“Stiff” was wonderful. She managed to take you to the edge of gross and then would say something wry to break the tension. The only chapter I could get through was the cannibalism one. That was just too much for me. LOL

The acid test of a concept is the ability to position it as a “what if?” question. Obviously, “what if death is on conquered by love?” doesn’t work. It’s what the story is about thematically, though, and that’s good. The high concept for Harry Potter is simply, “What if a young prodigy wizard attending a boarding school for prospective witchs and wizards must survive attempts to stop him from learning the identity of his parent’s killer, and in the process stop him unleashing darkness upon the world?”

The concept focuses on plot, not character and theme. All are necessary, but separate.

In the Davinci Code, for example, the concept is religion, it’s a murder/chase story. But the theme IS religion. Not be be confused.

Hope this clarifies.

@Sandra — I believe you’ve got it. Those are indeed high concept stories!

By the way, I loved “Stiff, ” too, a great example of a high concept non-fiction book. Creepy good.

@Monica — pinch points don’t ever need to reveal the ending or the identity of an unknown killer, No, the purpose of the pinch point is to remind the reader of the primary source of dramatic tension. Which in the case of a detective, could mean a reminder of what’s blocking her or him from learning that identity, and/or the need to find out fast because the killer is either continuing to kill or is about to kill, unless they are stopped before it happens. Make your pinch about that, not about the solution.

so, taking the reaction above as an example, in Harry Potter, the low concept might be “Chosen Boy defeats Eternal Tyrant”, wich is a concept used over and over. The high concept might then be “Death may only be conquered by Love”, wich one doesn’t encounter in many fantasy novels. Is this right?

Now that I come to think of it, the concepts above could be applied to many other stories, like The Lord of the Rings. Same chosen one, same tyrant and it is only the love between Frodo and Sam that enables them to bring the One Ring to Mount Doom, right?

But HP and LOTR are both very Christian in nature, so that may be the high concept aswell, shrouded with stories that resemble that of Christ in virtually nothing.

It is confusing.

Martijn

(movies)
The Lake House
Mercury Rising
Dave

(books)
Utopia (Lincoln Child)
Harry Potter series
(not recent)
Lord of the Rings

I don’t read much other than mysteries, the occasional thriller and the occasional biography. Add in there a few non-fictions like “Salt” and “Stiff”. ( Loved both of those!) I’ve tried reading some of the books that movies I liked were taken from and usually don’t enjoy the book as much as the movie. “Independence Day” has been an exception to that.

Sandra

Larry, I know I bothered you with an email a while back. Thankfully, by persevering and using your Story Structure, I figured out my major problem. But I’m still having trouble seeing how to use Pinch Points in a mystery (where I want to conceal the identity of the villain). And I can’t seem to get clear on the concept of stakes, the way you define them. It’s just not sinking in. Maybe some time in the future you can say a couple of words on these two things?

Thanks for every post,
Monica

Whoa! I always love your posts, but this time I’m thinking of how this could (does) work in non-fiction… marketing books, e-books, heck even in business concepts… very mind-expanding, this article was. Endless applications.

As to the question you asked, my fave, recently, was John Irving’s Until I Find You from a couple of years back.

Not the best-written thing I’ve ever read, and he definitely gets a pass from his editors because of his name, but my goodness that story went way beyond a simple boy-searches-for-father-he-longs-for story. I read it over a year ago and some of it still haunts me. Very high angle on what could have been a mighty stale concept.

Regards,

Kelly