Synopses, ack, ptuie

[DavidDvorkin]

An agent asked to see a chunk of my novel, and a synopsis.

I knew there was a good chance this would happen, and I probably should have been working on a synopsis ahead of time. But I hate writing those things so much that I put it off in hopes that someone would ask to see the whole ms. without a synopsis, unlikely though that was.

I can understand why an agent would want a synopsis. If I were an agent, I'd probably ask for one. Not to mention that a standard partial consists of the first x pages plus a synopsis. Nonetheless, I hate writing those things so much that I somehow imagined I'd be able to avoid doing this one.

Ack, ptuie.

Anyway, that's what I'm doing. Good thing I'm on vacation. And that mankind discovered alcohol.

Ah, well, maybe this will result in . . . We all know where that fantasy goes.

[petgoat]

1. A synopsis is a real pain, I agree.

How can you shrink your baby to fit in a thimble?
When writing my first novel I thought it was cute to
answer "What's is about?" with "Oh, it's about 550
pages."

A synopsis can help you recognize what your book is about,
and what in it is a distraction. You may come out of the
experience recognizing that your book needs major
reorganization.

Now I start writing my synopsis even before finishing the
first draft, and revise it as I work the book over.

I learned a lot about synopsizing from Elizabeth
Lyon's Sell Your Novel Tool Kit

[DavidDvorkin]

2. I've written books from synopses

Including this one. But that synopsis was enormously long, and the plot has changed a fair amount since then.

For that matter, I've sold quite a few novels based on synopses, back when I had a writing career. Now I'm trying to bring my career back to life, using a completed novel.

Shrinking the details and subtleties into a thimble is exactly the problem and no doubt why everyone hates doing the things.

[Orrex]

3. I once took a scriptwriting course

The instructor was excellent and really knew his stuff.

One of our assignments was to write several treatments, each no more than one side of a page, and each meant to "sell" a two-hour film script. It was a useful assignment IMO because it really forced us to pare down our descriptions of a lengthy piece while making it interesting enough to inspire the prospective producer to read on.

However, I don't know how I'd do if I were required to summarize a completed novel.

Yikes!

Maybe if you just retype your novel and skip, say, 99 out of every 100 words?

[DavidDvorkin]

4. That's a thought. I was considering something even simpler.

"Some guys do a bunch of stuff. They jump back and forth in time. People get shot and stuff gets blown up. There's sex. More explosions. Deep philosophical and moral and metaphysical ponderings. More shootings and explosions and sex. It's good!"

[mainer]

5. Keep it SHORT -- 3 pages or under

that's always the advice I give. And the best model for a great synopsis is the flap copy of any hardcover book. Flap copy is designed to make you want to buy the book... exactly what a synopsis is supposed to do. In the end, it's all ad copy, and you don't need to stuff the whole book into a synopsis.

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Depends on the book and the audience for the synopsis

I've sold books based on both long and short synopses. This one will probably end up mediumish.

[mainer]

7. I always sell on synopsis, and I think the shorter the better

As my agent once said, "the longer the synopsis, the more chances an editor will spot something to make her turn it down."

Just give them enough to make them want to start reading the ms. Too much, and it will feel like a plotting checklist.

[DavidDvorkin]

8. I like your agent's advice

And will keep it in mind.

In this case, the synopsis is going to an agent. He asked for the first 75 pages of the ms. and what he called a "good outline." So I'm plowing on and hoping that my long-distance mind reading is accurate.