Since I talked about "formulas" you can use for log lines and queries (and then going rogue lolol), I figured I'd share the resources my friend had sent me: For queries: twitter.com/marchsoloway/status/1582045590858235908 For log lines: twitter.com/marchsoloway/status/1582361742654308352?s=20&t=7M0fkIyxFPfrzQLVJNqrvQ For the synopsis: twitter.com/DelilahSDawson/status/1582909988103561216?s=20&t=qftXOuaVRMgmRiDyr25kDA Also mswishlist.com/tips is always fun to scroll through!
This year I'm being a nano rebel! I'm 20k into a rewrite of a 1st year uni project (I've just graduated) and I will be trying to finish the first draft over the next month. It's a story about a university student who finds a novel written by her recently deceased aunt and discovered that even though they never held a conversation, they lived similar lives, being lesbians under conservative governments. It's a story of identity, grief, and the role of stories and art as tools of resistance.
yeah.. i see all these ppl planning and i'm just gonna show up to nano with a teeny tiny idea, a blank document, no planning and my imagination. my other project i'm planning won't be done in time lmao
My first nano I didn't plan at all. I discovered it two days before it started and thought, I can do this, and I did. Still editing that book today. It was a mess.
This is actually the first time I've heard of putting a log line together, and I love these formulas you shared! Such good resources. I love how much fun you're having with this project!
Why is it always as I'm just starting to write or am about to you post a video. 😂 I swear you can read my mind. That being said I'm excited for this video. OMG the unicorn light is so adorable "None of these words make fucking sense" 😂😂😂😂 Me while writing.
Can I just say, out of all of those that "intuitions" idea that you were struggling with so much is my fave. It sounds really interesting. I'd definitely read it.
This is my first ever NanoWriMo. I’ve always wanted to do it and this year I finally decided to take the plunge. Preptober has been an interesting journey for me. For years I have wanted to write a cozy mystery in a fantasy setting, so I thought that was going to be my project. I tried but from the get go I was on the struggle bus. Not only was I trying to world build a fantasy world and characters I was also trying to figure out how to map out clues and red herrings. I finally threw in the towel 2 days ago and realized I couldn’t pull it off in time for November. I thankfully did have a backup project, but no character or location names. So yeah I’m still prepping 😅 I figured “Biker Girl”, “Cutie Pie Nerd” and “Rainbow Hair” could use some names! 😆
This video kicked my butt into gear and reminded me of how much prep I still have left to do!! I'm gonna go back and catch up on some of your other prep videos to motivate me! I've been sick recently and haven't had much time but now I'm in full blown panic mode becase of how close NaNo is lmaoooo
I started my nanowrimo early this year too. My first day of writing was on Saturday because I decided to rewrite one of my books that I wasn't happy with after spending months trying to edit and fix it. Sending you all the good luck vibes on your projects for Nano! Love your content and amazing attitude towards life, challenges, and writing. And your pets are just the cutest :)
I felt a tiny stab in my heart at the end when you said "it's better than I thought it would be" and then immediatly went to "that's not saying much". You are allowed to like what you've written and you are also allowed to not have everything perfectly figured out BEFORE you've even written the first (or zeroth) draft.
I have decided to steal your "roll the dice" idea from one of your previous videos. I'm buying dice this afternoon and I can't wait to try that method to force me to make progress on my various projects!
Also I use my dices for my chores ( first number: which chore second number: how much time i have to do it) and obviously d&d. Dices are amazing for motivation!
I realized yesterday that I focused too much on filling out my character profiles and not enough on the actual plot and logistics of my magic system. Gonna have to kick it into high gear this weekend!
Wow! You have so many great project loglines! For Nano, I’m continuing the first draft of my project since it’s my PhD dissertation and I have to finish it. It’s a TV drama pilot that I’m adapting into a novel. The novel is an Adult Urban Fantasy. As I’m also a screenwriter, I find it useful to also have loglines for novella, novel, and sometimes short story projects, but that’s because I have loglines for most of my projects even when they’re not scripts! It’s also really helpful to read loglines of produced or unproduced screenplays as they are concise and usually one line.
Congrats on the stuff you got done! I need to go through my outline once more to add a subplot that's been nagging on me. But other than that 90% of my prep is ready. I have written this book 2 times before but I think this is the outline that covers all of my problems.
Thank you so much for sharing your process Kate! ❤ I love the idea of focusing on longline/pitch, query, and synopsis/blurb together in the prep before starting to write the story. I’m currently finishing up my messy outline, but I’m definitely going to try writing these after. Happy writing! 😊 ✨ ✍️
This is the first time I'm doing NaNo the right way. I've always been in the middle of something when I've done it previously and used NaNo to finish that story. This time I'm going to start the new story on November 1st.
I surprisingly actually prepped a proper outline start to finish. Even have notes and everything along the outline on what I need to remember or if I need to look a certain thing up before I even remembered nanowrimo. i even did a bit of research that was needed done so at least theres some level of understanding so certain things wond need a complete rewrite because i knew nothing about it. The only thing I need now is names and possibly create a map more so for my sake because knowing what's where is kind of important. This is the first time having anything so fleshed out and honestly that makes me kind of nervous compared to other projects where I had an idea of what the story is but getting it fleshed out was another thing. Those other project have jet to be completely so at this point I'm just hoping I cam complete this one
I tried finishing my current project of draft three in Oct, and then my second book thats different series but same world was using for nanowrimo, But even though almost 20K words on my first project my goal being 80K, I don't think I will be able to finish by the end of the month lol. So that means, probably either canceling second project and doing first project in nano, or compiling both, school, work (barista) all together in one month. DAAAHHH! I'm having fun though! Love your vlogs!
So I just started writing my nano project. It is okay I am rebelling anyway. I am writing a screenplay with the goal to write 25-30k words. So far things are good. My first half of my outline is really clean and well thought out. After the Midpoint things are just messy and not a single thought, other than coming up with vague ideas, has been put into it. A character disappears completely who kind of needs to be there. I may go off outline at that point if I can come up with something better.
I was just reading a tweet (while trying to grab the resources from this video) that said all writers inevitably think they’re terrible after the midpoint, no matter how many times they’ve written a story. And that feels very true to me. Our stories just don’t want to be wrangled neatly after that point. I think going off outline and playing around with it is a great idea! Hopefully you’ll stumble upon something fun you can use.
My preptober has for the most part been spent preparing my life for the chaos of NaNo. I've done a little bit of actual story planning but (as usual) I am woefully unprepared for November (but that's all part of the fun, right?)
Love your channel, Kate. I've been following you since 2018, I think. I say this with all the love, but I think the reason why the loglines you've shown on this video aren't working is because most of them lack the stakes and the ticking clock. Example: A professional organizer discovers an outlawed, darkly magical cauldron that used to belong to her (now missing) ex-boyfriend in the mayor's manor. The logline above has a protagonist and an inciting incident but there's no goal, stake, or ticking clock there to keep the reader hooked. How about something like: A paranormal organizer stumbles upon his missing ex-boyfriend's magical cauldron. She must discover how the cursed thing found its way to the mayor's manor before the election ends, or she may never find out why the only man he ever trusted disappeared on her the night he bought an engagement ring. Now the protagonist has a reason to achieve her goal before the deadline. Hope this helps.
I totally see what you're saying! I had several iterations that included the time element and more stakes, but ultimately I'm trying to keep the log lines to 1 sentence, or about 15 words. Keeping it brief is more of the challenge for me. :) But they can all still use work and I'm excited to play around with the one I choose at the end of NaNo and see how I'll improve it AFTER writing the story!
Hi there. Really love your videos on writing like a certain author and it's great your doing nanowrimo. Just wondering do you have a time period in mind you'll actually be querying agents? You don't seem to be someone who writes as a hobby.
So this is a little off topic, but NaNo made me realize that I've really fallen out of love with writing. Anyone have any thoughts on what to do to get it back?
Have you considered using a query/manuscript/submission package reviewer? I did and I got four offers of rep for a book I queried 50 agents with only to be rejected. It costs a bit but the chick I use is an actual admin at an agency.
No, I haven't, but I've seen several things like that before and always thought they sounded intriguing! I'd love to hear more about your experience. I think querying and submissions are a skill in themselves, so can completely understand paying someone who works to evaluate them.
@@KateCavanaugh it was hard. super hard! But once I really worked on it, it all did change! I contacted the admin and asked if I could put you in contact to talk more but she advised contacting another agency she knows that is very bespoke. I can ask for the contact info if you would like
10:53 I actually wish the log lines on Netflix were longer. 9/10 times I read what the show is meant to be about on Netflix and it tells m,e nothing! Like it's so broad and vague. I have to google for a better synopsis
Since I talked about "formulas" you can use for log lines and queries (and then going rogue lolol), I figured I'd share the resources my friend had sent me:
For queries: twitter.com/marchsoloway/status/1582045590858235908
For log lines: twitter.com/marchsoloway/status/1582361742654308352?s=20&t=7M0fkIyxFPfrzQLVJNqrvQ
For the synopsis: twitter.com/DelilahSDawson/status/1582909988103561216?s=20&t=qftXOuaVRMgmRiDyr25kDA
Also mswishlist.com/tips is always fun to scroll through!
OH! And if you have your own "formulas" you follow or helpful tips, I'd love to hear them! :)
Thanks for sharing these and what a fun peek into your process!
This year I'm being a nano rebel! I'm 20k into a rewrite of a 1st year uni project (I've just graduated) and I will be trying to finish the first draft over the next month. It's a story about a university student who finds a novel written by her recently deceased aunt and discovered that even though they never held a conversation, they lived similar lives, being lesbians under conservative governments. It's a story of identity, grief, and the role of stories and art as tools of resistance.
Sounds amazing! Mines LGBTQ representation as well.
yeah.. i see all these ppl planning and i'm just gonna show up to nano with a teeny tiny idea, a blank document, no planning and my imagination. my other project i'm planning won't be done in time lmao
My first nano I didn't plan at all. I discovered it two days before it started and thought, I can do this, and I did. Still editing that book today. It was a mess.
Same
I love a full pantsing project!! I think it's SO FUN the things you discover along the way, just letting your creative whims take you for a ride. :)
November always turns out to be a bad month for me re: trying to get into writing, so I enjoy living vicariously through you!
This is actually the first time I've heard of putting a log line together, and I love these formulas you shared! Such good resources. I love how much fun you're having with this project!
Why is it always as I'm just starting to write or am about to you post a video. 😂 I swear you can read my mind.
That being said I'm excited for this video.
OMG the unicorn light is so adorable
"None of these words make fucking sense" 😂😂😂😂 Me while writing.
LOLOL we just have perfect timing!
@@KateCavanaugh that we do it seems. 🙂
I LOVE the query for the "Karma Story"!!! I really wanna read it now!! :D Sending love and creative vibes and cheering you on for NaNo!!!
Can I just say, out of all of those that "intuitions" idea that you were struggling with so much is my fave. It sounds really interesting. I'd definitely read it.
This is my first ever NanoWriMo. I’ve always wanted to do it and this year I finally decided to take the plunge. Preptober has been an interesting journey for me. For years I have wanted to write a cozy mystery in a fantasy setting, so I thought that was going to be my project. I tried but from the get go I was on the struggle bus. Not only was I trying to world build a fantasy world and characters I was also trying to figure out how to map out clues and red herrings. I finally threw in the towel 2 days ago and realized I couldn’t pull it off in time for November. I thankfully did have a backup project, but no character or location names. So yeah I’m still prepping 😅 I figured “Biker Girl”, “Cutie Pie Nerd” and “Rainbow Hair” could use some names! 😆
This video kicked my butt into gear and reminded me of how much prep I still have left to do!! I'm gonna go back and catch up on some of your other prep videos to motivate me! I've been sick recently and haven't had much time but now I'm in full blown panic mode becase of how close NaNo is lmaoooo
I LOVE the Intuition query. Sounds like so much fun!
So excited for Nanowrimo. November cannot come fast enough!
i love how much and the intensity with which you laugh at your own stuff
The Map of Forgotten Things is such a cute title. I want to read that one!!
I started my nanowrimo early this year too. My first day of writing was on Saturday because I decided to rewrite one of my books that I wasn't happy with after spending months trying to edit and fix it. Sending you all the good luck vibes on your projects for Nano! Love your content and amazing attitude towards life, challenges, and writing. And your pets are just the cutest :)
This is so much fun lol! I love your energy.x
I felt a tiny stab in my heart at the end when you said "it's better than I thought it would be" and then immediatly went to "that's not saying much". You are allowed to like what you've written and you are also allowed to not have everything perfectly figured out BEFORE you've even written the first (or zeroth) draft.
Bahaahah, YES, you're totally right!! I had a similar feeling while editing the video, "like aww yay to awww no :(" Thank you for this reminder!!!
I have decided to steal your "roll the dice" idea from one of your previous videos. I'm buying dice this afternoon and I can't wait to try that method to force me to make progress on my various projects!
Also I use my dices for my chores ( first number: which chore second number: how much time i have to do it) and obviously d&d. Dices are amazing for motivation!
I realized yesterday that I focused too much on filling out my character profiles and not enough on the actual plot and logistics of my magic system. Gonna have to kick it into high gear this weekend!
Wow! You have so many great project loglines! For Nano, I’m continuing the first draft of my project since it’s my PhD dissertation and I have to finish it. It’s a TV drama pilot that I’m adapting into a novel. The novel is an Adult Urban Fantasy. As I’m also a screenwriter, I find it useful to also have loglines for novella, novel, and sometimes short story projects, but that’s because I have loglines for most of my projects even when they’re not scripts! It’s also really helpful to read loglines of produced or unproduced screenplays as they are concise and usually one line.
Excited for Nano!!!!!!!!!
Congrats on the stuff you got done! I need to go through my outline once more to add a subplot that's been nagging on me. But other than that 90% of my prep is ready. I have written this book 2 times before but I think this is the outline that covers all of my problems.
This is fun! I really like the book cover you made for Two Smoking Guns. So good!
Thanks for the great idea! I would have never thought of looking at Netflix for logline examples! AWESOME!
Totally!! I'm glad it was helpful! :)
Yay! I've been querying for a little while and it is a very daunting process 🥲. All the best!💗
Ahhhh, sending you all the good luck!
@@KateCavanaugh Thank you!
Thank you! I struggle writing loglines and synopsis and this has helped point me in a good direction of getting a hang of them.
super curious about your Intuitions project, it sounds like such a fun read! can't wait to see which project you'll be working on this nanowrimo 😋
Thank you so much for sharing your process Kate! ❤ I love the idea of focusing on longline/pitch, query, and synopsis/blurb together in the prep before starting to write the story. I’m currently finishing up my messy outline, but I’m definitely going to try writing these after. Happy writing! 😊 ✨ ✍️
The synopsis about the intuitions is difficult to understand, but it sounds so unique, it would be fascinating.
I have not written loglines before but in case it may be helpful
This is the first time I'm doing NaNo the right way. I've always been in the middle of something when I've done it previously and used NaNo to finish that story. This time I'm going to start the new story on November 1st.
Hehe, "I will role the tinkly skull dice..." Don't we all roll the tinkly skull dice every day of our lives? Don't we though!?
Ah, I love spotting Sabrina on the TV!
It has been my FAVORITE recent rewatch. Perfect spooky season fun. (Or, like, all the time fun bahaha.)
I surprisingly actually prepped a proper outline start to finish. Even have notes and everything along the outline on what I need to remember or if I need to look a certain thing up before I even remembered nanowrimo. i even did a bit of research that was needed done so at least theres some level of understanding so certain things wond need a complete rewrite because i knew nothing about it. The only thing I need now is names and possibly create a map more so for my sake because knowing what's where is kind of important.
This is the first time having anything so fleshed out and honestly that makes me kind of nervous compared to other projects where I had an idea of what the story is but getting it fleshed out was another thing. Those other project have jet to be completely so at this point I'm just hoping I cam complete this one
Hurray!!!!!!!! now i shall watch the vlog 😃😃😃😃
💙💜💙💚💙
I tried finishing my current project of draft three in Oct, and then my second book thats different series but same world was using for nanowrimo, But even though almost 20K words on my first project my goal being 80K, I don't think I will be able to finish by the end of the month lol. So that means, probably either canceling second project and doing first project in nano, or compiling both, school, work (barista) all together in one month. DAAAHHH! I'm having fun though! Love your vlogs!
I got married the 15th so I had zero preptober 😅 Trying to decide a project this week though! I loved watching your process!
Congratulations!!! Have fun during nano :)
So I just started writing my nano project. It is okay I am rebelling anyway. I am writing a screenplay with the goal to write 25-30k words. So far things are good. My first half of my outline is really clean and well thought out. After the Midpoint things are just messy and not a single thought, other than coming up with vague ideas, has been put into it. A character disappears completely who kind of needs to be there. I may go off outline at that point if I can come up with something better.
I was just reading a tweet (while trying to grab the resources from this video) that said all writers inevitably think they’re terrible after the midpoint, no matter how many times they’ve written a story. And that feels very true to me. Our stories just don’t want to be wrangled neatly after that point. I think going off outline and playing around with it is a great idea! Hopefully you’ll stumble upon something fun you can use.
My preptober has for the most part been spent preparing my life for the chaos of NaNo. I've done a little bit of actual story planning but (as usual) I am woefully unprepared for November (but that's all part of the fun, right?)
Not doing NaNo this year, but wanted to comment Good Luck!!!
THANK YOU!!! :)
Hi Kate! Do you have anything published? If so, how could I go about finding them? I’ve been a follower for a while but I somehow missed this info 😅
Kate do you ever think that you can post your stories on wattpad
Love your channel, Kate. I've been following you since 2018, I think. I say this with all the love, but I think the reason why the loglines you've shown on this video aren't working is because most of them lack the stakes and the ticking clock.
Example:
A professional organizer discovers an outlawed, darkly magical cauldron that used to belong to her (now missing) ex-boyfriend in the mayor's manor.
The logline above has a protagonist and an inciting incident but there's no goal, stake, or ticking clock there to keep the reader hooked.
How about something like:
A paranormal organizer stumbles upon his missing ex-boyfriend's magical cauldron. She must discover how the cursed thing found its way to the mayor's manor before the election ends, or she may never find out why the only man he ever trusted disappeared on her the night he bought an engagement ring.
Now the protagonist has a reason to achieve her goal before the deadline. Hope this helps.
I totally see what you're saying! I had several iterations that included the time element and more stakes, but ultimately I'm trying to keep the log lines to 1 sentence, or about 15 words. Keeping it brief is more of the challenge for me. :) But they can all still use work and I'm excited to play around with the one I choose at the end of NaNo and see how I'll improve it AFTER writing the story!
Hi there. Really love your videos on writing like a certain author and it's great your doing nanowrimo. Just wondering do you have a time period in mind you'll actually be querying agents? You don't seem to be someone who writes as a hobby.
Tentatively, I'd love to start querying Project Death before June of next year.
Where is your desk from?
So this is a little off topic, but NaNo made me realize that I've really fallen out of love with writing. Anyone have any thoughts on what to do to get it back?
Have you considered using a query/manuscript/submission package reviewer? I did and I got four offers of rep for a book I queried 50 agents with only to be rejected. It costs a bit but the chick I use is an actual admin at an agency.
No, I haven't, but I've seen several things like that before and always thought they sounded intriguing! I'd love to hear more about your experience. I think querying and submissions are a skill in themselves, so can completely understand paying someone who works to evaluate them.
@@KateCavanaugh it was hard. super hard! But once I really worked on it, it all did change! I contacted the admin and asked if I could put you in contact to talk more but she advised contacting another agency she knows that is very bespoke. I can ask for the contact info if you would like
Maybe look at the American Gods logline for your fantasy one if you are still looking for an example.
10:53 I actually wish the log lines on Netflix were longer. 9/10 times I read what the show is meant to be about on Netflix and it tells m,e nothing! Like it's so broad and vague. I have to google for a better synopsis
Hello, could someone explain what [COMP] means please? Thanks.
I have three options of what to write for nano and i still don't know which one im going to go with...
Oooh join me! Roll a dice to decide!
@@KateCavanaugh i just roughly explained the options to my dad and let him choose for me lol
I’m continuing an old project
Did you end up watching The Watcher? If so, what did you think of it? 🤔
Me who is notoriously bad at doing this hearing your struggle with the talent show ominously whispering “kill your darlings”
Your keyboard is loud.