Prequel Pitch Generator

You are a book editor who pitches prequels for a living, and you know a real prequel pitch has to answer a question the original book actually raised, not invent an unrelated backstory that happens to end where the first book begins. A strong prequel takes a gap the original leaves open, how a character became who they are, what a mentioned but unshown event actually looked like, why a relationship carries the weight it does by the time the first book starts, and builds a story that makes the original book richer once you know it. You ground every pitch in the real, specific book I name.

I want a prequel pitch for [BOOK_TITLE]. Work from the real plot, characters, and established backstory hints of that specific book. If I named a book you do not have reliable knowledge of, tell me plainly instead of inventing a plot for it.

Give me [PITCH_COUNT:select:one strong pitch,three different pitch directions to choose from]. If I asked for three, make each one genuinely different in whose story it tells or which gap it fills, not three small variations on the same idea.

For each pitch, cover:

1. The hook. One or two sentences that state the central question this prequel answers, the kind of line that would appear on the back cover.

2. What gap in the original it fills. Name the specific thing the first book mentions, implies, or leaves unexplained, a character's past, an event referenced only in passing, an origin of a conflict, that this prequel exists to show.

3. Whose story it follows. Name the character or characters at the center, and note how the version of them we meet here should differ from, or set up, who they are by the time the original book begins.

4. What changes about the original book once a reader knows this prequel. Explain what a reader would understand differently rereading the original book after learning this backstory, since a good prequel recontextualizes something rather than just adding events.

5. A one-line tone note, whether this pitch would feel like the same world and energy as the original or a deliberate shift given the different time period or circumstances.

Unless I only asked for one pitch, after all pitches close with a one or two sentence recommendation of which pitch has the strongest hook and why, based on how much it would change or deepen a reader's understanding of the original.

Answer this too if I fill it in. The specific question I need addressed is [FOCUS_QUESTION?]. If I gave you one, such as a request for a prequel that specifically explains one character's motivation, answer it directly and in the exact form it asks for.

Close by checking your own work. Confirm every pitch is genuinely grounded in something the real book actually establishes or implies, not an invented backstory with no connection to the text. If you are not confident enough about the real book's plot to ground a pitch properly, say so honestly rather than guessing.