Elevator Pitch

This is the one sentence you should have ready when people ask what your story is about. This can seem like an insurmountable task taking your 100,000 word novel and condensing it into twenty words or less. The trick is giving the main plot line and if it fits a character and the genre. You probably won't be able to come up with a sentence in one go. Start with a paragraph and edit down from there. I am going to make pitches for various story lines. Remember that one story can have multiple elevator pitches that are good.

Star Wars
A young man must learn to harness his talents and save the galaxy from the evil empire.
This pitch lets people know the age of the protagonist and that it is probably a science fiction because it involves a galaxy. Saying that he needs to harness his talents gives the impression that he has something special about him.

The Help
The black servants in Missouri finally get a voice to tell their stories.
Technically speaking, the characters in this book aren't as important as their race or where they are located. You don't have to tell how it is going to come out but this lets people know what the conflict is. The time period is inferred by the fact that it specifies that the servants are black.

The Road to Eldorado
Two con men try to pull their biggest job in the mythical city of El Dorado.
This pitch was able to incorporate plot, setting, and characters in a concise manner. As with all of these pitches you have to pay attention to word choice.

Gunslinger Girl
Orphan girls are enhanced to become the perfect assassins.
Even though the girls are enhanced to become a type of cyborg I didn't include it because it isn't an integral part of the story and otherwise isn't what people would consider hard science fiction. The word assassin gives a political connotation as well as violence.

The harsh truth: Most of the time people only ask about your story to be polite. Tell them your elevator pitch. If they want to know more they will ask. Then you can give the ten minute synopsis.