One thing that is difficult for writers to do is to hype their own books. When you write a query letter, you are supposed to include a one to two paragraph summary that sells your book premise to a very busy agent or publishing house. With that in mind, here's the first exercise: Write a back cover blurb for The Lord of The Rings. (Between the book and the movie, I figure that everyone knows the basic plot or could quickly look it up.) Use 2 - 3 medium length paragraphs (about 4 - 8 sentences per paragraph depending on sentence length) to convince the world to read this book. After we have submissions, we'll look through and decide who grabbed our attention and why they were successful. Does 1 week sound like enough time, or would 2 weeks be better?

Either one or 2 weeks is fine but I know nothing about LOTR. Never read the book and never seen the movie and I watch cable more than commersial (sp?) television so I haven't really seen any ads

Okay, that knocked me for a loop. Well, I guess either find a well known book, or go through a few LOTR summaries. Apple.com has quicktime trailers for the movie if you do a search. http://www.geocities.com/redbookofwestmarch/lotrfotr.htm http://www.classicnote.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/fellowship/shortsumm.html

LOL I can do a well known book. Mmmmm... Let me think.... I'll get back to ya ;) Oh. When we have done them, do we post them here?

Are you aware there have been many different books from the Lord of the Rings "storyline," and they've spanned over several decades?! So which book are you talking about? I haven't seen the recent movie or the book.

Hows about; Romeo and Juliet; Moby Dick; Frankenstein; Cinderella; Wizard of Oz; Star Wars (any); Godfather 1; Matrix (my vote); Jungle Book; Batman 1 the movie; Gone With the Wind; Bonnie and Clyde; Titanic (James Cameron version); Gladiator (by Ridley Scott); Jason part 113; Indiana Jones (Raiders); Bram Stoker's Dracula; Jekyll and Hyde; Rudolph the rednosed reindeer; a Stephen King book; basic soap opera premise; Bambi vs. Godzilla; pant pant......okay I'm dizzy. Maybe we could take a poll - of course that in itself would eat up two weeks.

Okay, yeesh! Considering the OT forums has people salivating over J. R. R. Tolkein's LOTR, I thought it was a safe pick. How about picking a very well known book (or play) and writing a blurb for it, as practice for summarizing and hyping your own work? Can we agree on Monday, 19 August for the deadline? I'll post a different writing exercise next week, so people have time to work on each one, but if they don't like on, they don't have to wait long to participate on the next one. Sound fair and happy? ;-)

LOL Poor Crescent. No probs on all you just said :)

Crescent, do you mean we pick our own? Or are we still going with LOTR? [the original ;)]

Whichever you prefer. Online, I'm pretty easy going.

Um, er, sorry Crescent, I was unclear on the final ruling also. I was gonna say something earlier but finked out thinking it was just me. Do you mean we each pick our own book or are we now in the process of selecting one book to be used by everyone? Feel like your back in the classroom? Welcome back Mr. Carter. Unfortunately I think I'm the Horshack of this crowd. That's why I held back from blurting something else out. Thanks retrocity for asking.

Everyone, pick the book or play that you, yourself, want to make a blurb for. Identify the book and post the blurb underneath it. Please post in English if at all possible (any variant of English, including - but not limited to -American, British, or New Zealand is just fine.) Have I missed any questions? (Are you guys lawyers in real life?) ;-)

So solly chalie bloss. Me slow learner.