Last weekend marked my first author's convention, hosted by the Florida Writers Association at the Lake Mary Marriott. I met all sorts of new and interesting people on this trip - authors, pizza chefs, zombie survival store owners (seriously!). I learned plenty, and it was loads of fun. But looking back, I'm at a loss for words to describe that whirlwind of a weekend, so I'll borrow a few from The Grateful Dead: "What a long, strange trip it's been..."

The road to the convention began on Friday night. I left the office late and took some work home that absolutely needed to get done before the weekend. Hours later, it was "mission accomplished", but there was hardly time to celebrate. The clock on my PC's screen showed 11:00 p.m., a scant five hours from "rise and shine" at 4:00 a.m. the following morning. And then there was that nagging thought that I hadn't yet packed my bags - worse, I realized I had no bags to pack. Even if I'd set out my clothes, I'd have nowhere to put them for the trip.

It was too late in the evening to lose sleep over luggage. I set my alarm to go off an hour earlier so I'd have more time to figure things out in the morning.

I jolted awake. The clock at my bedside showed 2:57 a.m. I'd been asleep for a few hours but it felt like hardly a blink. Typical. I switched the clock's buzzer off before its alarm triggered and got to work.

I took a quick stock of what I needed: comfy clothes, business clothes for the convention, my promotional material, and travel toiletries. I slung the comfy clothes on and zipped the business clothes up in a garment bag. Everything else was stuffed into a tiny knapsack. After a banana and a cup of coffee for breakfast, I was road-ready in fifteen minutes. Within another twenty I was at my friend Chris's house. He and I hit the expressway by 4:30 a.m.

A reception in the hotel lounge preceded the banquet. Chris helped himself to a well-deserved whiskey on the rocks, and I joined him in one. Then, at 7:00 p.m., we took our seats in the main hall. We were treated to a fantastic three-course meal: a crisp salad to start, an entree of fresh grouper and wild rice, and then dessert - a towering three-tier cylindrical confection consisting of a brownie topped with chocolate cheesecake topped with chocolate mousse, with raspberry drizzle between layers. Coffee service followed. I had two cups. I'd been up nearly eighteen hours by then, and was starting to drag my feet.

Bright and early Sunday morning came too bright and too early. We'd been up until around midnight the day before (for a total of twenty-one hours up), and waking at 6:00 a.m. felt brutal. After breakfast, the convention organizers had arranged a winners' table - a meet-and-greet for all award winners - and yours truly was in attendance.

We pulled into Miami at around 6:00 p.m., following a non-stop four-four ride down the turnpike. I dropped Chris off at his place and headed home. It was lights-out for me on arrival - I took a shower and went to bed.

Unpacking could wait until Monday.

So you just finished your writing project. Good job, but this is no time to put your pen down, as there's still more writing to be done. And if you think writing a 90,000 word project is tough, try condensing that work into ten sentences. Yes, you read that right: ten sentences. Technical types call this tight little brick of text the "book description", but most others call it the "blurb". 

You can think of a hook as either of the following: an instrument to catch fish, or a sweeping punch to the jaw. Regardless of the definition, a hook is something that quickly gets someone's attention.

The hook is the single most important element. No matter how captivatingly brilliant your work may be, no one will read it if you fail to snag potential readers at first blush. It should be one of the first -- if not the first -- things the reader sees. Thus, you'd better make it a great one.

A well-written hook does more than demand attention. It reaches out and shakes the reader by the collar of his shirt. It's probably also the hardest element on which to offer advice. It helps to have a firm understanding of your work and other books in your genre when writing a compelling hook. Ultimately, your hook needs to pique the reader's interest.

It is not possible, nor is it a good idea, to give away your whole story in the blurb. You need to ask yourself: "What are the most important parts of my work?" It helps to liken your blurb to the preview for a Hollywood movie. If you were a film editor, your task would be to parse out your movie's most salient moments and then splice them together into a clip that encapsulates your work. Movies nowadays run for about two hours, and you've got to distill yours down to a filmstrip of about thirty seconds. Your work as a writer is tougher even than that, because your blurb should take no longer than fifteen seconds to read

As an aside, you may get those fifteen seconds if your hook was effective. You won't get anywhere near that if it's not.

You must clearly identify your book's genre, theme, and salient plot points. Give your readers a taste of what to expect, but don't give it all away. There's something to be said about about suspense, and Alfred Hitchcock said it best: "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."

Don't be so quick to pull that trigger. Your readers will want to do that all on their own. You'd be doing them a disservice if you didn't let them.

Let's get something clear: your blurb is not a summary. It is not an outline. It is not a synopsis. These three tools will not substitute for a blurb. The blurb helps you sell your story. Your readers expect your story to have a beginning, a middle, and an end, as much as fast-food connoisseurs would expect a certain double cheeseburger to have "two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce..." well, you know the drill.

On the other hand, a blurb is expected to be open-ended. But, like your opening, make sure you leave a hook at the tail end. Why two hooks? Any angler will tell you there's a reason why fishing jigs often come with more than one hook -- you've a better chance of catching fish that way.

Below I've reproduced the blurb for The Gullwing Odyssey, along with comments to illustrate the steps outlined above.

There's your hook. The blurb starts by describing Marco's mundane life, then foreshadows a sudden 180-degree twist.

There's what the book is about -- a simple guy who gets wrapped up in a giant mess not of his making, and his struggle just to get by. The genre is fantasy with comedic elements. Things to expect: pirates, politics, and deadly hummingbirds. 

"But wait, there's more!" you can almost hear the television pitchman say. Well, there's a whole lot more, in fact, without saying as much, and if your readers want to find out what happens next they'll have to buy your book. Note the last line -- there's your closing hook. And if you're feeling persnickety you can count my sentences. There are eight. I've successfully boiled an 88,000 word novel down to its core in under ten sentences. It wasn't easy, I assure you, but it was worth it.

Take it from me, the last thing I'd want to do after wrapping up a long project is write the blurb, but the fact is that you can't sell even your first book without a good one. Hook your reader. Get to the point. Make it interesting. That's a lot of chainsaws to juggle at once, and although you only have two hands, juggle you must.

On an unrelated note, that part about juggling dangerous gas-powered tools was a figure of speech, so please don't attempt to juggle chainsaws.

Have fun (and be safe) writing!

The Florida Writers Association will host its annual conference next week at the Orlando Marriott Lake Mary Hotel. If you happen to be in Central Florida on either October 25th and 26th, swing by. 

Author Meet & Greet: Orlando Marriott Lake Mary
When: Saturday, October 25th, from 11:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Where: Orlando Marriott Lake Mary Hotel
Address: 1501 International Parkway, Lake Mary, FL 32746
Location: Table #1

My hosts have been so kind as to offer me an author's table for Saturday the 25th. If you come out to see me on Saturday, I'll be at table #1 for a half-hour starting at 11:00 a.m. After that, you can still catch me out and about at the convention. I'd be happy to sign autographs, pose for photos, and chat.

See you then!