{"id":36,"date":"2008-12-11T17:04:20","date_gmt":"2008-12-11T21:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/?p=36"},"modified":"2009-05-04T08:30:20","modified_gmt":"2009-05-04T12:30:20","slug":"high-concept-where-art-meets-commerce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/?p=36","title":{"rendered":"High Concept: Where Art Meets Commerce"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last night, a couple of friends took me to dinner to celebrate my long-awaited sale. One of them was Elana Roth from the Caren Johnson Literary Agency. We had an interesting discussion of what makes a \u201chigh concept\u201d story. Elana works with Children\u2019s fiction, Middle Reader’s fiction, and YA fiction. My focus is adult historical fiction, but storytelling is storytelling. What makes an agent or an editor hear a pitch or an idea and say, \u201cYes, I have to read that\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No doubt it takes more than one thing to catch an agent’s or an editor’s eye: a well polished query and a professional presentation are just the beginning.\u00a0 Beyond the mechanics of making a pitch, what about the concept itself? What makes one irresistible and another simply\u00a0one more\u00a0letter in the slush pile?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To find Elana\u2019s definition of what “high concept” means, please look on the Caren Johnson Literary Agency\u2019s website:<\/span><\/p>\n

www.johnsonlitagency.wordpress.com\/2008\/10\/24\/defining-high-concept<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From talking to Elana, I gathered\u00a0that a high concept idea can be summed up in one sentence, and contains something unexpected, a hook or a twist that is unique and interesting. A writer with a\u00a0high concept storyline then must\u00a0have<\/span> the talent and dedication\u00a0to execute it. This post is about what “high concept” means. In my next post, I will write about the challenge of\u00a0making your writing good enough for an editor to buy. As you may imagine, the later is much harder, and often takes years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A high concept story idea can be handed to a writer by the Muse, or discovered waiting in line at the supermarket, or while reclining in the dentist\u2019s chair. Or, if a writer is very lucky, as I was, an editor or agent will take the time to make a suggestion that will transform a good storyline into one that can not be turned from. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My novel, The Queen\u2019s Pawn<\/em>, began as a novel told solely from the point of view of Alais, Princess of France. While Alais’ voice was compelling and garnered compliments from various editors, it did not secure a sale.\u00a0Only when Eleanor of Aquitaine joined the novel, and added her voice to the story,\u00a0did the book take flight. The story of A<\/em> Lion in Winter<\/em> as told from the point of view of the French princess is interesting, but is not high concept. The story of Eleanor of Aquitaine and her prot\u00e9g\u00e9e, Alais of France, battling for King Henry\u2019s love and for the throne of England is high concept. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Queries can be improved and concepts can be heightened, but ultimately, every writer must follow her Muse in her own way. A high concept storyline\u00a0just makes a book easier to sell.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last night, a couple of friends took me to dinner to celebrate my long-awaited sale. One of them was Elana Roth from the Caren Johnson Literary Agency. We had an interesting discussion of what makes a \u201chigh concept\u201d story. Elana works with Children\u2019s fiction, Middle Reader’s fiction, and YA fiction. My focus is adult historical …<\/p>\n

High Concept: Where Art Meets Commerce<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38,"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ChristyEnglish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}