PITCHING THE CATEGORY BUZZ WORDS

By Carol J. Stephenson
copyright 1999 Carol J. Stephenson all rights, may not be reproduced


There I sat, with my heart in my throat, trying to string together a coherent sentence.  The Harlequin editor politely waited.  Somehow, I blurted out a gush of words.  The editor first frowned, then smiled.  "Oh, you have a repressed memory book."

Stunned, I paused, waved my hands palm up, and said, "Exactly."

Moral to my less then stellar interview at our conference: if you're writing a category, next time you pitch your manuscript either live or by query, try using as your opening hook the category shorthand--its buzz words.  If your story is about a sexy cop who finds a secret baby, say so.  If you have a unique twist to one of the category themes, incorporate it into your opening hook, such as former cop, now a cowboy, finds a baby on his doorstep and enters into a marriage of convenience with an amnesiac bride.  

I posed the question about buzz words on the Cata-romance list, and below are the results [with a big 'thank you' to Silhouette author Rox Delaney!] along with others I culled from back cover blurbs.  If you still have the Dec. '96 RWR, former Silhouette editor Melissa Senate listed a great many of these.  

Babies/kids: abandoned, arranged, lost, found, adopted, biological, inherited, borrowed, secret, switched-at-birth, matchmaking.

Single parents: struggling unwed mothers, clueless divorced dads, surrogate, blended families.

Pregnant heroines: stranger, estranged husband or ex as the guilty culprit.

Cowboys & western settings: think taming.

Amnesia/repressed memory: Is s/he married, a criminal, parent, missing groom/bride, presumed dead?  Did s/he kill someone?

Twins: so different/so alike, identical, fraternal, triplets, switched identities, mistaken identities.

Weddings & brides: marriages of convenience, fake fiancées, mail order brides, virgin brides/grooms, runaway brides/grooms, green-card, royal, shot gun, jilted, on the rocks, terms of the will, fight for child custody, by mistake, stop that wedding!

Reunion: estranged, lost, thwarted, divorced lovers.

Boss/secretary: or any other combination where will he ever notice her as a woman?

Favorite sexy 'occupations': doctor, cop, attorney, cowboy, small-town sheriff, FBI agent, secret agent, charming criminal with a heart of gold, bodyguard, journalist, fugitive, former military, mysterious man.

Bad boy/bad girl: think a challenge to tame, think misunderstood.

Makeover/transformation: Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Pygmalion, Ugly Duckling.

Fairy tales/myths: Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Taming of the Shrew.

Mismatched Pairings: May/December, wrong/right side of the tracks, star-crossed, mentor/protege, virgin/rogue, best friends/lovers, opposing occupations [arsonist/fire investigator], she's the boss/he's not, rolling stone/homemaker, country/city, hermit/socialite, gambler/conservative.