AUTHOR R. ANN SIRACUSA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It isn't the destination that matters -- It's the journey that counts!
Contact me!
  • HOME
  • BLOG
  • BOOKS
    • All For A Dead Man's Leg
    • All For A Fist Full Of Ashes
    • Destruction Of The Great Wall
    • All For Spilled Blood
    • First Date
    • Halloween In The Catacombs
    • All In The Game
    • Family Secrets: A Vengeance of Tears
  • ABOUT ME
    • Resume
  • PHOTO ALBUMS
  • RESOURCES
  • MY ORGANIZATONS
  • BLOGS ABOUT ANN
  • Blog

LOGLINES AND TAGLINES ARE DIFFERENT -- And You Need Both For Your Novel

3/24/2017

0 Comments

 
Note: This is a rewrite from five years ago when this was published on the RB4U blogsite.  Nevertheless, I resurrected it because the problem hasn't gone away. I beg your forgiveness.
.

"Cannot. Stress. This. Enough. Every week I see scores of pitches – sent to my inbox, my ears or via script listing sites – and every week I see Loglines and Taglines being mixed up. Please Stop!" __Lucy V. Hay (script editor and novelist) May 11, 2010

Picture
IMAGINE MY SURPRISE!
So here I was, cruising along, a relative newbie as a published author, following the lead of others who were more seasoned in the business than I will ever be. And since many of these authors seemed to use the terms logline and tagline interchangeably, I labored under the delusion that these were just different terms for essentially the same thing.

Wrong!  Since a lot of attention focuses on these two similar but different tools of the trade, research was in order. I found plenty of blogs and articles that confuse the two, or describe the difference but use examples for one term that are clearly samples of the other term. A few pointed out the difference.

Both terms have their roots in the film and TV industries, but the concepts transfer equally well to novels. And since authors should have both for their books, they should know the difference.


Picture
THE TAGLINE
First, taglines, tag lines, or tags are American terms, so if you are in the UK, you know them as end lines or straplines. In Italy, they are called pay offs; in Belgium, baselines; in France, signatures.

In the film industry, a tagline is a piece of marketing copy designed to go on posters to sell the film, or in a writer's case, to sell the book.

Author Stacey Nash describes a tagline for books as "a one-sentence summary of your story. Its goal is to intrigue and make the person that you are delivering it to want to read the story. The most important thing about the tagline is that it needs to be high concept. It should sum up the entire plot in one quick compelling sentence."

The samples of taglines (all for movies) used by Lucy V. Hay, which she found in a Google search, are:
● "He lived the American Dream…With a vengeance." (Scarface)
● "An epic of miniature proportions" (A Bug's Life)
● "The Toys are back in town." (Toy Story 2)
● "Whoever wins…We lose." (Alien Vs Predator)
● "EARTH—take a good look. Today could be your last." (Independence Day)
 
The longest is ten words. We're talking short and high concept.


Whatever art form they're selling (movies, TV shows, music, books), taglines are one sentence (or maybe two) that describes the product. That sentence utilizes puns, clever wording, and images that the average person already knows about, at least superficially, to intrigue the individual into wanting to see the film, hear the music, or read the book.

For me, the key is using imagery most people know and understand to convey an expectation of what the book is about.

Some blogs call a tagline an elevator pitch. I guess that depends on how many floors you're going to travel in the elevator. I'd say it's a one-story elevator pitch. Whatever you call it, it's the Big Hook. The Attention Grabber. And your book, and everyone elses, needs one.


Picture
THE LOGLINE

The Origin of the Term
The origin of the logline (or log line) is not the movie industry tie. Actually, according to Stanley D. Williams, it is a nautical term.


Log lines were thin ropes with knots tied in them and wound on a spool. Mariners unreeled these ropes behind them to measure their speed--in knots--by counting how many evenly spaced knots passed through their hands as the sand in the hour-glass drained from the top to the bottom. The log line was a necessity which helped them navigate the journey and not get lost, since it would show how far the ship had gone in a certain direction and when to turn to find their destination. It was a navigation tool.

Picture
I'm not sure how the use of the nautical term got transferred to the movie industry, but according to Wikipedia, the logline came into use when the old movie studios had script vaults.

In those vaults, the studios stored screenplays, apparently one on top of the other, in stacks. Readers supposedly "wrote a concise one line summary of what the script was about either on the cover of the script, on the spine of the script, or both." This allowed people to read the loglines without actually unstacking the scripts.

I suppose, in a sense, this was also a navigation tool.
What is a Logline?
The logline, while short, is longer than the tagline and presents a basic description of your plot in about twenty-five to thirty words. It should contain all the necessary elements for telling a good story.

That's right. And it's tough to condense 90,000 words into twenty-five. It's a two-story elevator pitch or a thirty-second time bite in real time. And you need one of these for your novel, as well.

Let's go back to the Wikipedia version. So, how did these readers consolidate a script (or a book) into this short description. A number of different authors and screenwriters have identified what needs to be in a logline.


●Stanley D. Williams (story consultant, screenwriter and director) believes a good logline is a single sentence which includes five elements.

The subject of the sentence will describe (1) an imperfect but passionate and active "protagonist." The verb will depict (2) the "battle." The direct object will describe (3) an "insurmountable antagonist" who tries to stop the protagonist from reaching (4) a physical "goal" on account of (5) the "stakes", if the goal is not reached.

● Christopher Lockhart (screenplay writer and film producer) writes "A logline conveys the dramatic story of a screenplay in the most abbreviated manner possible…A logline must present:
   ● Who the story is about (protagonist)
   ● What he/she strives for (goal)
   ● What stands in his way (antagonistic force)."

● Author Stacey Nash sees the logline as three sentences in which you sum up the plot of your story answering these basic questions:
   ● Who is your main character?
   ● What does he/she want? What is his/her goal?
   ● Why does he/she want this (motivation)?
   ● What are the obstacles in his/her way?
   ● What makes the story unique?

● Screenwriter Erik Bork defines the requirements as:
   ● A very quick sense of who the main character is
   ● The catalyst that sets the story in motion (the big Uh-Oh)
   ● The nature of the challenge the characters now face, and it must be a huge difficulty.

● Cindy Carroll (screenwriter and author) recommends using one of these structures to answer the address the elements of the logline.
   ● To stop A, character B must do C, but D happens.
   ● When A happens, character B must take some action (C), but D happens.
   ● Character B does something, then when A happens they must do C, but D happens.
 
She gives the example of one of her own loglines, which is twenty-three words.
"When an informant turns up dead, a by-the-book undercover cop models men's underwear to uncover the killer and stop a DVD pirating ring."

● Author Kimberly Killion's pitch format also works as a way to structure a logline by filling in capitalized words. "TITLE is a GENRE about ADJECTIVE/DESCRIPTION OF MAIN CHARACTER, who wants to DEFAULT ACTION. But when CALL TO ACTION, he must STORY GOAL, which seems impossible because CENTRAL CONFLICT."

Of course, we can see the common thread. They're not easy to write because every word has to count and give pertinent information to the reader or listener.


Picture
RULES OF THUMB
● Be succinct without being sparse. The trick is to create a logline that is pithy but has substance. It must be clear that the antagonistic force is an obstacle to the major goal. It must imply that something is at stake; it must suggest that something can be lost.

● Don't use the main character's name.

● Use a descriptive adjective to give the main character depth in a word or two. Instead of describing the main character as "a detective" use "a cynical fifty-year-old detective" or "a young, enthusiastic detective." Using "an ex-superhero" tells a lot more than "a superhero." "An alcoholic ex-superhero" conveys even more to the reader (or listener).

● Make the genre clear in the text. If your novel is a romance, you need a hero and heroine in the logline. Whether science fiction, comedy, or mystery, the logline should tell the reader what the genre is.

● Present a succinct description of the protagonist's main goal and place it as close to the beginning as possible.

● Make your protagonist pro-active. Show the action of the story. Even if the protagonist is reactive, that's not the same as passive.

● Include the stakes or a ticking time-bomb. Urgency. Show that something can be lost. I like the example used by Erik Bork in his article.
     • To save his reputation, a secretly gay fraternity boy must sleep with fifteen women
       by the end-of-semester party
.

● Include the set up, particularly science fiction or paranormal where the rules are different. More Erik Bork examples:
     • In a world where all children are grown in vats…
     • Driven to a mental breakdown by an accident at work, an aquarium manager…

● Don’t reveal the twist or surprise at the end. The logline (and the book) should work by itself without the "bonus" surprise at the end.

● Make every word count.

● Sell it, don't tell it.

One final suggestion from a number of screenwriters and authors: Write your Log Line before you write your novel, or at least at the beginning. James Burbridge writes that the bad news is that if you can't make the logline work, it's probably because the story doesn't work.


Picture
OKAY, NOW I GET IT!
When things were getting pretty fuzzy and definitions overlapping and contradictory, this example brought clarity to me. The following is from the Press Kit for Close Quarters.

● Tagline
A film about sex, betrayal, friendship, jealousy, love, hate, death, and coffee.
● Logline
Forced to work an extra shift, two young baristas must come to terms with their own relationship while being bombarded by the very different issues of their diverse customers. (29 words)


Picture
● Short Synopsis
BARRY and ABBY are two baristas in a Chicago coffeehouse. Barry is passionately and blindly in love with Abby. She knows this all too well, but is hardly ready to move into any kind of formal relationship with him. This does not stop Barry, though, who has decided that the best way to win her over is to propose to her in front of the largest group possible. This evening will be his opportunity. It is Abby’s birthday and her friends are planning a surprise birthday party for her. Barry is planning an even bigger surprise.


Picture
How about this one for the movie Jaws?
● Tagline
   Don't go in the water.
● Logline
   A sheriff struggles to protect his beach community after a grisly shark
   attack, but greed rules the Chamber of Commerce. (21 words)

Another good example is the movie Alien. This comes up often as an example.

Picture
● Tagline
   In space, no one can hear you scream.
● Logline
   After responding to a distress signal, a space crew is forced to confront a
   deadly alien who stows aboard their ship, leaving one member to fend
   for herself. (28 words)

JUST FOR FUN
So, authors, write your taglines and loglines, and if you run out of ideas or just want some fun, go to Brian Stoke's Random Logline Generator. This link is for the Zombie edition of the generator: http://www.lifeformz.com/cgi-bin/idea/idea.fcgi
Another random generator is:
http://www.screenwritersutopia.com/modules.php?name=Logline
Have fun, and please share your logline and tagline in your comments.
□

Resources

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/whats-your-novels-log-line/http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/writing-good-log-lines.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_8663965_write-taglines.html
http://www.bang2write.com/2010/05/loglines-are-not-taglines.html
http://www.staceynash.com/2012/08/24/taglines-hooklines-loglines/
http://theloglineblog.blogspot.com/p/how-to-do-log-line.html
http://www.kimberlykillion.com/writers.asp
http://www.closequartersmovie.com/cms/uploads/press-kit.pdfhttp://www.flyingwrestler.com/2013/02/loglines-dont-tease/http://www.raindance.org/10-tips-for-writing-loglines/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_line
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tag_line
http://www.lifeformz.com/logline.html
http://carissa-taylor.blogspot.com/2013/02/pitch-factory-twitter-pitch-logline.html


 
 


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author R. Ann Siracusa

    Novelist, retired architect and urban planner, world traveler, quilter, owl collector, devoted wife-mother-grandmother, great-grandmother, and, according to some, wild-assed liberal.

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    May 2016
    November 2015
    February 2015
    November 2014
    August 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013

    Categories

    All
    Africa
    Baboons
    Bagpipes
    Halloween
    Mopane-Mopani Worms
    Saint Patrick
    Samhain
    Shamrock
    Snakes
    Travel
    Veterans Day

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.