Story Concept Template

Michael Hauge is known as one of the finest screenwriters in the country and he understands the concepts of good writing.  He is popular at writers' conferences and I've had the pleasure of being part of a full day workshop with him. Subscribing to his Story Mastery site is very worthwhile.  http://www.storymastery.com/  Although he writes about screenwriting, most of the principles apply to writing fiction, so you can gain much knowledge from his posts.

When I heard Michael Hauge's presentations, he taught one particular element that I found intriguing. I've always struggled with creating a short synopsis. I have a tendency to think every facet of the story is vital, and as I've learn, it is not. Michael has a technique called Story Concept Template which provides a way to summarize your story concept into a nutshell which covers the major points. 

It is this kind of summary that can catch a publisher or editor's eye, and one that provides a convenient novel pitch.  It is concise yet captures the major elements that makes your novel unique.

The template is set up as follows:

TITLE is a GENRE about HERO, a ROLE, who EMPATHY/SET UP. When HERO is OPPORTUNITY, s/he decides to NEW SITUATION/PRELIMINARY GOAL. But when CHANGE OF PLANS, s/he now must OUTER MOTIVATION/PRIMARY GOAL by HERO’s PLAN as well as SECOND GOAL in spite of the fact that OUTER CONFLICT

Now you fill in the CAPS area with the information from your novel. Notice that once it's complete, you will also be able to identify weak plot points that you may want to rethink. Hauge provides an excellent example on his website using the movie Shriek. You can view the full page at: http://www.screenplaymastery.com/MHStory%20ConceptTEMP.html

Try this process and see if it doesn't help you not only with summary and pitch but with capsulizing the major concepts of your novel to help you proceed to make your novel the best it can be.