I’m between books, as I said before. I have three or four ways to go. I could write the sequel to In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People. I could write the next church history book as a follow-up to Doctor Luke’s Assistant. I could move on to my my novel on China, tentatively titled China Tour. Another direction to move in is more articles for Decoded Science. And, I’m not limited to fiction. I have ideas for the next volume of Documenting America. What to do?
On her blog, author and social media expert Kristen Lamb is doing a series on novel writing. In a post this week she talked about “log lines,” by which she means a one sentence summary of the novel. She gave some ideas of the pieces that should be in the log line, what makes it good or not so good.
This got me to thinking, maybe writing log lines for all my fiction could help me sense some direction on what to do next. Here’s what I came up with.
Already published:
The Mafia tries to prevent a phenom pitcher fresh off the Kansas prairies from leading the Cubs to a World Series victory.
In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People
A normal housewife suspected of being a rogue CIA agent who helps a terrorist escape.
“Whiskey, Zebra, Tango”
Luke must overcome opposition of the Jews and Romans, and the errors of a bumbling assistant, to write a massive biography of Jesus.
Doctor Luke’s Assistant
Possible new fiction:
Ronny Thompson juggles rehabilitation from injury, pitching for the Cubs, helping his farm family, and protecting his love from two rival Mafia Families who want her dead.
Headshots, sequel to In Front of Fifty Thousand Screaming People
An American tourist family becomes embroiled in a CIA extraction operation in 1980s China.
China Tour
Augustus of Caesarea and his son must see the original manuscript of the Revelation safely back to Israel.
Preserve The Revelation, sequel to Doctor Luke’s Assistant
Any thoughts?
I’m impressed that you always have so many irons in the fire. At the moment, I’m happy to be book writing-free and concentrating on smaller projects.
For your next book, I vote for China Tour 🙂
Interesting, Susan. Why the vote for “China Tour”? Of the three that’s probably in third place by my current way of thinking.
It’s just the description of all those you listed that appeals most to my specific tastes — so I’m fully aware that it’s only anecdotal. You know the way you (or at least I) briefly scan the book descriptions whenever freebies are posted on pixel of ink? The China description is the one that makes me think I’d like to click and learn more …
Ultimately, though, you’re the one who will be living with the book for hours upon hours, so it should be your choice.