The shining book blurb writing

Movies do this incredibly well in their trailers and descriptions, so it may be an idea to look at some popular movies and see how they do it. As the article proved so popular, we thought wed share a few different blurb. To each genre their own, one thing to keep in mind when it comes to writing book blurbs. It is his second, following his bestselling 2003 debut, the kite runner. The title was inspired by the john lennon song instant karma.

Mar 02, 2016 great ideas to write a blurb that works for your book. For me, the 1980 movie version of the shining was much scarier than the novel that spawned it. How to write an effective blurb last week, the alliance of independent authors alli published our top ten tips for an effective blurb, on their selfpublishing advice blog. Movies do this incredibly well in their trailers and descriptions, so it may be an idea to. This is the story of both kings 1977 novel and stanley kubricks film. A blurb is the book description you find on the back of a book or online to describe a books contents. Creating a book blurb, while still technically writing, is closer to a science than an art. Eclipsed perhaps only by its 1980 film adaptation, the novel is one of the most popular and enduring horror stories of all time. Jack nicholsons performance has a lot to do with that. How to write a book blurb by far, the weakest part of many selfpublished books is the synopsis found on amazon and elsewhere.

View it here as youll recall from our previous blog post, the second thing that sells a reader on your book is the cover copyyour book description. Cut off from civilization for months, jack hopes to battle alcoholism and uncontrolled rage while writing a play. Jack torrances new job at the overlook hotel is the perfect chance. Danny, into it for the season, he hopes to find peace. This inspiring and compelling book has won ten awards to date, including honorable mentions at the december 2012 new england and london book festivals, october 2012 southern california book festival and june 2012 new york book festival in the category of spiritual books. King does a good job in all of his books to keep a relatively gloomy sensation while reading them. He puts the invitation back in the book and starts reading the scrapbook. The shining is a gothic horror novel by stephen king, first published in 1977. Because readers can identify with many of kings threedimensional, dynamic characters, his stories captivate and engage his loyal fans and firsttime readers. He was renowned for using supernatural events in many of his stories making them a mixture of horror, gloom, and fantasy. Thanks to my copywriting experience, i aim to make blurb creation as painless as possible. The copious amounts of art that my boys produce is at once precious and overwhelming to me. Stephen king fan publishes shinings jack torrances novel. Jan 07, 2009 a stephen king fan has published an 80page version of the book which novelist jack torrance obsessively writes during kings the shining, where his descent into madness is revealed when his wife.

A blurb is the book description you find on the back of a book or online to describe a book s contents. This was a oneofakind novel that simply blew the reader out of hisher comfort zone and took you places inside your own mind that were normally off limits. The shining is the story of jack torrance, who is employed as the caretaker of the. Write and submit a back cover blurb of 100 words or fewer that sets the stage for a novel, establishes the characters, and raises the stakes in a way that makes. Jul 14, 2016 a simple guide to writing the blurb of a book. Jan 16, 2020 for me, the 1980 movie version of the shining was much scarier than the novel that spawned it.

But, if you have caught a potential readers attention, the blurb is what will sell your book and convert readers. A sequel, titled doctor sleep, was published in 20. The blurb is often referred to as a synopsis or simply book description. The unmasking will happen at the stroke of midnight. This short video is brought to you by publishnation. A simple outline for writing a killer book blurb ink and quills. Jul 09, 2016 the shining was stephen kings third book, following carrie and salems lot. Your book blurb must be wellwritten to get a readers attention. Before writing the shining, king had written roadwork and the body which were both published later. Although he did not realize it at the time, king later claimed that i had written the shiningabout myself. The shining is a novel published in 1977 by stephen king, a wellknown american author. While im not sure if it is my favourite stephen king book, i cannot deny the influence it has had on myself and others in writing. But the book is more entertaining overall, as books often are. Send me the first 3 5 chapters of your finished manuscript up to 5,000 words.

The first draft of the shining took less than four months to complete and he was able to publish it before the others. The shining centers on the life of jack torrance, an aspiring writer and recovering alcoholic who accepts a position. As major fans of lost may know, the stand is a huge inspiration for the show and the writers have commonly referred to it as their bible. Sep 12, 2018 how to write a book blurb in 4 steps the opening of your blurb has to be incredibly precise and dynamic, says editor rebecca heyman. Jack is blown away, imaging the scene of wealth and splendor. Today were going to provide a list of tips to help you write your blurb. If you go to estes park, be sure and indulge in one of the stanleys popular historical ghost tours, which includes stops in room 217, as well as complimentary hallucinated martinis and creepy cocktail nuts. Sleep was in the works and that the plot included a traveling group of psychic vampires called the true knot. When writing a novel, there are few selling tools as important as a solidly written book blurb. The blurb that appears on the back cover of your book, and on your amazon page, will either. I had to learn how to do it, because writing one type of copy isnt the same as writing another. Your blurb will be an important part of your marketing.

Then, and only then, write the manuscript that fulfills the promise. Apr 28, 2017 when it comes to writing the back blurb for a book, the struggle is real. Sep 25, 2016 a simple outline for writing a killer book blurb september 25, 2016 september 25, 2016 kaitlin hillerich in my last post, i mentioned that ive been working on a novella and shared some reasons why you should write one of your own. Years ago, when dash started bringing home adorable artwork from daycare, i quickly realized that the pages of construction.

The blurb is your sales pitch, printed on the back of your book or quoted on its sales page online. If youve thought of reading stephen king before, then this is the. Jack torrance, his wife wendy, and their young son danny move into the overlook hotel, where jack has been. Nov 01, 2012 the shining is roughly 200,000 words long, which means that he was writing close to 5,000 words a day, every day. Worse than the cover, worse than the writing in the book itself, there are a lot of blurbs on amazon that are pretty near atrocious. The shining is a horror novel by american author stephen king. Stephen kings legacy as a bestselling horrorpsychological fiction writer is attributed to his writing style.

A thousand splendid suns is a 2007 novel by afghanamerican author khaled hosseini. Most run several paragraphs, but some publishers want them shorter or in a special format so be sure to check with your publishers guidelines before you begin work. How to write an irresistible book blurb in 5 easy steps. How to write a fiction book cover blurb that can make your. I honestly could write hundreds of thousands of words talking about this book, but i wont, because i have essays that i should be writing, and you.

But maybe it was a little easier and less scary to learn. Chances are, you will write a better book if you let the blurb guide you. In that sense, a good blurb is anything but subjective. His acclaimed nonfiction book, on writing, is also a bestseller.

Jan 14, 2014 which means that writing blurbs for my books was a piece of cake, right. King described the act of writing the novel as a kind. With ghosts, visions and psychological horror, the shining by stephen king is a very good horror story, i would say one of his best, right up there with the likes of salems lot which is another sk novel that i recommend if you enjoy horror. From inspiring thoughts about sharing the good news to thoughts about prayer. Stephen king has also written doctor sleep which is the shining book two. The novel tells a deeper story with more character development and a more gradual decline. To write a good blurb, you have to make it short and exciting, yet relevant. Its told mostly from the pointofview of antihero jack torrance, a frustrated writer driven by an unappealing. A detailed discussion of the writing styles used running throughout the shining including including point of view, structure, language, and meaninggreat supplemental information for school essays and projects. This volume of sunshining inspiration is a collection of n. Blurb writing is an important skill to develop whether you are selfpublished or traditional. But i think ive found a solution that captures their hard work but takes up very little space in our house. For a lot of firsttime authors, i think theres an instinct to make sure readers understand everything that happened in the books universe before the beginning of the actual story. We want blurbs about completely madeup, nonexistent books.

Thats a speed at which youre writing on instinct, and it doesnt matter. There is a big difference between writing a cover blurb for a novel and writing a cover blurb for nonfiction. Stephen king has also written doctor sleep which is. It has since been honed to within an inch of its life and i am really pleased with the result. Well be using the blurb from dan browns the da vinci code as an example to highlight our tips. Evil forces residing in the overlook which has a long and violent history covet young danny for his precognitive powers and exploit jacks weaknesses to try to claim the boy. The shining, gothic horror novel by stephen king, first published in 1977. Published in 1977, it is kings third published novel and first hardback bestseller.

The blurb should be in the same style as the rest of the book, for example. The book blurb s main purpose is to lure readers in and captivate them enough to buy the book. A detailed discussion of the writing styles used running throughout the shining including including point of view, structure, language, and meaninggreat supplemental information for school essays and. A presold prefab blockbuster, what with kings carrie hitting the moviehouses, salems lot being lensed, the shining itself sold to warner bros. Work by convincing readers to take a chance on it, or. The writing style of stephen king freelancewriting. Here are the top ten tips we believe to be the most essential to crafting a book description that sells. This website and its content is subject to our terms and conditions.

Stephen king actually began writing the shining in its room 217. Blurb writing is not my forte, but this book offered a clear insight and some useful steps that i was able to work with to produce a good pass at my first blurb. The setting is the overlook, a palatial resort on a colorado mountain top, snowbound and closed down for the long, long. Exchange nabe pinnacle award for inspirational books in spring 2011. How to get blurbs for your book the startup medium. Mariam is an illegitimate child, and suffers from both the stigma surrounding her birth along with the abuse she faces throughout her marriage. The film is pretty much pure spook house, welldone spook house, but solely spook house, nonetheless, imho.

This was a oneofakind novel that simply blew the reader out of hisher comfort zone and took you places inside your. No one had ever seen the likes of the shining before. The shining raised the authors writing to an extremely higher state, which included stardom for him. First, and foremost, the book of the shining is about the disintegration of a family due to alcoholism and anger issues. So, ok, here are my tips for writing your kickass romance blurb. This is a threepart series on getting a reader to buy your book. Sign up for my newsletter, beneath the oake tree, here. In this post, we tell you how to write a book blurb in five easy steps. How to write a blurb definition, examples, and more. How to write a romance blurb blog author rosalind james.