If you want authors to shudder with fear and revulsion, ask them to write a BLURB.
What’s a blurb? It’s a brief summary of a story. The best blurbs hook the reader without giving away too much.
We writers are a verbose bunch and it’s tough for us to pack our narrative into a pithy punch. This is where critique partners and editors come in handy!
What characterizes your favorite blurbs? I’ve been drawn to starting with a sentence or two from the first person point of view. However, I wrote the blurbs for my first two books in the Blocked series in the third person, and wanted to stay consistent for book three.
I found a compromise for SPIKED (Blocked #3) by adding song lyrics to the blurb to capture the first person perspective of the hero Mateo, who’s a singer / songwriter.
SPIKED (Blocked #3)
They say
University is the time
To find yourself
But I don’t need to find myself
Just want to find you
After watching his older siblings find their love matches at Highbanks University, Mateo Ramirez feels unlikely to follow in their footsteps. What girl would want him? Unlike his brother and sister, he battles diabetes and chooses music over sports. But at least he can write songs about his life—and the girl who caught his eye when their parents ran against each other for US President.
Hey, chica! Come conmigo
And baby, why don’t we go
Down under the bridge to the water
With you it can only get hotter
Jessica Monroe is a talented swimmer who dreams of representing Team USA at the Olympics. When she earns an athletic scholarship to Highbanks, she’s excited to attend the same school as the cute boy she met two years ago: Mateo. Too bad he’s not around when a teammate spikes her drink. Jessica may never trust men again.
Trust
Is a hard-to-earn thing
Just
Try to keep listening
Swallow
Down all of the unjust
Hollow
My chest, my heart will bust
College years are the time to shake off the past and find your future. But will that future find Mateo and Jessica together? Dive in and immerse yourself in the eagerly anticipated conclusion to Jennifer Lane’s Blocked trilogy.
~ * ~
What do you think?
Now I need to find a stock image of a Mexican-American guitar-playing shirtless hottie for the cover. But FIRST I need to finish writing the novel. 🙂
