A single sentence that captures your entire story's protagonist, conflict, and stakes in a way that makes people want more.
A logline is a one-sentence summary of your story that conveys who the protagonist is, what they want, what's stopping them, and what's at stake. Borrowed from the film industry (where scripts needed a one-line description in a log book), the logline has become essential for novelists too. The best loglines are specific enough to distinguish your book from every other book in its genre, and compelling enough to make someone say 'tell me more.'
Your logline is the Swiss Army knife of your publishing toolkit. It goes in query letters, on social media during pitch events, in conference conversations, and eventually on the back of your book. But beyond publishing, writing a logline forces you to confront what your story is really about. If you can't capture it in one sentence, you may not have a clear enough grasp on your central conflict yet, and that's worth knowing before you write 300 pages.
'A young FBI trainee must confide in an imprisoned cannibal killer to catch a serial murderer who skins his victims.' The juxtaposition of seeking help from one monster to catch another is what makes this logline electric.
'A comfort-loving hobbit is recruited by a wizard to help thirteen dwarves reclaim their homeland from a dragon.' Every detail is specific, and the contrast between the cozy protagonist and the epic quest creates instant intrigue.
'A newlywed couple's marriage unravels when the husband is wrongfully sentenced to twelve years in prison.' The injustice and the time frame do all the emotional heavy lifting in one sentence.
'A young woman must overcome her past to find love' could describe ten thousand novels. Use specific details: settings, occupations, unique circumstances. Specificity is what makes a logline memorable.
A logline is one sentence. It should cover the setup and the central conflict, not the midpoint twist or the climax. If you need a semicolon and three subordinate clauses, you've gone too far.
What happens if the protagonist fails? A logline without stakes is just a premise. 'A detective investigates a murder' is a premise. 'A detective must solve a murder before the killer strikes again at midnight' has stakes.
Instead of 'Kael must defeat the Shadow Regent,' try 'A disgraced soldier must assassinate the tyrant who destroyed his homeland.' Describe characters by their role or defining trait, not their name.
Write five different loglines for your current project using this template: 'When [inciting incident], a [protagonist description] must [goal] before [stakes].' Pick the strongest one, then rewrite it without the template so it sounds natural. Test it on someone who hasn't read your book. After hearing one sentence, do they want to know what happens next?