Patricia Stoltey

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30 Second Elevator Interview by Stephen Tremp, Guest Blogger

December 15, 2011 By: Patricia

My guest today is Stephen Tremp, an author and blogger I “met” way back when I took Dani Greer’s online Blog Book Tour class. Stephen is using his knowledge of technology and the sciences to write a cool thriller series featuring physics professor and discovery-seeker Chase Manhattan. It’s all about a scientific breakthrough in the science of wormholes. The first book in the series was Breakthrough. The second book, soon to be released, is Opening.

Steve, welcome to my blog.

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30 Second Elevator Interview by Stephen Tremp, Guest Blogger

Hi everyone. As always, thanks for stopping by. Here is a fun little exercise I learned from one of my Yahoo! Writer’s Groups. You can do this in your spare time (what’s that?).

Make a keyword list. Then make a book synopsis using lots of those keywords. In fact, for fun, use them all! But NO MORE THAN THREE SENTENCES. Yes, that’s right. Your book in three sentences. It may be the worst synopsis/blurb you’ve ever written. See if you can make us understand what the heck your book is about.

Here’s my blurb I made from my list of key words:

A scientific breakthrough in Einstein-Rosen Bridges, or wormholes, is stolen by a group of misguided M.I.T. graduate students who wish to usher in a global science-based oligarchy leading the way with breakthroughs in physics, biochemistry, and nanotechnology. As the death toll mounts, Chase Manhattan and a multi-faceted cast of characters must battle this skilled team of killers on both coasts in a desperate race to control or destroy a discovery which threatens life as we know it. Greed, betrayal, murder, mayhem, spiritual contemplation, and unconditional love define the power-play struggle in this fast-paced suspense thriller of technology gone too far.

* Battle
* Betrayal
* Biochemistry
* Breakthrough
* Chase Manhattan
* Death
* Desperate race
* Destroy
* Discovery
* Einstein-Rosen Bridges
* Fast-paced
* Global science-based oligarchy
* Greed
* Killers
* M.I.T. graduate students
* Mayhem
* Multi-faceted
* Murder
* Nanotechnology
* Power-play struggle
* Physics
* Science
* Spiritual contemplation
* Stolen
* Suspense
* Technology
* Threatens
* Thriller
* Unconditional love
* Wormholes

Feel free to leave your three sentence blurb (no matter how good or bad it sounds) or other exercises you use in the comments. Have a great week.

If you think this post is worthy of Twitter or Facebook, please select the appropriate icon below. Thanks!

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Thanks, Steve, for the fun exercise. For those of us who might need to give an elevator pitch from time to time, picking the key words from our novels and putting them together in the way you’ve demonstrated looks like an excellent technique.

To learn more about Steve and his science thrillers, visit his excellent Breakthrough Blogs. He can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.

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Comments

  1. Arlee Bird says

    December 16, 2011 at 11:07 am

    That’s a good exercise. To have to go with only 3 sentences, long sentences help. I thought you did a good job.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

  2. Guilie says

    December 16, 2011 at 8:38 am

    The elevator pitch… It’s my worst nightmare, right there with the synopsis and query letter. Gaaaah! See what you think:

    Title: RESTORING EXPERIENCE (lit-fic)

    In the summer of 1995, a 22-year-old Mexican girl discovered possibility—at a steep price.  Alienated from everything and everyone, Alexia struggles to understand what happened, and why. If she can figure out what it meant, perhaps experience can be restored—but what if it didn’t mean anything?

  3. Patricia Stoltey says

    December 15, 2011 at 8:37 pm

    Thanks for being here today, Steve. Have a great weekend and don’t work too hard.

  4. Stephen Tremp says

    December 15, 2011 at 2:32 pm

    I’ve got to follow my own advice and start one for my nest book OPENING. I’ll begin doing that this weekend.

  5. Julie says

    December 15, 2011 at 2:01 pm

    This is a great idea, Stephen! Thanks for sharing the exercise, I’m going to give it a try.

  6. Kelly Polark says

    December 15, 2011 at 1:49 pm

    Great idea to use key words first! Seems like that would be common sense, but I hadn’t thought of that!

  7. Dorte H says

    December 15, 2011 at 1:11 pm

    Haha, a fun idea!

    Perhaps I should try it; writing a blurb scares me almost as much as writing a query.

  8. L. Diane Wolfe says

    December 15, 2011 at 12:58 pm

    Three long sentences!
    Good exercise for compacting a synopsis onto a bookmark, too.

  9. Elspeth Antonelli says

    December 15, 2011 at 12:04 pm

    Thanks, Stephen for another approach to those elevator pitches!

  10. Hart Johnson says

    December 15, 2011 at 11:41 am

    Oh, interesting approach to start from a long list of keywords! I am having a lot of trouble writing one, so this could help a lot with trying to pound one out. Thanks!

  11. Patricia Stoltey says

    December 15, 2011 at 10:12 am

    Steve, it’s a pleasure having your here. I’m looking forward to reading your new release, Opening.

    Good morning to the rest of you early birds. I’ll be checking in from time to time.

  12. Jan Morrison says

    December 15, 2011 at 9:08 am

    Here’s mine!
    Before Libby’s husband sustained a traumatic brain injury, she was a doctor with a comfortable marriage to an academic with no big worries. Now her carefully wound life is unravelling, with sisters interfering, her estranged Blackfoot father back in the picture and a crazy old woman who wants to make Libby the next medicine woman of the tribe. Will Libby rise to the challenge or distance everyone with her pragmatic coldness?

  13. Stephen Tremp says

    December 15, 2011 at 8:48 am

    Thanks Patricia for hosting me today. And thanks everyone for stopping by and saying hello. Hopefully this will help people come u with some blurbs for their own works.

  14. Hilary Melton-Butcher says

    December 15, 2011 at 7:48 am

    Hi Stephen .. it’s a great way of creating that elevator pitch .. I just love the ways Patricia has illustrated it .. nothing like stuck in stone, on the loo (or whatever word you wish to use!!!!), or elevated above the water …

    Great guest Patricia .. and Stephen is an excellent sharer of information .. thanks – and I’ll be interested to see everyone’s comments .. Hilary

  15. Alex J. Cavanaugh says

    December 15, 2011 at 7:27 am

    Never thought of doing it with key words.

  16. Margot Kinberg says

    December 15, 2011 at 7:11 am

    Pat – Thanks for hosting Stephen.

    Stephen – What a very creative and useful way to prepare a 30-second “sell.” I’m going to have to think about that…

Meet Patricia

I read, I write, I blog, and sometimes I do the laundry and cook. My 2014 novel, Dead Wrong, was a finalist in the thriller category of the 2015 Colorado Book Awards. Wishing Caswell Dead (Five Star/Cengage, December 20, 2017) is a historical mystery set in 1830s Illinois in the fictitious Village of Sangamon. The novel was a finalist for the 2018 Colorado Book Awards for General Fiction. My most recent release, In Defense of Delia (Five Star/Cengage, November 2022), is available in hardcover and will soon be available in ebook and trade paperback. Read More…

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