Picking passages from your work is one of the easiest and yet the hardest things you'll do to promote your work.
It's easy because you've already written the words, but hard because you need to pick passages that convey your story without giving too much away. The idea of a teaser is to make the reader want more. So how do you find these passages? Well you need to consider a few things:
What is your genre
Who are your characters
What form of writing do you excel at
Genre - If you write romance, like Plotbunny, then you'd want to pick a passage that shows a romance scene. Now don't go giving away the big kiss scene or anything like that. Pick the small things, the build up. Because just like in your book, they will build suspense as a teaser. Or maybe you write fantasy, also like Plotbunny, then you'd want to pick some passages that are more fantastical.
Characters -
Showcasing your characters is a perfect way to create passage teasers. Say your main character is named Willow, introduce her to your readers by teasing a passage that shows her personality the best. Now keep in mind that most of your characters should go through a growth during your writing so you don't want to share the end of story Willow. You want to share something from early on so the readers can get comfortable with who she is at the start and then watch her growth organically throughout the story.
Excel - This is the category you have the most freedom with. Share what you are good at. Plotbunny excels in description so a lot of her teasers are descriptions of places, looks, and feelings. This is her strongest suit and by showcasing a few passages it builds excitement for her book's release. Maybe your strength is dialogue, share snips of that which aren't too spoiler-y. Whatever you think your strength is, now is the time to prove it to your audience.
Lastly, an important note on your teaser passages - They should be no more than the 250 words and no less than 100. This number range gives your reader enough to grab onto without giving them too much; leaving them wanting more. The only exception to this is when you share dialogue. Sometimes a simple and powerful line is enough to hook a reader. So don't feel as if you need to bog down the teaser when you are trying to go for an impact statement. So what are we going to discuss next week?
Next week we will be talking about cover teases and cover reveals.
I hope you enjoyed this Workshop Wednesday post and keep your eyes peeled for our Follow-up Friday post where Plotbunny will go into detail about how she selects passages from her own work to use as teasers.
Love always,
Novella & Plotbunny
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