Susie May Warren, the founder of My Book Therapy (MBT), hosted the first online MBT Pitch and Promotion seminar on August 23. The seminar was an opportunity to connect with writers and help them polish their story pitches. Coaches and attendees talked about elements that help us craft a strong pitch, including characters and stakes.

Attendees were also told to look for the Story Irony as a potential component to construct a strong pitch. Writers also talk about Dramatic Irony, so I’m clarifying the difference between Story Irony and Dramatic Irony and then explaining how you use Story Irony when you’re crafting a pitch

What:

Dramatic Irony is when the movie audience or the readers of a book know more than the main character(s) of a movie or a book.

Examples:

• *SPOILER ALERT* In the movie Return to Me, the audience knows that Grace has Bob’s dead wife’s heart. Grace and Bob don’t discover this until later in the movie – but we all know it almost from the beginning!
• In O. Henry’s story The Gift of the Magi, the readers know that Jim and Della have both sacrificed their most precious possessions to buy each other Christmas gifts.

Story Irony (or Situational Irony) is when an incongruous situation creates tension in the story for one of your main characters. Think of a situation that is somehow unsuitable or inharmonious or absurd.

Examples:

• In the movie Hook, Robin Williams is a grown-up Peter Pan who has forgotten he is Peter Pan. Yes, other people know it – but the fact that they know his identity is not a secret. And the fact that other people know is not pivotal to the story.
• In Rachel Hauck’s novel Dining with Joy, her heroine is a cooking show host who can’t cook. This bizarre situation creates all sorts of tension for Joy. And yes, it’s a secret for some people – but it’s not a secret kept from Joy.
• In my novel Somebody Like You, my heroine didn’t know that her husband had an identical twin brother—a mirror twin—until after her husband dies. This secret is revealed very early on in the book and creates lots and lots of tension for Haley.

Why:

Dramatic Irony is a plot element used to create tension within your story. You ask: Do I want my readers to know something that my main character(s) don’t know? Story Irony, or Situational Irony, is something you look for when you are preparing to pitch your story to an agent or an editor at a writers conference. The question you ask is: Is there some crazy, absurd, clashing, or ironic situation in my story that I can highlight in my pitch to grab someone’s attention?

Examples:

Here’s how I used Story Irony to pitch Somebody Like You to my editors: Can a young widow fall in love with her husband’s reflection?

Notice I didn’t state the Story Irony straight up. I worded it in such a way to create curiosity, to invite a question.

As you prepare to pitch, have you considered the Story Irony for your manuscript?