I love the threads we already have have going on this board, but the individual entries are long and there are many of them. My old boss used to talk about something he called "the Elevator Speech": a short-and-sweet idea pitch that can be made between the first and fourth floors on an elevator. The discipline of framing and pitching a story in a single sentence can really make an idea pop - make the reader sit up and take notice, and make the author hone in on the heart of the story.
So, what's your story in a single sentence?
----------
____________________________________________________________
"Where there's a whip there's a will, my slugs." ~ Orc-driver, The Return of the King
"And pass me another elf, Sergeant. This one's split." ~ Ashnak, Grunts
7,754 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 18 55
A young man, along with his various travelling companions, travels the world and collecting magic jewels while fighting off an enemy who is out for revenge for a wrong that was done to him 1000 years age by the main character's ancestor.
(This is only the MC's plot. Other characters have their own)
50,200 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 18 56
A young man tries to save his village from marauders by hiring seven warriors to protect it.
Yes, you heard it before.
5,737 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 19 11
Four teenagers from two worlds must work together to save both their worlds from a man whose accidental immortality has made him believe he is a god.
7,179 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 19 14
the origin of Death, and his three brothers, from the dawn of time into the early days of civilization.
51,061 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 19 16
Four teenage girls from extremely different backgrounds have to learn to work together to master their magical powers and defeat an evil sorcerer.
60,560 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 19 19
A confused and alone demi-demon must protect herself from her full-demon counterparts while trying to overcome the evil bred into her.
*edited for excessive use of the word 'demon.'
54,167 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 19 18
After fifteen years of living by his wits, Drake comes home to face his family... and the dragon he left behind.
50,002 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 19 38
A teenaged outcast is drawn into the magic fairyland she has painted on her bedroom walls and discovers a sinister force that she didn't create, but must somehow destroy.
0 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 19 57
Girl has to save a prince who's been turned into ice and trapped in a tower.
50,224 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 20 04
Dessa is a wereheron who finally learns of her ability and goes on a cross-country trek in a camper trailer with three unsavory siblings on a quest to find her heritage and others of her own kind.
4 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 20 05
The idea of male bonding push to the far extreme; will it be enough to preserve their way of life in a changing world?
58,024 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 20 06
A M/M fantasy romance where a young man with sexsomnia who must be locked up at night to keep him from raping people in his sleep ends up falling in love with his incubus caretaker.
2,496 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 20 16
Wow. Lots of interesting ones.
An immortal who lives off the lifeforce of others takes on an apprentice/assistant while dealing with problems from his extensive past.
50,011 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 20 18
In a world with two realities, war ties them together in a matched destiny of destruction while a small band of survivors forge on and try to undo the madness that is ending their world.
121,637 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 20 31
A young vampire joins forces with her father and a few erstwhile archangels in saving the world from her granfather, Cain, and the lord of all demons, Legion.
67,251 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 20 32
A rumor from an antiquarian bookseller draws a lonely enchanted grimoire into a search for family.
50,514 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 20 38
I love these - I can imagine the film trailers. Wereherons! Fairyland murals! People trapped in ice! Brilliant stuff, and my nano excitement just kicked up a gear. Anyway, here goes.
The humans don’t care how royal those interloping wraiths are, they are going to be taking back that fine prize of a factory and any turncoats who side with the ghosties will face the wrath of the warrior queen and maybe her lover.
75,022 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 20 55
The life of an illegitimate son of a traitorous, self-proclaimed king is thrown out of array as a false prophecy, treason and a failed colonial revolt force him into exile at the hands of the "enemy."
0 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 20 57
Four cousins are forced to stay the night at an old mansion, but they soon find themselves involved in the life of the master of the household, sucked into his world of naivety, insanity and inevitable death.
1,645 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 21 10
Steampunk/Adventure/Fantasy Novel- |Szighuon Tales: Siegfred's Giant|
Siegfred Jamikand, a young lad helping his mechanically handy father open up a shop in Algiers, the booming capital of Szigh, has to learn to adjust to the Algiers way of life as well as the ropes of becoming a man and how to turn his passion of making machines into a force of change.
(It's long, but it's a sentence.)
30,057 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 21 26
A collection of interconnected short stories about a violently orphaned human child, an abducted Elf girl, and the Orcs what done it.
HAH! I said this elsewhere. And I love all of these ideas I'm seeing!
51,023 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 21 39
OK. *** Gasp ***
Melody Dreamsail, a mystical elfin elder, intervenes when the wolf anthropomorphic Lykosan Empire wages an all-out assault against both the mysterious Chloos Kuplib and all other perceived enemies, sparking a massive interstellar conflict destabilizing said empire into factions fighting for independence, while Melody reconciles her own past as a being from a distant faerie land, her people hunted by the Lord of Shadows, while other stuff happens to her close associates.
*** breathe! ***
(Other stuff involves just little things, like Pengarthe's struggle with his satyr instincts even as his lover Suidhne draws him into a convoluted love triangle with a being from her past lives, with whom she shared over 100,000 years of union.)
54,251 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 21 45
Stranded in an unfamiliar realm and bereaved of her mind and memories, Twig, a telepathic Shifter, must find her way home and (perhaps more importantly) stay sane in the process.
Edit: She's not a shapeshifter, just so you know. Shifter refers to the ability to jump the rift between worlds.
22,108 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 22 09
These all sound really interesting!
After witnessing the deaths of the Great Masters, four extremely powerful Summoners, a Summoner in training is sent back in time to find their younger versions; they must learn their powers at an eariler date in order to stop the Dark One from taking power in the first place.
Haha, I used a semi colon, but it's still technically one sentence. Yay! As a footnote, a Summoner uses a magical creature to do Element-based magic. The creatures, called Summons, are akin to a witch's familiar, in that they use their human master as a power source and cannot survive otherwise. I hope this all makes sense!
43,400 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 22 18
The universe is a narrative whose true meaning is slowly being obscured, and all of our individual stories are suffering as a consequence of that.
Really, I can't get much better than that. At least for now!
30,116 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 22 35
One sentence? *gulp*
--
Daiyomon, a Catrek (cat-humanoid) forced to follow his religion and bond with a mountain cat, discovers he will be magi, not samurai as planned, and is later faced with a choice that closes all doors previously opened yet only re-opens one.
--
Eh. I tried to put the hint in there that only samurai tend to have cat-bonds in Catrek society; it's not just random info, I swear! Also, Catrek culture is slightly Japanese-ish (even the cat he bonds resembles the Iriomote Cat) but it's the only culture on my world that is like that. Just happens to be my favorite. *shrug*
50,085 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 22 47
I'm so proud of mine, I was having difficulty with it for a while.
A melodramatic young magician battles with both literal and conceptual evil, but makes money selling love charms to tourists.
50,085 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 22 52
"Girl has to save a prince who's been turned into ice and trapped in a tower."
I like.
"The universe is a narrative whose true meaning is slowly being obscured, and all of our individual stories are suffering as a consequence of that."
Makes sense to me, I was just wondering about that the other day. Interesting premise.
87,121 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 22 59
A young mage goes on an epic journey to uncover her destiny and expose the truth to her world.
50,180 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2007 - 23 08
Two diplomates must cross the gap between their vastly different cultures in order to save one of their races from annihiliation by the other.
... that actually went pretty well! Maybe it's because that's about all the plot I have right now ^^"