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Thief of Song Blurb, and Blurbs in General

by M. C. A. Hogarth

 

Here’s the blurb for Thief of Songs! Someone on Twitter asked me if I had any tips for blurb-writing, and this seems a good time to talk about that. Particularly since, unlike a lot of people, I actually enjoy blurb-writing. (Yes, I know. I am crazy.) The most memorable advice I ever received on this topic was from agent Don Maass, who gave a short lecture on “the elevator pitch” while promoting his book Writing the Breakout Novel. I don’t remember the book, but I do remember the pointers about pitching. Pitching, he said, is about “capturing interest, not telling the story.” It should include the three essential components: character, setting, and conflict. And it should answer the question: “Why should I care? What’s the emotional appeal?”

So the heart of blurbing, for me, is identifying the central conflict, the character most affected by it, and then ending with a leading question/statement that invites the reader to find out more.

In Thief’s case, the conflict in the story is Amet’s problems with the lowlands. He is the character most affected by that conflict. And the leading question is whether he’ll be willing to set those problems aside to love a lowlander. Easy peasy! But the art of blurbing is making those answers as succinct as possible, while also as exciting and mysterious as possible. Think of movie trailers: they give you only enough set-up to understand why you should care about the outcome, and then tease you by not revealing the ending!

Here’s the fun part of it for me, then: I want the whole thing to fit in 3-5 sentences. Fewer is best!

So, some more examples for deconstruction. Here’s Mindtouch‘s: Setting: The entire first sentence gives this context.
Character Most Affected: Jahir (who shows up in sentence #2).
Description of Conflict: the second part of the second sentence (“unprepared for… etc.”)
Leading question: “Will the two, etc etc.”
Sentence count: 3

Here was a rough one for me, the Black Blossom blurb: Conflict: First sentence!
Character Most Affected (or at least, most prevalent because Narration): “the gentle Calligrapher, etc…”
Setting: The third sentence.
Leading question: The last two sentences.
Sentence count: 4

Now, here’s an interesting exercise. When the sequel to Flight of the Godkin Griffin came out, both Sofawolf (the print publisher) and I wrote blurbs for it without consulting one another. It was a difficult exercise because we’re introducing the final book in a series, which means we have to allude, at least a little, to the first. And we handled it in very different ways! Here’s Sofawolf’s blurb:

Sent to oversee the most recent territorial acquisition in the Godson’s empire, Mistress Commander Angharad finds herself in an unexpected position. Rather than smoothly assuming control from the outgoing governor, she finds herself in opposition to violent factions of the occupying forces, the corrupt governor she is replacing, and unexpectedly even the Godson himself.

No doubt her unplanned adoption as the champion of the conquered province of Shraeven and the chosen vessel of its many native Gods has something to do with her sudden fall from favor.

Certain that Shraeven holds the final key to the empire’s goal of breeding a God of their own, the Godson himself arrives to regain control of the province. Angharad knows that a lasting peace will only come from a diplomatic solution, but with the Godson’s behavior becoming increasingly erratic, she is no longer sure he is capable of reason.

The Godson’s Triumph is the conclusion of the fantasy military adventure started in Flight of the Godkin Griffin, and takes Angharad to the brink of war with her own country on her way to truly understanding the Gods and the empire’s dedication to emulating them.

Meanwhile, here’s the one I wrote:

Mistress Commander Angharad Godkin hates politics… so of course, her ruler the Godson sent her to replace the Governor of barely tamed Shraeven province. She hates religion, so naturally, the native gods began to plague her the moment she arrived. And since she hates both, the gods started playing politics—and the politicians began playing at godhood. In Flight of the Godkin Griffin, Angharad, a creaky old veteran of the Godkindred Kingdom’s many wars of conquest, was dragged out of retirement only to discover her newest assignment—to rule a province in peace—might finally be the death of her. She certainly wasn’t expecting to face off against her own monarch in a battle that will decide not just her own fate, and not just the fate of Shraeven Province… but of the world itself.

The Godson’s Triumph returns us to the world of Angharad Godkin and her comrades and concludes their epic journey. But who will be left standing when the fires burn out?

The last piece of advice Maass gave was to “use one of the following words in your last sentence: love, heart, dream, journey, fortune, destiny.” I don’t follow the letter of this law, but you can see clearly what he’s aiming for with it: you should be pitching a hero’s journey to the reader, a story that really grips your heart. It has, as modern audiences can now say, ALL THE FEELS. If it doesn’t have all the feels, why bother? And if your overall blurb doesn’t operate on that level, it’s not going to connect to as many people as you hope.

So, in short:
1. Keep it short.
2. Keep it punchy—now is not the time to downplay the conflict.
3. Identify the most important conflict and the character grappling with it and put them on center-stage.
4. Give enough setting information that the conflict makes sense/feels urgent.
5. End with a question/invitation to find out more.

I am not the best blurb-writer in the world, but I think I do passably at it, and I enjoy doing it. If you have questions, leave ‘em here and we can continue deconstructing the process. Or if you have examples of great blurbs you like, bring them here!

This post first appeared at M. C. A. Hogarth’s blog. The original post can be found here.

 

Author: Hello, Papabear. Thanks for reading my letter, I think the work you do with this website is really amazing. So here’s the thing: I been feeling bad or nothing at all, I don’t get excited about anything anymore. I don’t want to do anything, so I do nothing all day. I have books I wanted […]

submitted by shroud_raven
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Looking to do more art trades and commissions.

Trades- Looking for people roughly around my skill level to swap some art with. Characters I'd like done are a mix of human, furry, or feral, so lots to pick from depending on what people can draw. I personally like ferals the most, but I'm happy to draw furries, and I'm not bad at humans. Comment or PM for details.

Commissions- $10 for a full color digital piece, either a front-and-back simple reference sheet or just a basic full body thing. Clean content only, single character. $5 for a pencil drawing (not ref sheets).

Here's my gallery on Deviantart with lots of examples!

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There's this one guy in Finland whose character is a helicopter. I'm not sure if he's joking, but I started wondering what a bit different 'sonas there are.

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A new science-fiction role-playing game has appeared on the scene, called HC SVNT DRACONES (a variation on hic sunt dracones, or “here be dragons” in Latin). “HC SVNT DRACONES puts you in the body of a human experiment that outlived its creator, and has gone on expanding into the galaxy while trying to heed the lessons of a race that fell to ruin. It’s about exploration and fear, expansion and conquest, intrigue and subterfuge, and ultimately, it’s about you, learning to be you, when all the trappings of humanity you define yourself with are dead and gone. A unique character generation system allows you to assemble you Vector layer by layer, from their family to their species to the unique anatomy that defines their appearance. Interact with your story on two legs or four, from 6 feet up, or less than one. Explore new character interactions and problem solving possibilities when your party can range dramatically in size and shape from person to person.” After a (very!) successful Kickstarter campaign by HSD creator Pierce Fraser, the game manual is available now as a download at Drive Thru RPG — with the hardcover edition soon to follow. Also, make sure to check out HSD’s official page at Tumblr for updates.

image c. 2015 Pierce Fraser

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So... As the title says... My SO wants to quit drawing because they think their style is bad, and that nobody likes it. I, of course, don't want him to quit. I mean, he's really good imo, and I can't seem to convince him.

I... I wanted to come here to see if people would be kind enough to show him some love, to make him get some well-deserved attention. Please.

Cookieswithkiwi.deviantart.com

That is his deviant art, please, do see his drawings. I'd owe you all a big one

Thanks beforehand.

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Alright everybody Let's see what y'all have to say about fandoms. Why do people join them and/or why did you join the furry fandom?

Answer however you'd like but please let us know what to refer to you as (i.e. pseudonyms, fursona names, your real name, pick at least one.) feel free to E-mail me at skyoath.tipofthetail@gmail.com, pm me, or just respond in the comments bellow. Thanks in advance and have a good week fuzzbutts!

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I have just discovered the physical embodiment of cuteness that is Telephone. Holy crap I just want to hug her so much.

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18+ please, not safe for work. A pair of “toys” projects to fill that void in your life…

(BTW, I’m not exactly an expert on sex toys, so if I get something wrong here or cheerfully quasi-endorse shoving a carcinogen somewhere with lots of chemical-absorbing tissues, my apologies, I don’t know what I’m talking about.)

I’d be curious to know if there’s been any studies done on the market for animal-shaped sex toys. On the one paw, it can’t be the world’s biggest market, with a lot of competitors (Fetish Zone, BadDragon, Zeta Paws/Zeta Creations, Exotic Erotics, German YiffyToys, come to mind, with a host of other smaller names out there. I’m sure I’m forgetting someone, but it has never been my life goal to list all animal-themed sex toy manufacturers.  An amusing side-project or hobby, perhaps.)

So, I’m looking at a pair of projects with a long road ahead of them, because it’s a packed field, and some of the players have serious name recognition.

On the other paw, it’s a field that appreciates novelty for its own sake. And not everybody has $100-$150 lying around for a detailed piece of hardware modeled after Haruki the Very Friendly Akita with frighteningly realistic coloration when Amazon has a roughly comparable piece of plastic that maybe looks more like chewing gum than Haruki, but hey, $35.

Anyway, that’s a long, rambling way to say that even with three 900-pound gorillas in the room, wherever you are on the XYZ axis of novelty, price, and style, there’s likely to be a market, though whether it can sustain a startup? That’s a hard one.

PlayBow Toys

Indiegogo ending February 25

PlayBow is a startup by Obsydian. You can see some of her work-in-progress for PlayBow on Tumblr, the PlayBow website is a bit work-in-progress (and the contrast between realistic animal dong and cheerful cartoon background is, uh, intense.)

Her current Indiegogo: startup funds toward acquiring a 3D printer, to create the sort of detailed toys we can see on her Indiegogo website, including the feline at left and…whatever the heck the “genitacle” is from. Obsydian’s not new to the toy market, she’s done work for Frisky Beast. PlayBow itself is only a few months old, a December startup. Digital printing is her ultimate goal with this IGG project, but you can see a few of her cast-from-mold projects here.

One challenge for me is that I’m really not sure how much my very own genitacle would cost. It would be a new direction for me, I haven’t had relations with cephalopods before, but the pledge points are for discounts and coupons. Now, there’s a couple of pledge points that come with an actual thing that is a thing, but they’re in the $100+ category, and at least partially custom work. Points for going with Fixed Funding (since Obsydian is aiming for a digital printer, it makes sense to stick to that price point.)

If Obsydian makes goal, though, this may be a unique opportunity to FINALLY get a model of your zorskyroo character’s junk at an attainable price, and that is not a thing to be passed up.

Alder’s Toy Chest

Indiegogo ending 3/18/14

Now, I don’t often do this–use art from a project page in fulll but really Alder’s illustration is most of the reason I’m doing this post. Look at them. So proud! Marching eastward, as if toward war. Sexy, sexy war. Anyway.

Alder’s Toy Box is a startup project by Aldereen. This one has a unique selling proposition: Custom toys at an achievable price. A tour through his FA account has a few of his projects, like the Alek plug (Alek is a mouse, which is possibly why his friend Alder stands so much taller in the crowd scene above) and the work-in-progress of, well, now you know what a demon keeps in his pants. If he wears pants.

Aldereen’s cast pieces aren’t as polished as big vendors, the lines are a little softer and less defined than the realistic stuff. But it’s custom work, and that’s an unusual thing in sex toys.  And so much more distinctive than a MaryMouse badge. Wear one to your next convention! Imagine the delightful conversation with security!

Strictly from an editorial perspective, the project itself needs some caulk and glue here and there. At this point, it’s a project focused on custom work, but there’s very little variety in the images available. Now, there needs to be some delicacy here since Indiegogo would prefer less, not more, penis on its server. But I think the lack of variety undercuts what’s the core statement here: custom work. It’s even in the header: “I make custom toys for those that have custom needs.”

That catch phrase is awesome, by the way. It’s sharp, it’s clear, it may actually be perfect.

The rewards are a little bit busy as well, a common trap for new crowdfunders–breaking up the offer into way too many sub-categories, adding too much copy to an area that should ideally be easy to scan through. But again, it’s a first-time project.

Follow @Furstarter on Twitter for dailyish updates from the world of fur-funding! Note: Images used above are included to promote the work of crowdfunding artists, and are owned by the original creator.

 

Title says it all. I'm looking for a high quality artist who can draw a definitive picture of my fursona. Please PM me so I can send you a picture of my fursona, and we can get talking! Thank you!

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Do you (or other furries that you know of) enjoy their art/fic/games/comics?

Do you participate in the community?

What kind of "vibe" do you get from the series/fandom in comparison to the fandom around Disney anthro characters (or just plain original furry characters and their fan community?)

I've sometimes seen negative opinions ('Furries invading the fandom are so annoying!') but sometimes I also see really good fanfics (or fanarts) that seem...kinda exactly like they'd be written by someone who'd also have fun commenting in that thread about anthro physiology, or go into details how a society would look like where humans and anthro characters live together, or often references animal traits and mannerisms the anthro characters have. I dunno whether the authors of those fics would class themselves as a furry, but they seem to generate the kind of content that also comes up here, so...I dunno. Your thoughts?

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A couple of furs and I are planning a local meet-up, but we aren't sure what a good way to get the word out is. If anyone knows of some ways please comment.

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