Taglines, Loglines and Headlines for ITCOTD… Confused Much?

As part of being more organised about my book’s structure from the beginning, I’ve been thinking about taglines, loglines, and headlines.

Wait – aren’t those the same thing?

Close – but not quite. The differences are hard to explain, so here’s an example using the movie Alien:

Logline - "An alien monster stalks the trapped crew of a spaceship." A logline is a one sentence pitch.

Tagline – "In space, nobody can hear you scream." This is catchy, perfect for marketing.

Headline – "Alien devours spaceship crew; heading for Earth?" Kind of like a news headline.

The catch is that inventing them is really tough. Brain strain tough. This is what I’ve come up with so far for In the Company of the Dead:

Logline – "Lyram has already crossed a prince; now he finds himself on the brink of crossing a goddess."

Alternate logline – "A prince wants him dead; the necromancer to an evil god wants to use him; he wants a woman who belongs to Death."

Tagline – "Royalty hath no fury like a goddess scorned."

Alternate tagline – "In the game of gods, the stake is more than just your life."

Headline – "Prince wants rival dead – goddess joins the fray."

As you can see, I’m still banging around a couple of possibilities for the logline and the tagline. I’m leaning for the second logline. It’s a complex plot, more complex than Alien, and this one captures the main conflicts of the primary plot line the best I think. I’m also tending to the second tagline, but may keep the first one for use as well. 

What do you think? What do you like? What don’t you like?

 

More about In the Company of the Dead:

Lyram already crossed a prince, and now he finds himself on the brink of crossing a god.

Son of a duke and second in line for the throne, Lyram is exiled to a lonely castle after assaulting the crown prince. When a hostile army arrives to besiege the castle, he believes the prince wants him removed – permanently.

As though answering their prayers, Ellaeva, the Battle Priestess of the death goddess, arrives unexpectedly. But she has not come to break the siege. Instead, she is in pursuit of a necromancer of the evil god of decay. When misfortune after misfortune befalls the beleaguered defenders, Lyram realises the necromancer is hidden within the walls, sabotaging the very defence.

Against the backdrop of clashing gods, Lyram must fight to save himself from the political machinations of his prince, and the dread plans of a necromancer. But as the siege lengthens, he realises the greatest threat may come from another quarter — a woman sworn body and soul to a god tempts him to pay a terrible price.