic:
Melody, I love the yin-yang cats!

Me, too! Fuzzy cosmic forces!

[drose]

Sorry - please forgive me. I've never posted before. I thought this page was about summing up your plot in one sentence. Please excuse the post. Bye!

[julief]

A struggling San Francisco novelist conjurs a dysfunctional grandmotherly genie who systematically animates her heroes, gets her fired, evicted, arrested, and published.

I like that one! I want that to happen to me (minus the fired, evicted, arrested part)

[JoNightshade]

Sorry - please forgive me. I've never posted before. I thought this page was about summing up your plot in one sentence. Please excuse the post. Bye!

It is, drose! No worries!

[davids]

Sorry - please forgive me. I've never posted before. I thought this page was about summing up your plot in one sentence. Please excuse the post. Bye!


Don't go-Christ you just got here-you think we all did not mess up when we joined up. Plus it is a good plot-C'mon now!!!!

[Siddow]

Mary Griffin hasn't been laid in years, so is astounded to find out she's pregnant; hilarity ensues.

[Southern_girl29]

Psychic Straits -- Fourteen-year-old Gracie Strait must learn to control her visions with the help of the father she's never met and three of his students before her mother is murdered by a serial killer stalking women in Florida, Alabama and Tennessee.

How's that?

[The Grift]

Improbable events transpire and an unlikely hero aided by his diverse and loyal group is at the center of it.

[JimmyB27]

After escaping the slavery enforced upon him by his own grandfather for daring to have been born a half breed, Ronim joins the army of his father's people and finds himself praised as a messiah, denounced as the harbinger of doom and all the while hunted by his wrathful grandfather.

[Stew21]

A writer posts the plot of her WIP in a forum without a password and an unregistered lurker hijacks it, writes and sells a book and movie deal from it, thus causing the originator of that plot to seek revenge in truly horrible ways.

:poke:

you really think so? i'd think anyone with skill enough to write a book good enough to be published wouldn't have to steal one sentence plot ideas off a website.


Trish, probably too trusting.

[benbradley]

What chu talkin bout?

No, seriously, what does IAWTC mean?

That bugs me, we're on a forum...you have more then five seconds to replay. You don't need to use abbrevations, FCS! Jeeze, you LMers and your AIMing ways with all your CCTAFBAGs...
ROFL! :tongue It means "I agree with this comment". I actually have never used that acronym before, I was just being silly. YMMV. <3 <3 <3
I don't have a WIP, but this thread sure is helping me to conceive of one...

People in online forums are being killed, apparently by an old-time Internet "nettiquette policeman" who cannot stand those who quote large messages only to add "me too" or an equivalent acronym to their posts.

ETA: Working title is "You've Got Murder!"

Sorry - please forgive me. I've never posted before. I thought this page was about summing up your plot in one sentence. Please excuse the post. Bye!
Yes, sometimes people post in a "page" or as we call it a discussion "thread" with posts that are off the topic. It's called (among other things...) topic drift. Please try to live with it, accept that this sometimes happens, and don't go ballistic over it...

[Vandal]

A new history teacher in a small Massachusetts town races through and against time to solve a 300 year old mystery and discover the truth about her own past.

[Devil Ledbetter]

What chu talkin bout?

No, seriously, what does IAWTC mean?

That bugs me, we're on a forum...you have more then five seconds to replay. You don't need to use abbrevations, FCS! Jeeze, you LMers and your AIMing ways with all your CCTAFBAGs...Zoombie, I agree with that completely.;)

[Zoombie]

Good. Now can someone tell me what a CCTAGBAG is?

[Stuart Clark]

The story of one mans betrayal and his efforts to unite an unlikely band of characters and ensure their safe return home after they are abandoned on a hostile alien world.

[glutton]

A sentence that could describe the plot of most of my novels and short stories:

A hardcore warrioress meets a great enemy and kicks some serious ass.

[Novelust]

A waiter with malfunctioning clairvoyance must solve the murders of his co-workers, stop a warlock from destroying his town, and find a way to make peace with (and get rid of) his undead older brother.

(Meh.)

[LimeyDawg]

A thief falls down a well while running from the police and discovers an ancient book of magic, plunging himself into a world of selfish wizards bent on using him to discover the whereabouts of Merlin's spell book and using it for their own greed, all the while ignorant of thier own puppeteers, an ancient race of magical beings who seek the same book, but for the destruction of the world as we know it. (phew!)

[ChaosTitan]

A waiter with malfunctioning clairvoyance must solve the murders of his co-workers, stop a warlock from destroying his town, and find a way to make peace with (and get rid of) his undead older brother.

(Meh.)


What do you mean, 'meh?' I'd read more. :D

[BardSkye]

Someone is killing the hockey league's referees and rookie ref Deke needs to find out who before he gets iced.

[SpookyWriter]

Cujo girls gone wild.

Nothing like fifty rabid, horny, women running around a beach front retirement village on the make for an interesting night with the retired dog catchers of "Purina's mad cow mistake".

[lfraser]

A woman discovers that she is becoming senile when she realizes she never actually posted all of those comments she remembers posting on a writer's forum.

My WIP is about a group of people who forget who they are, and in forgetting, become the thing they fear the most.

[SpookyWriter]

Republicans?

[valeenc]

Republicans?

BWAH! ! !:ROFL: :roll:

[Sassee]

Okay for real this time... how's this?

College girl gets herself drunk and accidentally stumbles into the supernatural underworld, thus putting her in the precarious situation of trying to deal with it while still maintaining a normal life.

[britlitfantw]

To ensure her king's throne, Gina, a justice keeper and a sorceress, must trust a traitor.

---

It's fun going through this thread. :)

[SpookyWriter]

College girl gets herself drunk and accidentally stumbles into the supernatural underworld, thus putting her in the precarious situation of trying to deal with it while still maintaining a normal life.Why is it that everytime I go out with a girl she tells this same story to mom after I return her home three days later? :Shrug:

[SpookyWriter]

To ensure her king's throne, Gina, a justice keeper and a sorceress, must trust a traitor.

---

It's fun going through this thread. :)I'd rather trust a traitor than have to clean their toilets on the faith of diet while betraying friends, family, country and the energizer bunny.

[Novelist in Paradise]

DEMON QUEEN: A foster boy with a mysterious past is first friends with and then an enemy of a girl who is entirely too interested in the black magic texts that her anthropologist mother studies.

[britlitfantw]

I'd rather trust a traitor than have to clean their toilets on the faith of diet while betraying friends, family, country and the energizer bunny.

Hey, don't spoil the sequel!

[Jo]

I'll give this a whirl:

A lonely girl wishes her favourite doll to life and discovers her doll is the long-lost princess of another realm who should be returned to her grieving family.

[dub]

The Professor's Chronicles - Erotic

Young professor struggles to do his work while students seduce him, mothers rape him, administrators frame him, and an old flame chases him.

[callalily61]

What do you mean, 'meh?' I'd read more. :D

So would I.

[jedimaster107]

A psycho who’s obsessed with a writer, kidnapps and brainwash her into thinking she’s his wife but the writer’s real husband comes looking for her only to stumble upon the psycho’s twisted, sick plot of having the writer for himself.

[allenparker]

Amnesia causes him to wander the town of Wilmington, NC, seeking out his identity, who killed his girlfriend and why his mind won't stop thinking about young teen girls and women in stockings and garter belts.

It's funny how the mind works, isn't it.

[tjwriter]

A writer posts the plot of her WIP in a forum without a password and an unregistered lurker hijacks it, writes and sells a book and movie deal from it, thus causing the originator of that plot to seek revenge in truly horrible ways.

:poke:

If there is one thing you should have learned by hanging around here, it's that no two writers have the same take on anything. Besides, plenty of stuff looks kinda like other stuff. I'm sure you've seen the Star Wars/Harry Potter comparisons.

Sorry - please forgive me. I've never posted before. I thought this page was about summing up your plot in one sentence. Please excuse the post. Bye!

Please stay awhile. There's always a slight amount of veering.

Queen of Legends: After learning about legends in tomes, Leja discovers that she and the child she carries are heirs to the throne of another country while she and her five new friends, including the father of her child, must work to stop an insane king from destroying the people of his country in his attempt to take over the world.

I also have started thinking about one where an absentminded wizard, his scathing, cast-iron skillet-toting wife, and two young men who can't get a letter mailed must do something where hilarity insues.

Then I had another where I haven't worked out much yet, except my MC is a real bitch.

[AndreaGS]

Rajheem, a young boy with an extraordinary voice, becomes inadvertantly caught up in the violent political struggles of his country.

[SirTimberWolf]

Guess I'll take a stab at this. . .

Shades of Grey:

When Jonathan Prower made friends with his new math teacher, he never expected he'd be drug into a war for the survival of another race.

I suck at these kinds of things.

[Jack Nog]

A young man awakens in a hospital after a critical collapse to discover that he is not the only one occupying his body.

Good lord that was difficult.

[Jack Nog]

And because I had a 3AM epiphany for a story that wouldn't go away a few days ago:

A man and wife find out that Heaven is not at all how they imagined, especially since she is nominated as the new "God".

[Meerkat]

Those sound intriguing Jack--and you're right, writing a one sentence synopsis is as hard as writing the work itself. Stew, you've probably done more to help us with our queries and marketing with your thread here than you could have imagined. Thanks!

[BarbJ]

My current WIP: AAARRRGGGHHHHH, whatever made me think I could write worth squat, I'm so stupid, stupid, aaaarrrrgggghhh...whimper...whimper...

Seriously, these are great. And, Spooky - never, never betray the Energizer Bunny. You don't know what's behind those glasses.

[Stew21]

Guess I'll take a stab at this. . .

Shades of Grey:

When Jonathan Prower made friends with his new math teacher, he never expected he'd be drug into a war for the survival of another race.

I suck at these kinds of things.

It doesn't suck!
You did well. It's a nice short sentence too!

[Meerkat]

first (done): Investigating the suspicious death and accidental cremation of her mother in a nursing home, a realtor from Manhattan discovers that her mother is actually being used by the military in an interdimensional experiment in Virginia.

second (done): An American soldier stationed in Japan and a widowed office manager from Baltimore pursue the theory their Buddhist monk friend has that some myths are real, plunging them on a globetrotting chase.

third (done): An American soldier must hide in a Cambodian monastery, and learns that the relic they are protecting is a coin given to them by Jesus of Nazareth at the easternmost extent of His journey.

fourth (in progress): There is a third side to the battle of Iwo Jima, told by Gaia and involving String Theory, which has thrown this universe--and all universes--into a state of imbalance.

fifth (in progress): A German accountant discovers that several historic patterns reach a singularity-like climax in August 2030, ending life as we know it, and that the executives in his corporation and all corporations act as if they already know this.

[Jack Nog]

first (done): Investigating the suspicious death and accidental cremation of her mother in a nursing home, a realtor from Manhattan discovers that her mother is actually being used by the military in an interdimensional experiment in Virginia.

WHOA...I'm in Virginia...where is this experiment that you speak of!!!!

;)

[Meerkat]

Oh, you know....the basement of that place where you work...

Actually, the mysterious Mount Weather base.

[callalily61]

fourth (in progress): There is a third side to the battle of Iwo Jima, told by Gaia and involving String Theory, which has thrown this universe--and all universes--into a state of imbalance.


This intrigues me--I almost understand String Theory, and then it slips away from me.

[Stew21]

Stew, you've probably done more to help us with our queries and marketing with your thread here than you could have imagined. Thanks!


To be honest I didn't know how much it would help me either.
Didn't realize this idea was "pitch-able" for a query, wasn't even sure it is a project that may be publishable, until I wrote the one sentence.
Then suddenly "Gee, there is a firm plot line, and a somewhat interesting one besides, maybe it does have some merit. Who'd a thunk it." It reaffirmed my faith in the story a bit.
I'm going to write out my one sentence and put it where i can read it all the time while I'm writing to keep me motivated.

[Spiny Norman]

"Usually when a guy goes home for a wedding he only expects a fairly boring time - the last thing Finnegan Gable expected was a debauched spiritual odyssey involving the ghost of his dead father, a coveted set of silverware, and the Neanderthal equivalent of the modern cell phone."

That sounds like more of a hook than anything...

"After a boozy nine years of wandering purgatory, burned out child prodigy Finnegan Gable returns home to Austin for the wedding of a friend he doesn't even like, only to become embroiled in the maddening lives of his old buddies and to confront the troubled memories of his past and his father."

Optional finish - "Hilarity ensues."

[SirTimberWolf]

It doesn't suck!
You did well. It's a nice short sentence too!

Thanks :o Maybe I should work that into my query letter. . . Possibility :)

[dclary]

Maestro said: in another thread, so I thought it might be interesting to see if we can tell our plots in one sentence.

I don't wanna go first.


Go for it: One sentence, tell us what happens.


A theology student is drawn onto the path to oblivion as he studies an ancient manuscript on demon-fighting, eventually sacrificing everything he holds dear to save his possessed best friend, and stop an army of hell's minions from overrunning the earth.

[maddythemad]

When a boy shows up in school with incriminating information on the most popular girl in school, she'll do anything to get him expelled-- including forming an elaborate plan that will eventually backfire on her.

Hmm... not as snappy as a lot of the ones you guys have come up with...

[Meerkat]

... the last thing Finnegan Gable expected was a debauched spiritual odyssey involving the ghost of his dead father, ....

Sort of a Finnegan Senior's Wake, then?

Sorry, silly friday.

[Meerkat]

When a boy shows up in school with incriminating information on the most popular girl in school, she'll do anything to get him expelled-- including forming an elaborate plan that will eventually backfire on her.

Hmm... not as snappy as a lot of the ones you guys have come up with...

Snappy it is, and probably enjoying a wider audience than all of mine, for example! It has a "Mean Girls" aura about it--it sounds excellent!

[Stew21]

You are agented on that story, aren't you Maddy?

(that makes it SNAPPY for sure!)

[Jack Nog]

Oh, you know....the basement of that place where you work...

Actually, the mysterious Mount Weather base.

Scary thing is, I almost had a position at that place...company didn't win the contract, so I don't have to go to some interdimensional place.

[Meerkat]

So you think you remember NOT winning the contract, eh? Cute...they're getting even craftier!

[Legionsynch]

Under the gun with a hundred year old curse they're certain is meant for them, six teenagers have to deal with a local legend returned to life, while realizing that every adult in town is set to betray them.


Okay, okay, so it's not that good, but I'm on a time crunch. Going to work in a minute. ;)

[Spiny Norman]

Sort of a Finnegan Senior's Wake, then?

Sorry, silly friday.

Welp, I liked the name "Finn," so it was that or "Phineas."

But if the parallel lines are drawn so broadly, Phineas it is.

[jhtatroe]

I'm going to write out my one sentence and put it where i can read it all the time while I'm writing to keep me motivated.

I actually did this too and put it where it would always be in sight while I was working on the novel. It really helped put everything in perspective.

[tjwriter]

a debauched spiritual odyssey

For some reason I read that as "a debauched squirrel odyssey" and thought, "Hmm, that sure is ... different."

Don't mind me. I'm just crazy.

[Spiny Norman]

For some reason I read that as "a debauched squirrel odyssey" and thought, "Hmm, that sure is ... different."



Saving that for the sequel.

[davids]

Dillenger Flakewaiter takes a journey inside your head!

[arrowqueen]

"The guy in the hat kills the other guy in the hat."

Exactly how big is this hat - and are there any rabbits in there too?

[The_Grand_Duchess]

The graduating class of Town High suffers from the usual highschool dramas only thier's are drenched in blood; something has gone critcal and whoever lives to graduate wins.

That was hard and I don't think that mine is very good :(

[Writer14]

A girl with two different eye colors has a unique ability: one eye sees the truth behind every lie, while the other sees the events those truths produce in the future; however, a letter she recieves is about to knock her off focus.




That has to be a run-on sentence... but...what can ya do. That's the weak plot to a WiP i haven't looked at in about 5months haha!

[Tia Nevitt]

Starcasting secret agent Victoria must prevent the theft of a new weapon, avert an assassination plot and clear her own good name, all while evading corrupt police, murderous enemies spies and her own fellow agents.

[Ms.Write]

Maybe not quite as exciting as some of the others posted here, but here goes:

A mermaid mates with a mortal in order to conceive and puts her life in danger.

[drose]

Don't go-Christ you just got here-you think we all did not mess up when we joined up. Plus it is a good plot-C'mon now!!!!

Sorry, guys. I thought I'd posted to the wrong thread. I still have no idea how this forum dealie works. Thanks for saying my plot sounded good. If all goes according to my evil plan, what I'm working on now is the start of a series.

[Chris Grey]

Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy and girl get each other.

[julief]

Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy and girl get each other.

My mind went to mob killing spree on the last part-----I think I'm a bit goofy tonight.

[BlueBadger]

Umm I'm not very exciting, but here I go!

"A boy spends a violent weekend with his estranged father and they draw the venom out of their past in hopes of healthier future."

[Sean D. Schaffer]

I'll see what I can do, but...


A young boy is all that stands between his world and total destruction.


That doesn't quite get everything into the mix, but I think it gets the basic point across.

[lfraser]

Republicans?

No. They're not that bad.

[Zoombie]

A young boy is all that stands between his world and total destruction.


Uh...there better be more to this plot, cause it sounds like a zillion other "young boy saves world" type things I've heard. Beware of writing another Eragon and so on and so on...I'm sure you've heard all this before, and stuff...maybe I'm being redudent.

I'm being redudent right?

[BlueBadger]

Lord knows all Paolini did is change "Hobbit saves world" to "Boy saves the world," and he's doing okay for himself (for some reason).

Hmmm, looking at my summary, I made it sound all serious-like when in reality it's a pretty humorous story ... in a dark way. I was melancholy last night. XD Let me lighten the mood:

"A boy meets his estranged father and they share COOKIES AND CLOWN STORIES after beating the living Jesus out of each other."

Okay, so that's not quite it either.

[Inky]

Yep, scaredy dog here.

But what the heck:

Legacy: A police detective on the trail of a serial killer employs the help of his father, a retired detective and now famous true-crime author, only to discover the killer is his father.

Whoa! Me thinks I've just added another fave author to my compilation/library!

[P.C Greene]

Con Of Man - The world is nearing an end, and every country in it is taking arm's, they each believe that one country is to blame for the problems with what the earth has come to (GLobal warming, war, terrorism) so all the countrys in the world are ready and prepared to fight, it is the job of a professor and his young assisant to prove that noone is to blame, and it is just a fault in the earth's axis.

Or something like that, haven't really thought it through that much yet :D

[Inky]

Okay, leap of faith here..I'm terrible at these:

A modern day woman discovers she's the beholder to ancient magicks, hunted by netherworld assassins, and is the soulmate to Hades' son.

[Sean D. Schaffer]

Uh...there better be more to this plot, cause it sounds like a zillion other "young boy saves world" type things I've heard. Beware of writing another Eragon and so on and so on...I'm sure you've heard all this before, and stuff...maybe I'm being redudent.

I'm being redudent right?



I guess I'd best just give up on the entire damned story. I'll never be able to please everybody on the face of the earth, so there's no point in telling this story. Bah!

;)

[Writer14]

I guess I'd best just give up on the entire damned story. I'll never be able to please everybody on the face of the earth, so there's no point in telling this story. Bah!

;)


That sounds so emo!! Never give up! never surrender! XD lol. Sorry...
I just hadda say something that would be considered incredibly lame. =/ I succeeded, i think...

[jonereb]

Attempting to learn details of his best friends death, a high school senior becomes snared in a pact with perdition.

[DamaNegra]

Two groups fight for each other without realizing they both want more or less the same thing.

[MattDempsey]

Mines currently:-

A once great pilot is destroyed from within while surprisingly finding himself increasingly written out, as a secondary character not even mentioned in the outline gains prominence, set amid the backdrop of a lot more people dying than originally intended.

Believe it or not its a WIP

[SouthernFriedJulie]

WIP: 'Morbid Memories'
A determined writer pursues the bloody history of a small town, unintentionally bringing the murderous attention of something evil to the townspeople who relate their memories.

[Writer14]

My other WIP:

A girl unknowingly frees an entire population of demons that were sealed away centuries ago, only to discover that one plans to seek revenge on someone very similar to himself: the one that made his life the hell it was to begin with.

Lame- yes, but i love it all the same =]

[Sean D. Schaffer]

That sounds so emo!! Never give up! never surrender! XD lol. Sorry...
I just hadda say something that would be considered incredibly lame. =/ I succeeded, i think...


Hmmm,

I guess my joke didn't sound too much like a joke after all.

My bad.

I'm not giving up on the WIP; I know the story just a tad bit better than the one critic who has read a single sentence about it. :)

But my post was not meant to be emotional. It was merely a way of being lighthearted about the whole thing. I guess, though, it didn't work like I had planned.

Oops.

[Writer14]

Hmmm,

I guess my joke didn't sound too much like a joke after all.

My bad.

I'm not giving up on the WIP; I know the story just a tad bit better than the one critic who has read a single sentence about it. :)

But my post was not meant to be emotional. It was merely a way of being lighthearted about the whole thing. I guess, though, it didn't work like I had planned.

Oops.

Noo! no! lol, i know you were kidding haha! I was just kinda adding to the humor with a bit of lame humor of my own >.<!

[Sean D. Schaffer]

Noo! no! lol, i know you were kidding haha! I was just kinda adding to the humor with a bit of lame humor of my own >.<!

Right on.

:)

[Writer14]

Right on.

:)

Woo! raise the roof..!!!

okay...i killed the moment, didn't i? >< darn...

[Sean D. Schaffer]

You know? Maybe I didn't quite get the gist of my story down pat in my first post here. So what I'm going to do is post a new sentence, and see what people think.


One man's only hope for his world and his soul, is the son he is certain is dead.

[Shady Lane]

It's kind of long, but it was fun:

When his twin brother Dmitri is seriously injured, eighteen-year-old Sasha is forced to push through work, parties, and college without Dmitri's protection, and he discovers that both his life and his brother's are darker than he had ever imagined.

[Matt Lipp]

Celebrity lawyer drives home drunk and kills the woman carrying the spawn of Satan. And go.

[Robyn]

Ok.. i make no promises on these for one sentences...


Shadow of the Wolf: In a twist of fate a lone woman unleashes an evil that's been dormant for hundreds of years, forcing two people to band together, forming a bond that is unbreakable as they fight side by side.

Scottish Whispers: Husband murdered and forced to take time off, never would one woman find herself immersed in a world of demons and druids only to be drawn to the side of the very man she despised.

Kiss of the Wolf: Worlds apart, a man and woman are forced to find a way to bridge the differences between them as they search for answers to the death and destruction of a village on the lost island across the Baylo sea while battling unseen enemies all around them.

This is the one that is currently being reviewed by a couple agents..

Dragon's Desire: The Curse of Innok: His beloved murdered and cursed to roam as a dragon during the day, one man searches for the answers to release him from the binds of the curse only to find the love he'd lost reborn in another and hunted by the very man who'd caused his pain.

[MelodyO]

Celebrity lawyer drives home drunk and kills the woman carrying the spawn of Satan. And go.

Holy moly! What bad luck. Maybe MADD should use this in their ads.

PS I liked this one a lot! :)

[Allynegirl]

Someone is using information from the state's Sex Offenders website to kill sex offenders in a mid-sized town and the investigator assigned to the crime has to deal with the sexual abuse in his past while working on solving the murders.

Hey, that's my plot. :rant: Beat you to the end, Cindyh2k. :e2poke:



:)
ETA: Okay, so it is not exactly my plot, but I was so shocked to see something that close. I'm such a newbie :e2paperba

[ILove2Write]

I'm loving all of these! But I'm having a hard time fitting my own story into one sentence. I feel like too much happens and I don't want to leave anything out. bah.

[seun]

For my next book which is still in the early planning stages:

Alex stole £70,000 from his employer; the whole country is looking for him and all he wants to do is help an old friend.

[janetbellinger]

Novel 1. Woman dumps husband then gets back together with him.

Novel 2. Yuong woman writes letters to the Service dog she raised and had to give up so it could serve.

[Tornadoboy]

Skylar was looking to give his life a fresh start in a new state with a steady job, however when he becomes entangled with the boss's beautiful but firey tempered, seemingly anti-social daughter he finds himself forced in to not only confronting his own painful past, but unearthing hers as well.

[BenPanced]

Married man figures out he's gay, gets a divorce, begins dating a guy in his office who's been flirting with him for several years now, then falls in love with the drummer in a band, and the wackiness it all creates.
Two men begin seeing each other while another long-term relationship begins to deteriorate, and not that much wackiness, told over the course of a year, from January to December.

[BarbJ]

1. Murdered vampire comes back to life, gets run over by MC, returns again a tad irritable, mayham ensues.

2. MC is being haunted by demons and winds up in limbo, a place of nothingness made physical, chased by same.

Amazing how silly things sound when reduced to one line during a quick break at work.

[fallenangelwriter]

David's uncle died without telling him that was appointed to find a magic book and save the continent; now everyone thinks he's a hero, and he just wants to go home.

When the angel Semyaza intercepts a secret message, he finds himself insure whom he can trust -- demons are working with wizards, and at least one angel is a traitor.

Brandon wanted no part of his family's occult tradition, but when he starts engineering school, he discovers that other wizards are out to get him.

[Linx]

Max Carlson is addicted to drugs, sex, and violatile thinking; what happens when he has to grow up?

[Brenda Hill]

Beyond the Quiet:

A woman learns to live after her husband dies.

[triceretops]

Tag Line: Avalon Labrador must give birth to herself before she is executed to solve her husband’s murder, and her own wrongful conviction that took place 32 years ago.

Tri

[Gable]

The ms I recently completed and am currently editing:

A commuter jet taxis down a closed runway and collides with construction equipment, killing everyone on board and the year-long aftermath unfolds through the eyes of three people: the pilot’s widow, the on-duty air traffic controller, and an aviation disaster attorney.

[Zoombie]

Three Mile: A disillusioned Canadian journalist travels to the Easy, a huge swath of the former United States that had been wracked by radioactive fallout that followed in the wake of a meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, seeking to write a 'novel' of manipulate clap-trap that plays off people's lingering anger and resentment towards the "establisment".

If you are wondering, Easy comes from the shortening of EZ, or Effected Zone.

And yes, properly speaking, it should be Affected Zone, but AZ and Aesy dosn't sound nearly as cool...

[Raindrops]

Hell has risen in Old Creek Cemetery, and Maddie Ann, the demon child, has come back to claim as many souls as she can before returning to hell.

[Zoombie]

How does she go about claiming said souls?

[C.bronco]

A boy tries to save the country from a despotic leader who is intent on creating a perfect society.

Wooo!
:TheWave:

[JimmyB27]

Scottish Whispers: Husband murdered and forced to take time off

In that order? :tongue

[Stew21]

Tag Line: Avalon Labrador must give birth to herself before she is executed to solve her husband’s murder, and her own wrongful conviction that took place 32 years ago.

Tri


wow that sounds good!

[Xathax]

My fantasy novel: A cast of characters are caught up in the beginnings of a civil war, the discovery that the religion that has held the Empire together for a thousand years is a sham, the end of the Twin Cabal's monopoly on the arcane that was leeching away the lifeblood of magic, and the discovery of a journal that reveals a coming apocalypse by telling the tale of one that happened in the forgotten past.

My sci-fi novel: An ex-Echelon mercenary bodyguard, a diplomat with an eyepatch, a psycic Courier, and a Nomad shipwright have their journey to the Splinter system of Outland's Star disrupted by a terrorist attack - an event that signals the beginning of an interstellar war, a quest for the true human homeworld, and the unravelling of the conspiracy that is the Echelon's domination of every human planet.

My urban fantasy novel: The murder of their sister brings Michael and Amon Domonic together for the first time since their troubled childhood, setting them on seperate quests to find the killer - Michael's through the Angelline Order that holds back the world's dark Taint, Amon's through Darksun International that uses Taint for its own dark ends - resulting in their disovery that the killer is a lost, no-longer-human sister.

Longest sentences ever.

[Varthikes]

Well, I've got two stories going at the moment with two more sort of on hold. I'll post the two that I'm actively working on at the moment.

"Path of the Fool":

In a time before they met, Audwin McClance and Varthikes, on their respective home planets, make an unwise decision.


"Echoes of the Past":

As Audwin and Ilka are about to wed, Ilka's cruel uncle learns of her involvement in the Draconia colony and comes to visit, forcing unpleasant memories of Ilka's past.

[triceretops]

Dispossessed Incorporated:

Man has a fight with his wife over their childless issues, goes out and gets drunk and ends up at a foster home agency. In the heat of passion he signs the contract, but has no idea that he's just become the foster parent of three very troubled ghosts.

Tri

[Feathers]

*gasp* I saw two sentances there ! ^^ :D
Sounds cool, actually.

Here goes nothing...

Three teenagers must face thier worst fears with the unwanted help of peternatural powers, before either they are killed, or they kill themselves.

[WarAndPeace]

Cripes well i'm rather new to this writing lark and i'm writing a sci fi/ post apocalyptic novel at the moment.
"Under A Burning Sky"

Stare out into the horizon and see the world ablaze.
Two factions risen from the ashes of the old earth fight for supremacy in the war to end all wars.

(NB: I'm actually considering dragging it out into a trilogy or quartet since the plot behind it all is rather long)

[jerrymouse]

Three Mile: A disillusioned Canadian journalist travels to the Easy, a huge swath of the former United States that had been wracked by radioactive fallout that followed in the wake of a meltdown at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, seeking to write a 'novel' of manipulate clap-trap that plays off people's lingering anger and resentment towards the "establisment".

If you are wondering, Easy comes from the shortening of EZ, or Effected Zone.

And yes, properly speaking, it should be Affected Zone, but AZ and Aesy dosn't sound nearly as cool...

Empty Zone?
Effluent Zone?
Erogenous Zone?

[seun]

JULY: Four teenage friends must find a woman from another world and join with her to stop a ghost from killing them, thus leading to the end of both their worlds.

(I apolgise for using the word thus. I really am very sorry.)

[gerrydodge]

Two former NYPD homicide detectives reunite as P.I.s to find who brutally murdered a famous editor on Cape Cod leaving her infant daughter next to her corpse for two days.

[Sassee]

I'm gonna try this again... my first attempt was just a really vague idea and didn't give much of a clue as to what the story was about.

Old one:
College girl gets herself drunk and accidentally stumbles into the supernatural underworld, thus putting her in the precarious situation of trying to deal with it while still maintaining a normal life.

New One:
Kate, a relationship-challenged college student, catches lycanthropy and finds out she's the prophesized female that's supposed to reveal the true Alpha, and she has to find him before a rogue wolf tears her to pieces.


Okay how was THAT one?

[BarbJ]

"I apolgise for using the word thus. I really am very sorry."

I like the word "thus". It's short and direct. On the other hand, I like the words "hence" and "twit", so take it as you will. :rolleyes:

[Jo]

I'm gonna try this again... my first attempt was just a really vague idea and didn't give much of a clue as to what the story was about.

Old one:


New One:
Kate, a relationship-challenged college student, catches lycanthropy and finds out she's the prophesized female that's supposed to reveal the true Alpha, and she has to find him before a rogue wolf tears her to pieces.


Okay how was THAT one?

Much more betters! I can get my teeth (fangs?) into that one. :D

[althrasher]

Beyond the Quiet:

A woman learns to live after her husband dies.

I don't know why, but that just sounds amazing.

[BarbaraSheridan]

I wanna play--

Soul of the Night: On the streets of old San Francisco darkness threatens to consume a vampire's soul, and one man's love is all that stands between good and evil.

[althrasher]

Let's see how lame this sounds...

Three friends find their nights plauged by nightmares and have to follow their dreams into a new world, where they discover that they have been destined to change the course of that world's future.

Wow...very lame.

[Shady Lane]

Okay. I bet myself I couldn't sum up the basic vibe of my book in one sentence, and I think this actually does a pretty good job:

Sash thought as he watched the crowd engulf his brother, the shallow situations should only kill the shallow people, damn it.

[Cat Scratch]

A young woman helps a convict escape after he saves her life, but she isn't prepared for a world of crime, murder, and those who still want her dead.

[Danger Jane]

Let's see how this turns out:

Shunned by her sisters, a harpy learns that there is more to life than obedience when she finds love in Athens.

[writejoe6]

"Jack Stand, a minimal man"
Though being an ordinary, minimal man, Jack Stand must foil a plot to attack America by returning, after he is killed.

[seun]

WIP: A man has stolen £70,000 from his employer; everyone knows who he is and all he wants to do with the cash is make amends for a mistake.

[BruceJ]

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." (Jon. 1:1, 2 - NIV)

[dclary]

I'm gonna try this again... my first attempt was just a really vague idea and didn't give much of a clue as to what the story was about.

Old one:


New One:
Kate, a relationship-challenged college student, catches lycanthropy and finds out she's the prophesized female that's supposed to reveal the true Alpha, and she has to find him before a rogue wolf tears her to pieces.


Okay how was THAT one?
What about: "There's more to college for the lycanthropy-afflicted co-ed than mid-terms and the cost of books: there's the trouble with other werewolves, the hunt for the perfect mate, and how do you wax off 40-pounds of undercoat before homecoming?"

[swvaughn]

Two crazy dudes meet on the top of the skeleton of a not yet finished skyscraper in Chicago to do mortal combat, but, it is their journey that makes the read really worthwhile.

Hey, I totally almost wrote a scene something like that in a book that I almost finished...

I bet yours is better. Two crazy dudes make the best main characters. Love it! (And my eyes insisted on reading Mortal Kombat the first time I read this sentence... :D)

[swvaughn]

So, my novel (one of them) is best summed up with a question.


What if your father was an angel... and the other angels wanted you dead?

[Del]

...and the surface of the earth looked like a NASA photo of Mars...except for the single set of foot prints.

[swvaughn]

...and the surface of the earth looked like a NASA photo of Mars...except for the single set of foot prints.

Ha ha?

I don't get it. Were you replying to me? Forgive me, too much blood in the caffeine stream today. Perhaps it will make sense later.

[Del]

Were you replying to me?

Nope. Just being dramatic about my book...and I couldn't think of a way to start the sentence. :D

Hell, I shelved that one anyway. I'm not smart enough to write it yet.

How about...

The contrast of the blood against the snow stabbed my eyes but I could easily see the mangled bodies...and the thing that ripped them apart as it disappeared into the woods.



Actually, I just like ellipses...

...because we don't always know where we are coming from...

...or where we are going...

...and still we go on.

[swvaughn]

Nope. Just being dramatic about my book...and I couldn't think of a way to start the sentence. :D

Hell, I shelved that one anyway. I'm not smart enough to write it yet.

How about...

The contrast of the blood against the snow stabbed my eyes but I could easily see the mangled bodies...and the thing that ripped them apart as it disappeared into the woods.



Actually, I just like ellipses...

...because we don't always know where we are coming from...

...or where we are going...

...and still we go on.

Ah! See, I knew my caffeine had been diluted by too much blood. Gomen nasai. I understand now.

I like ellipses too... and the idea of giant footprints visible from space.

[Feathers]

Mine's going to sound lame, I know it. *shuts eyes*


The only way to save the world is blow everyone up--yourself included.


Mmm. That actually came out better than I'd hoped.

[Sassee]

What about: "There's more to college for the lycanthropy-afflicted co-ed than mid-terms and the cost of books: there's the trouble with other werewolves, the hunt for the perfect mate, and how do you wax off 40-pounds of undercoat before homecoming?"

Dclary is my hero! :Hail:

[Del]

Mine's going to sound lame, I know it. *shuts eyes*


The only way to save the world is blow everyone up--yourself included.


Mmm. That actually came out better than I'd hoped.

There is a certain truth in that, but I think simply removing the human element would suffice.

[Sassee]

What about: "There's more to college for the lycanthropy-afflicted co-ed than mid-terms and the cost of books: there's the trouble with other werewolves, the hunt for the perfect mate, and how do you wax off 40-pounds of undercoat before homecoming?"

Oh, wait, one change...

"There's more to college for the lycanthropy-afflicted co-ed than mid-terms and the cost of books: there's the trouble with other werewolves, the hunt for the perfect mate, and how do you wax off 40-pounds of undercoat before spring break?"

Homecomming was wrong time of year :)

[dclary]

The Usagi Yojimbo in me relates to your Usagi Ninjutsu. We are brothers, Macleod!

[seun]

The Usagi Yojimbo in me relates to your Usagi Ninjutsu. We are brothers, Macleod!

Greetings, Highlander.

[jerrymouse]

an unacademic 12 year old girl draws a picture in class and everyone who sees it recognises it as the face of god although all veiwers see something different and the girl maintains she was only drawing a dream.

[Shady Lane]

an unacademic 12 year old girl draws a picture in class and everyone who sees it recognises it as the face of god although all veiwers see something different and the girl maintains she was only drawing a dream.

Sweet. What's your audience?

[jerrymouse]

Sweet. What's your audience?

are you refering to that other thread?

"for no man apart from the raging moon i write..." Dylan Thomas

its not my current project, it was just off the top of my head.

[Xathax]

an unacademic 12 year old girl draws a picture in class

She unacademic and in school at the same time? What is an academic 12 year old then? Or do you mean she's not good at school?

That technicality aside, the plot sounds intriguing.

[squalid]

Individual can't function in society and commits suicide.

[Shady Lane]

are you refering to that other thread?

"for no man apart from the raging moon i write..." Dylan Thomas

its not my current project, it was just off the top of my head.

No, I was just refering to audience in general...I'm into specifying, meself.

Clearly not relevent here, though.

[tammieofmi]

Love reading everyones one sentence. Some interesting ideas here! Okay, I'll give it a go:

OBIT

After reading a friend's obituary and fearing her own would be as exciting as her crunched up grocery list at the bottom of her purse; Jo sets out to mesh her real life with what she considers to be the perfect obit.

Yikes that was harder than I thought!

[Penguin Queen]

WIP in revision:

Cerys is contacted by a mysterious woman who turns out to be somebody from her own past; together they go on a journey to find and take on her abusive father and in the process, kill him.

Hm. It's really not at all as linear as that.

[Shady Lane]

Love reading everyones one sentence. Some interesting ideas here! Okay, I'll give it a go:

OBIT

After reading a friend's obituary and fearing her own would be as exciting as her crunched up grocery list at the bottom of her purse; Jo sets out to mesh her real life with what she considers to be the perfect obit.

Yikes that was harder than I thought!

This sounds fantastic.

[tammieofmi]

Hey thanks! This has been fun reading what everyone is working on.

[Zoombie]

Four godlike beings challenge each other to a race around the galaxy in 80 millennium.

[zpeteman]

A young woman, hunted by British soldiers, runs away from home and is swept into the brutal world of the Revolutionary War where she learns to accept the consequences of her crimes and struggles to find her way home again.


Talk about simplified...

[JoNightshade]

Okay I believe I have already posted my one-sentence summary of this same WIP, but I have revised. There are so many ways it could be done!

A makeshift family of former assassins teeters on the brink of collapse, but an unexpected friendship may pave the road to salvation.

[freethinker]

A punished angel forced into human skin discovers and dismantles a plot by all the major organized religions to remove humanity's free will.

[writerraven]

On her journey through arkdramada (an unknown fantasy realm), and through her quest to find her kidnapped friends, Raven learns how to fight and survive the many supernatural being that want her dead, but most of all she learns how to open her heart and love again, how to use her powers for good, and how to believe in herself.

[Madican]

Note: This is planned to be a "break the rules" Christian YA Fantasy. Down with the misconceptions!

MC is put in a coma and must descend through seven levels (sins) of his own mind, all the while fighting off evil spirits with the help of the memories of his friends, until he reaches the eighth and can at last confront himself in a final bid to wake up or be sent into eternal sleep.

Off the record: No magic, but everyone in the "mind" can manipulate their "faith" into a tangible form. Weapon, armor, tool, etc. Even the evil ones. And the MC is already Christian, but he's a fallen one, thinking that he'll live his own life any way he wants.

[JoNightshade]

MC is put in a coma and must descend through seven levels (sins) of his own mind, all the while fighting off evil spirits with the help of the memories of his friends, until he reaches the eighth and can at last confront himself in a final bid to wake up or be sent into eternal sleep.

This sounds like something this other guy wrote... what was his name... Dante? ;)

Inferno scared the hell out of me. Literally.

[Madican]

Wasn't Inferno about him dreaming what hell was like? I've never read the book, my local library doesn't have it.

Though, for Troy, each "sin" is a memory. And each memory takes place either in childhood or early teens.

[JoNightshade]

Wasn't Inferno about him dreaming what hell was like? I've never read the book, my local library doesn't have it.

Though, for Troy, each "sin" is a memory. And each memory takes place either in childhood or early teens.

Well if that's the case, your book does sound rather different. But if you're going to have him descending through levels that correspond to sins, you should probably check out the Inferno. Anyone who reads that little summary is instantly going to think of the Divine Comedy-- so you should either embrace the similarity (a "kid's inferno" would be awesome IMO) or work around it. In either case you should be acquainted with the text... not to mention that it's a classic. You can find it online... here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Divine_Comedy#Inferno (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Divine_Comedy#Inferno)
This is wikipedia's info page on the Divine Comedy; scroll all the way to the bottom and you'll find a couple of links for the text online.

And by the way, if your library doesn't have a copy of this, it officially sucks. :)

[E.G. Gammon]

I always meant to post in this thread but never got around to it. I came up with this one sentence description so I could have something to tell people when they ask me what my series is about.

Forgive the vagueness of my description; summing up ONE novel is hard enough, but a series is even tougher. This is the best I could come up with:

"[My series] explores the interconnected lives of the residents of a small town and how they're affected by a global, human war, a supernatural war, and the arrival of a serial killer."

Ugh, what a mouthful...

Anyway, all of you all's WIPs sound incredibly interesting! Thanks for sharing everyone!

[Ken Schneider]

Three ophans "escape" from an oppressive orphanage and find themselves on a magical ride at a long closed amusement park.

[Shady Lane]

Three ophans "escape" from an oppressive orphanage and find themselves on a magical ride at a long closed amusement park.

Are you serious?? This sounds awesome!

[Ken Schneider]

Are you serious?? This sounds awesome!
I'm serious, and I'm almost done writing it.