Writers: How to talk about your story

“Oh, you’re a writer? What are you working on?” 

Most new writers tend to freeze up when that question is asked. Whether it’s a lack of confidence in our own work or a self-consciousness in presenting ourselves as professional writers, many of us dread this question.  

Then there is the opposite reaction, where people are so eager to talk about their story that they launch into a description of every character and plot detail, until their audience fades away.  

You need to prepare a brief, interesting answer. 

I’ll ask some questions and have you fill in the blanks. At the end, we’ll put the answers together to form a book description.  

Don’t spend too much time on any question. This is not to be used as a pitch or in a way to sell your story. (We’ll get to that later.) This is for family, friends, and coworkers, so do this rapidly and try to have fun with it. 

Questions: 

1. What genre are you writing?  _______________ 
   (Try to limit yourself to one, even if this crosses between genres) 

2. If this is set in present-day Earth, leave this blank. Otherwise, write one or two words that describes your time period or setting _______________ 
   (Ex: Victorian England; the International Space Station; the 1980s; etc.) 

3. Think about a single character only. Ideally, this is your main character. If you have multiple main characters, go with the one you find most interesting. Write the most generic noun that describes them: ____________________
   (Ex: man, woman, girl, dog, alien, etc.)

4. Think about that same character’s personality. What is one adjective that best describes them? It’s perfectly ok if you are describing a character flaw here.  _______________________________________
   (Ex: reclusive; unscrupulous; lovelorn; etc.)

5. What is one thing this character wants most in life? Keep this to a few words as possible.  Finish this sentence:
   He/she wants ______________________________________________
   (Ex: to adopt a baby; to find buried treasure; to prove his innocence; etc.) 

6. What’s the first major thing that your character does after the book has begun? It should be something out of the ordinary, and it is OK if it takes up to 1/3 of the book for this to happen. Think big. Finish this sentence:  
   One day, he/she ______________________________ 
   (Ex: witnesses a crime; files for divorce; enters a marathon; etc.) 

7. I’m sure you’re itching to explain why your person did this. Avoid the temptation to explain what drove them into doing whatever it was. Instead, picture your character at that point in the book. Do they believe this action is going to make things better, or do they immediately know this has made things worse? (Even if they think this will improve things, you as the author know something else is going to happen to these characters, because every story has conflict.)  
   
   What does the character have to do as a result of their above action? For example, what does the character think they need to do to fix things?  Finish this sentence:
   Now they have to _________________  

8. Last, what is the worst-case scenario the character imagines will happen if they cannot do this? (This does not have to be something that actually happens in the story, just the thing the character fears will happen.) Finish this sentence:
   If they can’t do this, _______________________________________________.  

Now let’s put this all together.

Fill in what you wrote on the questions above, corresponding to the numbers on each blank. 

“So what are you working on?” 

It’s a (1) ________ about a (4) ______ (3) _______ [in/on (2) ______] who (5) ____________. He/she (6) __________ . Now he/she must (7) ___________________ or else (8) ____________________. 

Did it work?

You may have to edit a bit to make the sentences flow more easily, but you should now how a working, interesting answer to the question. Let’s give it a try.

“So what are you working on?” 

If you like your results, I’d love to hear them. Please post in the comments!