Our first round of logline critique begins today! Here's the disclaimer:
Some of the entries ARE NOT LOGLINES. Some are PITCHES, and at least two are apparently OPENING SCENES.
I am taking partial blame for this, because I set the word count at 150. Honestly, I didn't expect it to be a problem! I can certainly understand a bit of confusion between "pitch" and "logline". But the opening lines of a story are another thing altogether.
I have marked the story openings "This is not a logline." Please do not critique these. Authors: I have shared links with 2 posts on how to craft a logline. PLEASE READ THESE.
I apologize to those of you who entered valid loglines and were not chosen by the bot. Such is the nature of a lottery, yes? Please enter next time.
From now on, the word count will be set at 75, and I will include more alternates. Anything that's not a logline in rounds 2 and 3 will be disqualified and replaced with an alternate. Fair enough?
Anyway, no worries. It's okay to work out the kinks as we go!
Have fun with the critiquing!
I'm afraid I might be one of the ones who confused the pitch with the logline, and if so - sorry! :( Mine was about 75 words. I was able to come up with a 40 word version last night. Let me know if you'd like me to submit that one instead.
ReplyDeleteI don't see why we can't critique the pitches. Many of us don't know the difference, and we can help those with pitches figure out how to write the logline. We are here to help each other write good loglines and to ignore those who need more help doesn't seem like the right thing to do.
ReplyDeleteA Little Push -- You are always welcome to email me an updated version! Just put your post number in the subject line of your email.
ReplyDeleteLanette -- I didn't say not to critique the pitches; I said not to critique the story openings. I fully expect you all to critique the pitches, to help the authors craft them into loglines! :)
Ooh yeah. Now i'm all worried. I totally read those logline posts multiple times, but maybe i really don't know the difference between a pitch and a logline? (if that's the case, then good thing i'm participating so i can learn). I guess we'll find out once they're posted
ReplyDeleteOoh, and now i'm super confused, because i realize the "Crafting your logline" post starts off with "Call it a "hook" or a "pitch" or whatever you'd like"
ReplyDeleteWhen does critiquing start? I'm a first-timer and while I see the list of winners I can't find the links.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to add (hopefully not to the confusion) that I checked loglines from the Baker's Dozen last year and many are over 75 words. Maybe a 100 word cap? I had initially thought of a logline as something shorter, very condensed, but when I read last year's Baker's Dozen entries, I figured that for this contest, something a little longer and more like a pitch was what was wanted. ??
ReplyDeleteMy confusion came from what SG Foster posted. I worked on a short logline last year, but then many of the loglines in the Baker's Dozen were quite long, so I thought longer and more pitch-like was kind of what you were looking for for Baker's Dozen.
ReplyDeleteWell, in this instance, I'm using the word "pitch" as it would apply to a query letter -- 2 or 3 PARAGRAPHS about the story. You'll see what I mean when you get to these entries. They are "full-blown pitches", not loglines.
ReplyDeleteOh, the joys of terminology! ;-)
Authoress--perhaps you could also bump up the number of regular entries (not alternates) the bot will accept for the next round by 2 to make up for the story openers that stole slots this round? I have no idea how feasible this is, but it would seem to solve the fairness problem of the 2 slots going to waste this round.
ReplyDeleteoh okay. Phew. I feel much better now and more confident about critiquing
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm new and I was wondering how the revisions work? Are we to re-write our logline and then submit it in round 2 or post it as a comment on our assigned number to be looked at again?
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving us this opportunity! My logline is better for the feedback.
ReplyDeleteI second Walter! And thanks for letting me change my 3 paragraph pitch (heh) to two sentences!
ReplyDeleteI only had time to briefly glance at this week's logline offerings and will add my two cents later, (hopefully tonight, and my help on loglines is really only worth half a cent if that), but I would like to give a big thanks to Holly "The Logline Queen" Bodger for taking so much time to help all us floundering logliners! Your time and comments are greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteOr should that be "The Evil Logline Queen", what with that scary laugh...bet you did the evil scheming fingers, too!:)
I am so appreciative of the workshops and opportunities Miss Authoress allows here on her blog.
ReplyDeleteMy question is why would the word limit be 150 if we were not to use that many words?
I understand the difference between loglines and pitches and query letters. I assumed the word limit was at 150 words for a reason.
Although I had my original line at 28 words I added more of my pitch/query "on the fly" when I opened the submission form and saw the word limit.
My apologies for the mix-up.
Thank God the word limit was 150!
ReplyDelete