The power of simplicity

Have you ever tried describing your idea to anyone? It’s so easy to start describing every little detail to them, because you’re so in love with every little detail that makes your story amazing, and so surely the more they know, the more excited they’ll be about it? Well, I don’t know about you, but that never works for me…

If you’ve heard of the Elevator pitch, you’ll know it’s this:

“Imagine you get onto an elevator and see your favorite director standing there, who you want to direct the film you’re writing. You have the length of the elevator ride to pitch the idea to him.”

This is what it comes down to - is your idea intriguing when shortened down? Is it different from everything else out there?

Hemingway managed to bring this idea to the next level with “For sale: baby shoes, never worn”. Can you reduce your idea to a sentence and still interest people, evoke an emotion? If you want to know if your idea is a great one, then try these two things out. How far can you reduce your story and still elicit excitement from someone?