#jacketblurb — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 6 Nbr 20 — What's the secret to writing a good blurb?

Since I have no secret, I'll give you what I would do. (Example below.)

Pick an interesting cliffhanger, realization, or quote (or a combination) from the middle of your novel that stars your most empathetic character. Think of it as cover art in word form.
Summarize it in five sentences.
End with a "but they didn't know, or dreaded that they did know, " that they were "in danger, found a lover, or was being kidnapped, etc." type of last line.
Do not explain place, politics, or personalities or /anything/ that could be considered /getting into the weeds/. Only "plain words" or "common genre jargon" may apply. No exceptions. This is the same rule for the first half page of a short story, and first three pages of a novel.
If 3rd person, give a name for the reader to latch on to.
If 1st person, make the 1st person POV sound like they know they are in deep doo-doo.
Do give a hint of whether it is space opera, high fantasy, romance, historical, etc.
If the story revolves around gender, gender roles, sexual preference, body image, eroticism, or other potentially niche sub-genres that would sell to your intended audience, or cause the wrong audience to never to read a story by you again, ensuring that's clear may be advisable. Your choice.
You need to make the five sentences intrigue the reader. You may want to make them mysterious, also.
You are under no obligation to explain the whole story. /So. Don't./
It is okay for the blurb to mislead about the broader story so long as:
1. The event happens as portrayed.
2. How you portray it is valid in the context of the story.

/Keep it simple./

Example: (For /Inklings/)

/Beasts/ I could understand. /Beasts/ were straightforward in their dangerous natures. Not so much /human beasts/. Because Her Highness had figured out it was me who'd spoken to the red dragon and convinced it to stop setting farms afire, and that I lived amongst and hunted with wolves I'd also befriended, she forced me attend her magic university to learn to become more human. What I didn't know about acting like a "normal" human female wasn't simply embarrassing in society's eyes—like you don't wear only a loincloth in public—certain offenses could also get you killed.

Analysis:

Five sentences, some much larger than others.
First three sentences are a quote.
They signal fantasy, as "magic" and "dragon" later do in plain genre jargon.
"Human beast" is intriguing.
Convincing a dragon makes the POV sound strong.
Wolves makes POV sound dangerous.
"Her Highness"is a name to latch on to and signals royalty.
University suggests a milieu, modernity, and suggests character ages.
"Befriended" says not in Kansas Toto and adds mystery.
Loin cloth and embarrassment set body image issues and possibly nudity, possible suggestive content.
Last sentence suggests POV is a fish out of water and is worried she might get killed despite seemingly powerful. It makes you wonder why and worry how?
Events all taken from story, though emphasis is changed.

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