What is a log-line?

To put it simply, a log-line is the response you give when someone at a cocktail party asks, “What’s your story about?” If you hum and hah, take too long to respond, you’ve lost the sale. They will prejudge your story, not on its merits, but on your answer.

Ticktickticktick. Did your answer require more than 10 seconds? Did you hesitate or fumble? If so, you need a log-line. Did you explain who your main character is, what he or she wants, and what keeps them from getting whatever-it-is they want? If not, you need a log-line.

First and foremost, consider this: the people who represent and purchase books and screenplays are incredibly busy. They need a way to decide which stories are worth a closer look, and which are not—without actually taking the time to read those stories. Most readers at Barnes & Noble, Costco, and other bookstores are also busy. These consumers are experienced at sorting junk email, junk postal mail, and unwanted telephone calls. Their time is valuable. Don’t waste it. Each of these professionals and consumers look for a stop word or phrase. Something to make them move on to another candidate for their time. Don’t let them encounter a stop code in your work.

They look at the title and the log-line. If it doesn’t grab them, they move on.

A great log-line can get a terrible story read (or partially read), and a terrible (or average) log-line can get the best story in the world rejected before a single page has been turned.

The log-line has but a single purpose: to convey the most essential elements of your story concisely, imaginatively, and smoothly.

To be effective, the log-line must convey three things: WHO the story is about, what they want (their GOAL), and what stands in their way (the OBSTACLE). That’s it. You need no long-winded explanations, no secondary characters, no subplots, no character names (which would mean nothing at this point, unless they’re historical figures or celebrities). Your story, reduced to its most basic elements: character (WHO) and conflict (which results from the character’s efforts to overcome the OBSTACLE and reach their GOAL).

For example:

A doctor wrongly convicted of killing his wife escapes custody and struggles to prove his innocence while being pursued by a relentless US Marshall.

This, of course, is The Fugitive—in 24 words. WHO: A doctor wrongly convicted of killing his wife. GOAL: Prove his innocence. OBSTACLE: A relentless US Marshall. Short, sweet, simple. Still, it could be better:

A fugitive doctor wrongly convicted of killing his wife struggles to prove his innocence while pursued by a relentless US Marshall.

Smoother. Faster. And down to 21 words. Notice that what we dropped—“escapes custody and”—is not WHO, GOAL, or OBSTACLE. That makes it nonessential. Adding the word “fugitive” tells us he’s on the loose, and helps describe our WHO (because escaping after the conviction must have required some ingenuity).

Now let’s dig a little deeper. The fact that he’s been convicted of killing his wife, rather than a stranger, ups the emotional content (always good) and makes things harder on our hero (also good), because now he’s dealing with the loss of his wife as well as the conviction.

The relentless pursuer focuses and (like the dead wife) personalizes the conflict; it’s not just cops in general, but a specific and (again making things harder) “relentless” opponent he must elude.

Using the word “doctor” tells the reader this is not some lowlife criminal who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time; this is an intelligent man with a real life that’s been shattered by these events.

Such seemingly small tweaks—doctor, wife, relentless pursuer—help this logline stand out from similar, more generic falsely-accused-man (or woman)-on-the-run pitches.

Consider these log-lines:

Jurassic Park

A family struggles to escape a remote island park whose main attractions—genetically restored dinosaurs—have been set loose by a power failure.

Godfather

An Epic tale of a 1940s New York Mafia family and their struggle to protect their empire, as the leadership switches from the father to his youngest son.

Gladiator

When a Roman general is betrayed and his family murdered by a corrupt prince, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek his revenge.

A good log-line will almost always get the rest of your query letter read.  Well, at least until they find a stop code in your blurb, the next hurdle in the Writer’s Triathlon.