I had a writing date yesterday with the lovely Pam Bachorz and we got to talking about what makes a book a must-read. What makes it marketable? What makes it punchy? In short, what makes it work?She told me a great story about Walt Disney and how he used to carry a hot dog in his pocket, which made his dog follow him around everywhere. Walt used that idea of the dog and weenie and applied it to his theme parks and franchises. When anything at Disney was being developed, he'd ask "Where's the weenie?," meaning, What's going to make people WANT it?
I was looking over a draft of something I wrote awhile ago that never quite came together and I realized instantly there was no weenie. There was a toasty bun, generous amounts of ketchup and mustard, and even some relish, but NO WEENIE.
I'm planning my revision now, with a full-size ballpark weenie in mind.
