Blog of Gracie O'Neil Author Paranormal Romantic Suspense

16 April, 2010

Your Novel--In Four Paragraphs Or Less (Aspect 3)

If you've followed this blog series and done the exercises, you should now have:

the fifty word "High Concept" heart of your novel read more here...
the first part of your back-of-the-book blurb, covering the four aspects a reader would expect to be there read more here...
the second part where you analyze those aspects from the perspective of a buyer read more here...

Today we're moving to the third part of writing your teaser; "accentuating your book's point of difference in the market".

The point of difference is the single thing that makes your product different from competing products in its niche; its unique selling feature.

Even in a market gulping down books about angels, demons, vampires, and shape shifters with the enthusiasm of five-year-olds scarfing chocolate cake at a birthday party, simply coming up with another coffin-sleeping, fang-dripping bloodsucker with a fetish for hair-gel and opera cloaks is not going to bring your manuscript to the top of any editor's wish list. There has to be something in the character or the plot--preferably both--that sets your work above the rest, and it needs to be stated in an intriguing manner to stimulate curiosity.

NYT best-selling author Nalini Singh has done this brilliantly with her Guild Hunter series. You have a vampire hunter, you have vampires, you have angels, you have Archangels.

But, in the alternative earth Singh has created, vampires aren't made by other vampires. They are "Made" by their angelic sires after a careful screening process, and then bonded to their maker for a given length of time. The vampire hunters hunt vampires for the angels when the vampires decide to renege on the deal. This point of difference is an intriguing twist on the vampire myth.

USA Today bestselling author Janet Chapman has also crafted several interesting points of difference in her series about the magical, time-traveling MacKeage family. In her SECRETS OF THE HIGHLANDER the back cover blurb goes like this:

He is the father of her child, but the secrets they are hiding are tearing them apart...

Megan MacKeage escaped the smothering protectiveness of the Highland MacKeage clan to work as a scientist on the Canadian tundra. But when fellow researcher Wayne Ferris breaks her heart by rejecting her, Megan returns to Maine alone. Then she meets the town's new police chief, Jack Stone--the man she knew as Wayne Ferris. Instead of the quiet scholar he posed as, he's an aggressive private eye who's willing to fight for what he wants, just like all the overbearing men in her clan. So why is Megan still feeling a dangerous attraction? And though Jack claims he followed her here because he loves her, can she ever trust a man with so many secrets?

In my opinion, the point of difference would be found in this sentence: Then she meets the town's new police chief, Jack Stone--the man she knew as Wayne Ferris. To lift the common pregnant, single mother story up a notch or two the intriguing twist is that Jack is in a position of authority, but has two identities.

One of the reasons I didn't complete my example blurb last time was because I wanted to use the romance and paranormal aspects of it to illustrate today's point. Click here to read the example with only the suspense aspect of its paranormal romantic suspense subgenre shown.

Below is the example with the romance [in blue] and paranormal [in crimson] aspects added.

In the eyes of the world, PHILIP KNIGHT is an amusing enigma; an attractive, wealthy eccentric who would rather focus his energy on the study of dead languages than apply himself to the city's glamorous dating scene. But for Philip, prince of a hidden and fading civilization, the truth is far more complex. Far more terrifying. Because, while shared passion with a human is an acceptable diversion among his people, to fall in love--to lose one's heart--is to condemn the beloved to an horrific death.

While she doesn't expect victory to be easy, high profile lawyer ALEXIS BRADFORD does expect to win--both in the courtroom and in her personal life. However, when a serial killer calling himself "The Sphinx" begins to send her cryptic messages about her buried past, and challenges her to either solve a riddle before midnight on her birthday, or die, winning might just take second place to survival. Her only hope appears to lie with the enigmatic Dr Philip Knight and his knowledge of ancient lore.

But wisdom is not the only thing Philip teaches her, and Alexis soon learns there is a penalty for knowledge, a price for love...and victory can be a two-edged sword.

Now these additions are merely hints of what is going to happen. I reversed my initial order from heroine first to hero first because the paranormal aspect comes primarily from the hero's side and therefore the presentation flows better by establishing that first.

The point of difference is found in the hidden civilization that Philip rules, and in the fatal consequences of falling in love. The intriguing twist here is how are they going to have a successful love life if the penalty is death? I haven't spelled it out in detail yet, but there are enough facts for a reader and a buyer to know the kind of book they're looking at, and enough mystery to make them want to move from the back cover to the inside of the book.

Your turn.

Go back to the blurb you wrote from your initial four paragraphs. Re-read it looking specifically for the point of difference; the one thing you can emphasize in an intriguing way that makes your book different to others in your genre. If you haven't spelled it out because it will give the plot away, then that's okay. Hint at it. Just make sure you know what it is. You'll need it when you write the rest of your synopses.