If You Can Create a High Concept Story, You Can Sell It

Jill Williamson is a chocolate loving, daydreaming, creator of kingdoms. She writes weird books for teens in lots of weird genres like, fantasy (Blood of Kings trilogy), science fiction (Replication), and dystopian (The Safe Lands trilogy). Find Jill on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or on her author website.

High concept. Maybe you've heard this phrase. It's been around a long while, but it's still important to selling stories in any form. A high-concept story puts a fresh twist on a universal theme. It takes the cliché and makes it new. When it's spoken/pitched, you instantly want to read the book or see the movie. And the moment you hear it as a writer, you think, "Why didn't I think of that?"

It's that powerful.

How do you come up with one of those ideas? It's not easy. Here is some advice from people who know more than I do on the subject.

Screenwriter Terry Rossio calls this "The Strange Attractor," which means combining something strange (unique) with something that attracts people (is compelling). 

Podcaster Mary Robinette Kowal twists this a little and calls it "combining the familiar and the strange."

Stephen King likes to combine two completely unrelated things. For example: murder and mayhem & prom (Carrie).

And there's always the What if? question.

Blake Snyder has a chapter on Loglines in his book Save the Cat. Here's one example he gives in his book:

An ugly duckling FBI agent goes undercover as a contestant to catch a killer at the Miss America Pageant (Miss Congeniality).

Snyder says a high-concept logline must include:
-A type of protagonist (Ex: an ugly duckling female FBI agent)
-A type of antagonist (Ex: a killer)
-A conflict that is primal--something we identify with as human beings (trying to stop a murder)
-An opened-ended question like, "What will happen?"

He also suggests that you include:
-Irony (an ugly ducking female FBI agent + the Miss America Pageant)
-a mental picture that blooms in our minds (Can you see the irony? I can.)
-a sense of the audience (This feels like a chick flick/romantic comedy)
-a title that "says what it is" (Miss Congeniality. Here are some other great titles: Legally Blonde, Snakes on a Plane, Four Christmases, Stop or My Mom Will Shoot)

Here are some high concept ideas that have come about in the past few years. 

The Lightning Thief: What if a boy found out he was a demigod?
National Treasure: What if clues to a treasure were hidden by our forefathers?
Hunger Games: 24 teens fight to death on national television.
Toy Story: What if your toys were alive?
The Shack: A man meets God in a shack in the woods.
Smallville: Superman in high school.
The Vow: Would you stay married if your spouse forgot your life together?
Twilight: What if a vampire and a human fell in love?
Cinder: Cinderella as a cyborg.
Groundhog Day: What if you had to live the same day over and over and over?

Whether or not you like them, can you see what makes these ideas high concept? Do you have any tips you'd like to share on coming up with a high concept idea?

And, FYI, today is the last day for the specials on Stephanie's Skylar Hoyt series in which book one is FREE! If you haven't downloaded it yet, waste no time and do it now.

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Just-Different-Reinvention-Skylar-ebook/dp/B00B76T3PE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1362590963&sr=8-5&keywords=Me%2C+Just+Different

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/me-just-different-stephanie-morrill/1100376293?ean=9781441204462