I’m hooked!
In the second half of her two-parter on creating irresistible children’s fiction, Amy Sparkes looks at honing the idea
If your dream is to become a traditionally published children’s author, your story concept needs to hook an agent or publisher. So, how do you transform a ‘good’ story into an outstanding one, and hook that reader?
High-concept
Having a high-concept idea helps: a strong, original idea which can be explained concisely in a sentence, like: It’s about:
…a time-travelling mouse in a museum.
…a Viking boy who rides dragons.
…twin girls who create inventions.
Factors in these sentences jump out.
Time-travelling mouse – museum. Viking boy – dragons. Twin girls – inventions.
They create snappy, memorable phrases which are easy to discuss. High-concept stories frequently offer series potential because the central idea is strong enough to carry multiple stories. And publishers and agents rather like this.
Now try this:
List the stories you’ve written or plan to write. Can you create a snappy, highconcept sentence for each one?
Building ideas
Sometimes ideas don’t quite reach their full potential. Take our time-travelling mouse. Your thought process as the idea develops may read like the list below. At which point do you feel, ‘ooh, sounds interesting?’
Idea stage 1: It’s about a mouse who has adventures.
Title: Marvin the Mouse Explores the House.
Idea stage 2: It’s about a museumdwelling mouse who has adventures.
Title: Marvin the Museum Mouse