Learning to Pitch, Part 1

I'm sure not the only one who feels this way, but I have this aggravating fear that whenever I open my mouth, I start alienating people. And for months, I've been dreading describing my novel to people. Thankfully, with some practice recently, I have gained some confidence.

Here are general outlines of my conversations with various persons (and instead of calling the person "A person," I'm calling him/her "Cookie." I am dead serious that "Cookie" is a synonym for "person" according to Merriam-Webster).

More than a year ago, when I was trying to test my premise on Deviantart.com:

Me: How does a story about an eleven-year old girl with a key-hole in her neck having to hold military secrets for a general sound?

Deviantart Cookie #1: To be honest, it sounds far fetched, even for fantasy. I like the concept of the girl, but the military purpose part sounds too far fetched. Maybe if the girl held ancient secrets, and they have to go find the key, and these secrets will help defeat the ancient evil, sounds more believable fantasy story then the military using her.

My thoughts: Thank you for the feedback...but...I'm sorry...the concept of ancient secrets and defeating an ancient evil has been done to death.

Deviantart Cookie #2: Don't ask. Write it so that it's good enough that people WILL want to read it. Deciding what to write by using a poll is no way to go about it. If you want to write it, do it.

My thoughts: I needed this advice. Thank you Deviantart Cookie #2!

Approximately 10 months ago:

Cookie: What do you do for fun?

Me: Oh, um...draw...write...um...writing my novel

Cookie: You're writing a novel? What's your novel about?

Me: Oh, um...well...it's a fantasy middle-grade novel...about a girl...um...it's in a very rough draft mode...

No further memory of conversation. Conclusion? My pitching is an UTTER FAILURE.

Approximately 4 months ago:

Cookie: What do you do when you're not doing schoolwork?

Me: I'm writing a novel.

Cookie: Really? What's your novel about?

Me: It's about an eleven year old girl who belongs to a race of people with key holes in their necks, and because of this, they're supposed to be very good at keeping military secrets. My main character's uncle needs to her befriend a paraplegic princess from a neighboring kingdom because he's trying to bring down the corrupt monarchy. But she becomes best friends with the princess, and has to choose between her loyalty to her family and to her friend.

Cookie: Wow! That sounds really original!

Yes! Yes! A positive comment on originality! That is...if she's not just trying to be polite...

That concludes part one of my pitching attempts and adventures.