Writer Wednesday (Wednesday Edition!)

Loglines.

Margaret Atwood has a logline.

Every Wednesday (or at least by Friday!), I offer up prompts to spur your imagination. Never looking for perfection, just to inspire you to take a few moments and create something for yourself - and maybe for us. This is always Free for subscribers and hopefully gets you excited to keep coming back to mess around with your words and ideas!

I love a good logline. It’s a valuable tool for anything of length you may write. Be it a book, a play, a script, or a short story. It forces you in a way to get to the nub of ‘what happens’ in your piece.

It’s Storytelling 101, and you can do it in a single breath.

Working on loglines also helps you as a writer because it’s short, punchy, and can act as a guide while you’re writing or excite others to read or watch your work. You can apply it to any film or play you’ve seen, which is a valuable practice as well.

It’s especially good to do for things you’ve seen or read which you may not understand (OR are complete shit!).

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A good logline is a short, powerful one or two-sentence summary of a film, TV show, or book that conveys the core conflict, main character, and what’s at stake, often with a compelling hook.

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Here’s a little breakdown of the components:

1. Protagonist:

Who is the story about?

Use a descriptor to hint at their character (e.g., “a conflicted detective,” “a hopeful teen,” “an ambitious widow”).

2. Goal or Desire:

What does the protagonist want?

What’s driving the story forward?

3. Conflict or Obstacle:

What’s standing in the way of that goal?

A person, a system, internal demons, the world, etc.

4. Stakes:

What happens if they fail?

Why should we care?

5. Hook or Unique Element:

What makes your story fresh, different, or emotionally compelling?

Keep it short, under 35-40 words.

Use the present tense, even if the story spans time.

Avoid character names unless they’re famous; use archetypes or descriptors instead.

Be specific and active (“a detective haunted by a cold case” is better than “a man with a past.”)

Highlight genre subtly through tone or content.

If possible, tease the twist or unusual aspect.

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You can find a wealth of loglines online, and it’s quite an education. Also, use storylines you love and practice with those. Or, use something you are working on or something you’ve posted here.

(Extra credit: You can even take a minor character (or the antagonist) and write a logline from their perspective.)

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Online Examples:

Jaws

When a great white shark terrorizes a beach town, a police chief must team up with a marine biologist and a grizzled fisherman to hunt it down before it strikes again.

The Godfather

The youngest son of a mafia family must choose between a quiet life and taking over the violent legacy of his father when the family comes under attack.

Little Miss Sunshine

A dysfunctional family piles into a van for a cross-country trip so their young daughter can compete in a beauty pageant — but what they discover on the road may change them forever.

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Fun with Formula:

When [inciting incident happens], a [description of protagonist] must [goal] before [what’s at stake].

Enjoy! And post your loglines, please!