Secret ingredient #1: Fish out of water

(gentle music)…- [Jessica] In trying to get published…at the beginning of my career,…I had some missteps, some setbacks,…and a whole lot of rejections.…I had a few book ideas that never sold…and that are still sitting on my proverbial shelf.…It wasn't until I really started…to look at high-concept ideas…and study what made an idea high-concept,…that I started to train my brain…to think in a high-concept way.…It was in this research phase of my career…that I began to recognize patterns…in the book and movie industry.…

All of the big books and movies that were being released…seemed to have four things in common,…or what I've identified as the four…secret ingredients of a high-concept idea.…Once I recognized this and started to brainstorm ideas…that contained these four ingredients,…that's when my career as a writer really took off.…I started selling books,…translation rights to foreign publishers,…and optioning my books for movies and TV shows.…Now every single one of my books is considered high-concept.…I can pitch them all in one sentence,…