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The moment of The Synopsis is looming....okay I'm not desperate I've got a few weeks but I have started to research it. And what did you discover, PBW? I discovered, dear TBers, that there are as many pieces of conflicting advice about writing the synopsis as there are about everything else. Would any of you like to chip in your two cents worth please? The Dos and Donts? The How Tos and the How Not Tos and especially if you feel that is was your synopsis that got you through the slush pile and out the other side...
Comments
http://www.writersnews.co.uk/writers_talkback/comments.php?DiscussionID=163962&page=1#Item_24
You'll find millions of articles on the internet about this, but here's one:
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2007/08/how-to-write-synopsis.html
I'm at edit no 15
http://www.bethanderson-hotclue.com/workshops/writing-the-tight-synopsis/
The link you've shown is for American markets, which is fine, but UK aents are very very very picky. They tend to only want something on one or two pages of A4.
It is extremely wise to know your targeted agent/publisher's requiremets.
Good luck with it. I must admit, I would probably have submitted a whole lot more if I didn't have to do a synopsis!
(Bodley Head said it couldn't be done...)
does this help? It's one A4 page.
Synopsis of Forever
Story 1 Aethelfryth 495 AD, unrequited love. Girl for boy she plants a cursed stone which begins a cycle of problems for that piece of land. She also plants an acorn which begins the oak at the centre of the village.
Story 2 Estmund 595 AD, unrequited love boy for girl the curse on the land continues but disabled Estmund thinks he has a way of lifting it, a way which involves sacrifice to get the girl he wants. He intentionally starts a new ritual.
Story 3 - Ealda - 695 AD she is terrified when in the woods for the ghost of the knight on the white horse (the one killed by Estmund) appears to be charging towards her. In fact he is her new love. He also settles a dispute between the two rival families in the village, the Lamberts and the Blacs.
Story 4 Kenweard 795 AD - Kenweard has been roving the land to get money, to become rich, before coming back to claim his bride. Has she waited for him, and will his wealth be enough to overcome the family rivalries and let him claim her?
Story 5 Ceola 895 AD Ceola is pregnant and isnt aware of it until she seeks the wisdom of the wise woman. She has a problem, the father of her child is killed by a wild boar and she has to seek another potential suitor very quickly, thus bringing a different line of genetic inheritance to her own dark line.
Story 6 Osbeorn 995 AD Osbeorn is trying to keep the people faithful to the Old Ways against the golden headed wonder who is trying to bring in the new Christian religion and a new church to go with it. In his fight for the hearts of the people, Osbeorn realises he is losing his, to the golden boy, who in turn is courting a female artist
Story 7 Elveva 1095 AD busybody Elveva, working in the church, listening to secrets, whispering the secrets onwards, causes more problems than she ever realised.
Story 8 Gerard 1195 AD a story of first love ending in sadness but the church has much added to it during this time.
Story 9 1295 AD Pentecost unfortunately ugly, shunned by everyone but who seeks love above all else. When she finds it, with a blind man, she sets fire to the village on her way out of it forever.
Story 10 Daniel, 1395 AD lord of the manor, surveying the newly built village in its new form, still with the oak at its heart, still with its rituals. Daniel is lonely and is seeking a love
Story 11 Margaret 1495 AD the oak is being cut down, it has finally died, and Margaret is hopelessly in love with another woman. From this a new oak is born and a new tradition established.
Story 12 Richard 1595 AD Richard, also hopelessly in love, becomes a Highwayman to get jewels for his beloved. But they are recognised and she tells everyone who gave them to her
Story 13 Katherne AD 1695 Post Civil War and Katherne is looking for a little excitement in her life she has been given a gold cross by the poor boy of the household staff but her heart is with Blasé Seaman, pirate adventurer, who gives her a dagger -
Story 14 Thomas 1795 hopelessly in love with Lisette, Thomas discovers a box in a grave, one containing jewels and a dagger and realises Lisette is about to use him as a pawn in her game.
Story 15 Emmeline AD 1895 longs to be in the stables, not on the dance floor, cant stand being a lady, and after rescuing horses from the stables when they catch fire, she finds her true love, a man who needs horses and outdoor life as much as she does.
Story 16 Landon 1995 AD amateur archaeologist Landon Black has been part of the team which found a grave on top of the local hill, where they also found a stone with a face carved on it and so the story goes full circle.
The story revolves around the village, the growth of the oak, the growth of the village itself, the rivalries between the main families: Lamberts, Blacks and Seamans, cross marriages, feuds, rivalries, the attending to the old rituals for fear of superstitious recriminations. The growth and development of the church plays its own part.
But always there is love, the centre of it all, the passions, the hatreds, fears and longings set up by those who want or dont want someone else.
I agree with most of the comments above - it's very useful to have a single page of A4 (doesn't have to be double spaced) that sums up your whole story. Concentrate on the plot outline, the 'journey' of the main characters, their motiviations and how the climax of the story is achieved. Most publishers/agents prefer one page so if you've crafted that in advance you are prepared. Try to disregard minor characters, subplots etc. I am trying to gather various resources on it at the moment; as you say, there is conflicting advice but the main point is to summarise your story in order to sell it. Oh yes, present tense and write from an author's point of view, not your character's.
One way to approach it is to try to precis your book in one sentence, then one paragraph, then half a page, a whole page and so on. That way you are only adding the absolutely vital details unless you have space for more!
Good luck, pbw!
I like that approach, Lou. There's the possibility of doing it the other way round too: write out the plot of your story and REDUCE it to one page if it turns out to be too long. But I like the concentric idea: it's what was suggested by Beth Anderson above.
That's interesting to know, Red. I suppose, as you said higher up, you need to read the detail of what the agent/editor wants.
it was accepted by Bodley Head and then dropped. It may well go out with my current publishers in the future.
Great ! :)
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
Synopsis of Forever[/quote]
Yes it DOES help. What you've done, in fact, is to summarise the threads! Ah ha! so THAT's how you get it down to one page of A4!
http://loutreleaven.wordpress.com/2010/09/13/how-to-write-a-synopsis/
Cynical maybe -but the bottom line is the bottom line.
You've raised some very interesting points here and the reason it's taken me a couple of days to comment is because it has taken me that time to tease out of my brain what they were. Before I read Caro Clarke's method I did what you said - the synopsis from memory and I ended up with a stream of consciousness that is as boring as hell. I thought to myself "Well I wouldn't waste money on that book!".
Now, what's interesting about the jot down stage, unnecessary as it seems, is that along with the spade work of digging out the soil of the plot, you pull a few tiny jewels, little snippets of action, interaction, wit and/or observation that seem to matter when you're summarising. I haven't done it yet but I suspect that as you progress to reducing that big heap of soil to the important stuff, you retain one or two of those jewels which give your synopsis a bit of sparkle about it. I don't say I've done that yet - I havent' - but I'll let you know how it turns out.
yes it gets tedious. Actually I've left my 'jot down' summary alone - I haven't looked at it for a week. This is because I'm still revising the manuscript and I will not progress the synopsis now until I really feel confident that I've finished it. I shall wait for the moment when I feel like looking at the synopsis again - I think this is the only way, otherwise your editing will be tired and uninspired.
'We rarely bother to read synopses and find they seldom do a novel justice. If you choose to include one, please restrict it to two sides of A4.'
Interesting. Anyway I won't be sending anything as they don't accept children's books.
a 'long' synopsis (two sides of A4, single spaced)
a 'short' synopsis (one side of A4, single spaced)
if they ask I'll send it with a choir or angels, a troupe of dancing poodles and a bottle of champers.....whatever
I'm writing a synopsis to my Nano novel aimed at Harlequin and I've got to Chapter 8 (of 10) and it's only page 2. looks like it won't be longer than 3 pages. well, tough.
Gosh that reminds me of someone who doesn't use proper sentences, including commas and full stops. I hope it's not a real stream of consciousness!
Have you used paragraphs at all or do you mean do you need a single line break between paragraphs? I'm confused.
Relax girls, yes I know. It does look awful at the mo., true. I do have 'proper' sentences and the fully Monty of all punctation marks in English. I do take special care, really. I must remember not to be quite so facetious. I haven't used any paragraphs at all nor even a single line break between paragraphs and now I shall do it. It means I'll have to cut it down even more to fit it on one page but hey! Why did we have all those exciting lessons on 'doing a precis' when I was little? Thanks guys.
Ah HAAAA! This is what I need...the tricks of the trade!
I think it's to do with WP applications like Microsoft Word - if you indent they force a line between the para - I've never sussed out how to stop it doing that.