…and the PITCH!

So we have a theme, characters, sources of conflict based upon theme, and an in depth understanding of our characters and how they relate to the world around them. What’s next? It’s the pitch of course. The pitch is now a broad look at what your story will be. Now what is your story? To quote the great Robert McKee, “Story is what happens when plot and characters meet.” What does the great man mean by that? Well you have a character, a cream pie hits him in the face and he remembers that’s how his dad died so he leads a one man mission to ban cream pies.  See what just happened? That sentence has (for our purposes) three pieces.

1) “Well you have a character,” CHARACTER

2) “a cream pie hits him in the face” PLOT or INCITING INCIDENT

3) “and he remembers that’s how his dad died so he leads a one man mission to ban cream pies.” STORY

Plot is just what happens to a character. It’s how the character reacts that creates the story.  If you want to get really specific, in this example it’s called the inciting incident.  The inciting incident is something that happens to a character which forces him to make a life altering decision. In a way YOU don’t create the story, the character does. Now, aren’t you glad we did all those character interviews? Through your intense character knowledge you can now create a story with great depth around a central theme and with a minimum of cliché. Preferably you’d have no cliché, but I think a little is OK. Especially in comics, where you only have 22 pages and can’t take too long to establish a narrative.  The reader needs something to latch onto and cliché helps them establish a broad understanding of the character.

For example, Bob Sly, PI is an obvious riff on the old detective noir stories. The world weary detective complete with fedora and trench coat is a little clichéd, but it lets people know what they’re in for. If I had the Silver Surfer hanging out in Rolo’s and playing intergalactic match maker people’d be disappointed, because the Silver Surfer has a look which screams action adventure.  Cliché can work for you, just don’t abuse it.

This tirade helps my pitch how?

The pitch will be a broad strokes picture of what is going to happen in your book.  Knowing the genre you’re writing will help you identify some of the clichés you’ll use to hook the reader and help them ease into the type of story you’re telling. The easier you can make it for the reader the better off you’ll be.

The hardest part of any pitch is finding that economy of language.  You want to say just enough to cover the story points, without getting long winded. I often struggle with it. I want to write a descriptive piece that shows my vision for the whole project, but I can’t. There’s a place for description and open ended questions and we call it a script. The pitch is the foundation from which you’ll build the rest of your story. Look at a foundation of a home sometime.   Is it very exciting? No. It’s typically a collection of cinder blocks or poured concrete. Grey bland boring concrete, but on top of it is a building with exciting embellishments, paint, decorative siding, planter boxes with flowers, etc. Your pitch is the foundation, and the script is the rest of the house. Keep it simple and sturdy and we’ll see how it goes.

So how do you pitch?

I’ll provide an example here.  it’s a pitch I’ve worked and reworked and I am happy with it.It’s been posted elsewhere so I don’t mind sharing it here.

“Mom, look at me. I can’t explain it right now, but you don’t have to worry any more; I have a purpose.”
-Jason David

“Bastion” Ongoing

Jason David is a prisoner in his own body, until he bonds with a mystic artifact. Now Jason cannot only walk, he can fly! Paralyzed in a car accident involving his mother at the age of five, Jason has always felt like a burden on the world. Now, eight years later, his father has discarded him alongside his mother as they vainly struggle to achieve a sense of normalcy with one another.

Chosen by a mystic emissary he becomes the Bastion, barer of the Conduit, a small golden chip fitted into his sternum. This object has immediate benefits: perfect health—eliminating his paralysis—and a golden exoskeleton forms around him at his choosing. Lost in his newfound freedom, it never occurs to Jason to wonder what other changes may be happening inside him.

The conduit is more than a tool, it’s the indestructible passage to Hell, and only the pure of heart stand a chance of resisting the dark calls of the Conduit as it seeks it freedom. Making this young man the sole defender of the mortal realm from that of the damned. That is, for as long as he survives.

In the dark recesses of the world there are those who know of the Conduit’s existence, many who would use it for their own selfish ends. One such individual is Abbadona, the penitent angel. A reluctant member of Lucifer’s hordes, she seeks the Conduit to destroy it hoping she may purchase her way into haven in the act, even if it means killing Jason in the process.

Jason must find a way to tame the source of his power; all the while defending himself and those he loves from the dark minions seeking to claim its power.

In a few brief paragraphs I establish, character, conflict and story based around a theme of freedom wrapped in a “coming of age” story. I’ll leave you this week with some great links. Check em out!

“Sell Your Pitch” by: Lee Nordling (Former EIC of Platinum Studios and all around wiseman) Read and reread these articles they are an excellent resource on the art of pitching.

Part 1: http://www.comicsbulletin.com/wolfman/106478386819087.htm

Part 2: http://www.comicsbulletin.com/wolfman/106538301215335.htm

Part 3: http://www.comicsbulletin.com/wolfman/10659851965461.htm

See you in seven!