One-Sentence Summaries – Part Two

Yesterday, I posted three one-sentence summaries of future books or series I’ll be writing. If you haven’t read it yet, take a look here. This time, I’ll be writing a few more.

The Knight of Ariadne: Book 1

This is actually the original story I had created along with the map of Ariadne long, long ago. It’s one of my most developed stories, but it won’t be the first written. The title of the trilogy has two meanings, which I’m not going to tell you. Sorry, it’ll be revealed in the book.

• Character: A young man with enormous power
• Conflict: Infiltration of Earth forces into the Knights
• What’s at stake: Freedom and a way of life
• Action: Train to be a Knight and stop the spies
• Setting: Ariadne

One young man must become a Knight and use his powers to stop the infiltration by Earth forces, who are determined to undermine freedom and a peaceful way of life.

Not sure what to say here. I think it needs some improvement.

The Knight of Ariadne: Book Two

This is, of course, the sequel. It’s a continuation, but is itself a self-contained story.

• Character: A young Knight (same character as before)
• Conflict: A cult-like group saps the energy of other people to plunge Ariadne into chaos
• What’s at stake: Peace and order
• Action: The Knight takes charge of a company of Knights and discovers the extent of his powers
• Setting: Ariadne

Many people fall victim to a cult-like group of energy vampires, while a young Knight uses new powers along with his companions to preserve peace and restore order.

I found this one tough to write. What do you think?

The Knight of Ariadne: Book Three

This if the final part and will bring to close this trilogy. However, it marks a big change in the world, and leads to some interesting future stories.

• Character: A young Knight (same guy as before)
• Conflict: The Earth-loyal faction returns to release an alien biological weapon and gain control of an unlimited source of energy
• What’s at stake: Millions of lives
• Action: The Knight and his partner seek the Earth-loyal agent to prevent him from achieving his goal
• Setting: Ariadne

Bitter after repeated failures to control Ariadne, the Earth faction sends its best agent to release an ancient biological weapon and gain control of an unlimited source of energy, but a young Knight and his partner must risk everything to stop the deaths of millions.

Although the third one is longer, I feel more satisfied with it. Oddly, I have an impression of James Bond when I think of the actual story.

What do you think of these three one-sentence summaries? Let me know which ones work for you, and which don’t. I’ll have more for my fantasy stories soon in part three. The comments section below is at your disposal.

One-Sentence Summaries – Part One

Sometimes a single sentence can sell a book. It’s also called a hook. That’s what you want to do, you want to attract potential readers with this sentence. This post has a good summary of how to write a one-sentence summary.

Looking at what it says, you should have a character, conflict, what’s at stake, action, and if necessary, the setting. So, I thought I’d give this a try with various upcoming books I have planned.

Ariadne: Origins Book 1

This is going to be my debut novel. It takes place several years after the colonisation of Ariadne. It’s called Origins because the two books will show how important features of Ariadne develop or are discovered.

• Character: A young woman with unusual powers
• Conflict: A hostile takeover
• What’s at stake: Survival of the colony
• Action: Lead a resistance
• Setting: Ariadne (though this may not be necessary to mention by name, so I may call it a distant colony world)

On a distant world, a young woman with unusual powers must lead a resistance against a hostile force threatening the survival of the colony.

Ariadne: Origins Book 2

This is the second book in the Origins duology.

• Character: A team of investigators
• Conflict: A former team member who defected wants to control an alien biological weapon
• What’s at stake: The lives of the colony
• Action: Discover the secret of the alien presence
• Settings: Ariadne (or a distant colony world)

A team of investigators must discover the secret of an alien presence to prevent a defector from destroying everything with an alien biological weapon.

Honestly, I don’t like this one as much. I need to figure out a way to make it sound better.

Untitled Solar System Exploration Science Fiction Series

This series is a collection of shorter books that I have in mind that mostly features only one character and a handful of minor characters who don’t appear much at all. It’s a solitary exploration.

• Character: A terminally ill man
• Conflict: An internal struggle with mortality
• What’s at stake: A dying wish to see the Solar System
• Action: Test a new spacecraft and space suit.
• Setting: The Solar System

A terminally ill man battles with his own mortality as he tests a new spacecraft to fulfill his wish to explore the Solar System.

This one seems simpler and I think the story itself is a straightforward tale.

These are the three most immediate books or series I plan on writing. There are others that I have planned for the future, as well. I’ll do another post summarising those.

My question for you is this: Which of these one-sentence summaries catches your eye the most? Are there any that don’t sound very good? Any that sound very good? Let me know in the comments below.

Also, if you want to share your own one-sentence summaries for books you’ve written or plan to write, please include those in your comments.

Considering the Snowflake Method of Writing

Today, I saw an article about writing using the snowflake method. I haven’t really thought about how I would categorize my own writing and outlining method, but I thought I’d see how it compares with the snowflake method. So, let’s jump right into it.

Step 1 – I have not done this. I don’t have a one sentence summary.

Step 2 – I haven’t written a paragraph summary, either. At least not in this way.

Step 3 – I have done some work on character profiles, but not in this way. I don’t have a summary of their storyline. I have a summary of their life history before the story started.

Step 4 – I have done something like this. Expanding the summary paragraph into several paragraphs, each part ending in a disaster. I’ve summarised Journey to Ariadne chapter by chapter.

Step 5 – I haven’t done character synopses. These are a full page describing what each character does in the story. Maybe I should.

Step 6 – Expand step 4’s sentences into individual paragraphs. So, basically making a longer summary of each section. I have not done this, but I have made a longer paragraph for each chapter. This should be a four page synopsis.

Step 7 – Making character charts with a large amount of information, stats, storyline, how they change by the end of the novel, etc. I have not done this completely, but I have done some basic background information, as I said.

Step 8 – Take the four page synopsis and make a list of scenes in a spreadsheet with the point of view character noted. I have absolutely not done this.

Step 9 – Make a narrative description of each scene, basically expanding each sentence into multiple paragraphs. Dialogue can be added if you like. Nope, I didn’t do this, either. Apparently, it’s a quick version of a first draft that can be written quickly, and makes it easy to write a summary for submitting to a publisher.

Step 10 – Write the first draft. The article says that people who use this method can write books at a far faster pace than if you don’t outline in this way. For one thing, you know exactly what happens in each chapter, and you’re never guessing about what will happen. I haven’t done this, either. Well, I have done first drafts for Journey to Ariadne, but this isn’t meant to be a novel. It’s meant to be a short introductory story about how the world comes to be colonised.

I may attempt to use this method, just to get a better idea about what I’m writing. And maybe it’ll help me write faster.

Does anyone use this method? Or do you prefer another method? Let me know in the comments.

Do Book Covers Matter to You?

When you’re looking through a bookstore, seeing if there are any interesting books to buy, the cover is one of the first things you notice. But is it really that important when you decide whether to buy a book or not? What about eBooks? Does the cover matter?

I find I don’t look at the cover so much as I read the book’s back cover description for eBooks. I often look at covers for print books, though. But I always go to the back cover to read it. Often, the title is what attracts me to it. If it’s by an author I like, the cover usually doesn’t matter at all.

What about you? What’s the most important thing for you when you buy a print book and an eBook? Let me know in the comments below.