My NaNoWriMo 2016 Explained Using the Pixar Pitch
If you are not familiar with the Pixar Pitch, allow me to break it down for you.
The pitch consists of six simple sentence starters, that when filled in, give you a basic but powerful starting place for a story. The six sentences are:
1. Once upon a time there was…
2. Every day…
3. One day…
4. Because of that…
5. Because of that…
6. Until finally…
I will say that I was a little skeptical about using this to sort out my 2016 NaNoWriMo idea, but as I moved from sentence to sentence, I was a little shocked at how easy the idea flowed from my brain to the paper.
Before The Pitch
For months, I was trying to get a tiny spark of an idea into some sort of usable form. I could feel the inspiration bouncing around in my head, but I couldn’t seem to get it to a place where I could articulate it.
This is how I tried to explain it to my friends, “I want to write a creation story based on the Annunaki, you know, that group of supposed aliens they talk about on that show, Ancient Aliens? That show inspires me for NaNo and I’ve always wanted to write a creation story.”
I know, rambling and devoid of any actual plot.
After The Pitch
One day I was watching this Super Carlin Brothers video on YouTube and decided it was worth a shot. I’ll give you a few minutes to watch it yourself…
How great is that! I know!
Okay, so back to my pitch. I sat down and started writing based on the formula and this is what I was able to turn my jumble of thoughts into:
Once upon a time there was a group of aliens called the Annunaki, who came to the plant earth in search of gold and enslaved the natives to mine it for them.
Everyday, the enslaved natives toiled away building what they were told were pyramids and other stone structures for their masters.
One day, the Annunaki left. They ascended back into the sky from whence they came.
Because of that, the humans were left alone without any masters and had to figure out what to do on their own.
Because of that, they continued to build pyramids and stone structures. They placed one person, who they believed was a descendant of their masters, at the head of their society and called him Pharaoh.
Until finally, daily activities became culture and routines became traditions. This is the Egyptian society that we recognize today.
P.S. The Annunaki have visited from time to time to see how the creatures that they created have grown.
What do you think? It’s rough, but it’s a start. There is actually a beginning, middle, and end, which is not something that I typically have two weeks before NaNoWriMo.
My challenge for you is to put your novel idea into the Pixar Pitch format and share it below.
If you liked this post, you will love this post about how I have approached NaNoWriMo in the past, or maybe this post about my 3 Guiding Principals of Life.
