Tuesday 8 November 2011

That Synopsis Thing


I’m a bit of a fan of the decidedly non-crabby Crabbit Old Bat, AKA, Nicola Morgan, and her brilliant blog full of tips for wannabe writers. http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com I first came across Nicola’s writing when I read, ‘Blame My Brain,’ a book about that fascinating, sometimes unfathomable phenomenon that is a teenager’s mind. If you have anything like a, ‘normal’ adolescent in your house and ever feel that you should scrap everything you learnt in the first twelve years of parenting, I urge you to take a read – then hand it to your child.

Nicola has written over 90 other fiction and non-fiction books and her next is to be on the dreaded art of synopsis writing. When I saw that she was looking for guinea pigs to offer up their fledgling synopsis for the scrutiny of her and fellow blog readers, I was tempted. Why would I wish to expose the inadequacies of my synopsis to the red pen of an expert and hundreds of eagle-eyed writers? Because of its importance. Get the synopsis wrong and agents and publishers don’t read your manuscript. That’s it.

And so for that reason, wincing, my finger hovering, I eventually pressed ‘send’.

The fairy story writer inside me would love to say that Nicola responded with an apology that she would not be able to use my synopsis as an example as it was far too perfect already. Unsurprisingly, this was not the case but no matter, the feedback opened my eyes to the fact that my synopsis committed an obvious sin: it did not tell the story of my book. Simple.

I’ve spent the past few weeks trying to redress this issue and have just sent it back to Nicola for ‘marking’. Of course my fear is that she reads the new version with her head in her hands, swaying from side to side, pausing only to sigh with disappointment. But in my more rational moments, I will admit to this version being better. I shall wait to hear back from Nicola before deciding if I’ve achieved my objective of writing a synopsis which reflects the plot and style of Glass Houses as I’d like it to read - but I already feel confident that I know what I need to do, even if it takes a few more attempts.

I won’t include either version here, you’ll have to buy Nicola’s book, Write a Great Synopsis (working title) for yourself, but I thought it might be useful to share with you what I’ve learnt:

1.      Tell the story
This is at the crux of the mission. By all means write your synopsis well, showing that you have the tools for the job, but make sure your story joins up.  It doesn’t matter how nicely the synopsis is written, your submission will be rejected if your novel doesn’t sound like it would sell. Fact first, then style.

2.      Be accurate; don’t be ambiguous
I realised that my previous synopsis had lead readers to believe that x, y and z would happen when really it was a, b and c. This was quite terrifying! I needed to go right back to the beginning and think about everything along the route to the end of the novel, choosing more carefully what events I included and more crucially, what I chose to leave out.

3.      Cut to the chase
When I took out the superfluous words and detail as suggested, I realised how short on content the synopsis really was and exactly why the plot would come across as ‘thin’ for a 100,000 word novel. I’d included too many examples to show the same point and needed to show more events, writing less detail about each one.

4.      Show a stranger
I’ve asked long-suffering friends and fellow writers to look over my synopsis in the past but these people have all read some, or all, of Glass Houses. They would be able to fill in the blanks as I can, meaning that they, too, wouldn’t be in a position to fairly judge how accurately the synopsis tells the story.  Next time I will show my synopsis to a total stranger (of course hoping that they are compelled to jot down the title for future purchase, so intrigued are they by the plot).

I’m indebted to Nicola and all the fellow writers who took the time to feedback their thoughts and suggestions. I’m not claiming my synopsis is perfect but it’s certainly closer to selling my book than it was. Thank you.

Happy scribbling!

Jackie

BTW…not wishing to depress anyone with my list, I should add that I have submitted Glass Houses to 18 agents and publishers and been asked to send the full manuscript to five of them. (It’s currently with a publisher, donations of fairy dust very gratefully received.) So, I don’t think an inadequate synopsis is an absolute show stopper. But it could be so why take that chance?

26 comments:

  1. Oh good luck - we all have our fingers crossed for you and Glass House. And thanks for sharing how you did it - it's encouraging for us all to see what can be done.

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  2. Aww, thanks Jo :) I recognise you from over at Nicola's blog, it's great isn't it! And thanks for following my blog. Do you have one? I couldn't find one on your profile but my pc makes things up as it goes along.

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  3. Oh, rockets of fairy dust wafting your way, Jax! Not that you need it for Glass Houses, (such a great story will be snapped up very soon, I'm certain of it), but wishing upon galaxies of stars for you anyway.:)
    Thanks for this super article about the dreaded synopsis; it will be the first place I turn to for help when the time comes to tackle mine again.

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  4. Out of hibernation, then! Good luck with the novel. XXX

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  5. Yes, Jaxbee, I have a blog - http://gapyearsthebook.blogspot.com - and you'd be very welcome. Hope to see you there one day.

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  6. Thanks Diana, AKA Silentnovelist, love the idea of those rockets and stars doing their best for me :)And best of luck with Daisy Chains of Silence, very excited about that, how's it doing?

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  7. Hi Pauline, just popping up now and again when I've written something :) Back for mince pies in a few weeks...

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  8. Jo, I know your blog! I'm sorry, I'd missed the connection between you and it. I've just commented over there. Great piece on studying. Best of luck with your course!

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  9. Have some fairy dust all the way from New Zealand! Best of luck, Jax - Glass Houses is a book that struck me at once as likely to Go Far.

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  10. Well done, Jackie! And, as you now know, that second version was enORmously better and really showed me a whole different and richer and more controlled book. It was a pleasure to watch the lightbulbs blaze!

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  11. Thanks Shayne! And great to hear from you! How are you? Thanks for your Kiwi fairy dust, it's lovely :)

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  12. Thanks Nicola! I enjoyed the lightbulbs blazing too but thank you for switching them on in the first place :)

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  13. It will be worth it one day soon!

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  14. What a great post, thanks for sharing your experience. You must be really excited about the prospect of publication, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Do you have any further tips on reducing a 2 page synopsis to a single page? It has taken me a long time and lots of independent input to produce a 2 pager, and some of the agents I'm interested in approaching only want one. It doesn't seem long enough to get a 100K worder across at all!

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  15. Thanks Antonia, you'll be the first to know!

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  16. Hi Isabel, thanks for your kind words, I'm glad you liked the post. I hope I haven't lead you astray though, alas, I'm only waiting to hear from a publisher who asked to see my full ms, can't bank on publication yet, I'm afraid!
    I know what you mean, two pages to describe 100k words hardly seems enough does it, let alone one. I am absolutely no expert but one thing that works for me in copywriting is to think content first, cut second - so I tend to get down everything I need to say without thinking about word count and then cut as I need rather than honing the words as I go along because essential info can get left out this way - and this was shown by Nicola's critique too. I suggest that you think really carefully about every event along your journey to the end of the novel and consider whether you need that in your synopsis to convey the right picture of your story. If you decide it needs to go in, make sure you start and finish your point so that the reader can't jump to their own conclusions about what happens next. Unlike the novel itself, I think the synopsis has to be very 'tell' and not 'show' so that there can be no ambiguity. I used to just cut the examples down in my one pagers but now I'll be more cautious about making sure that the action isn't distorted in so doing.
    By the way, I've also just learnt from Nicola that the synopsis can always be single line space, unlike the extract of your work, so if yours is currently double, you've got your one pager already (and you'll have to work on the original two pager instead!) I hope that's helpful?

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  17. Thanks, again really helpful. The last bit had me racing to my PC and the original was 1.5 spaced, which is about one and a third pages, so as you say, not quite such a challenge as I feared (and amplifying it for a 2 pager will seem a treat now). Did you spend any of your precious words saying what genre it is/general blurb ? I've heard several agents speak recently and some think this is essential and others apparently consider it presumptuous for the author to comment on what genre they think it is or who might want to read it. This is the kind of thing you don't always find on their websites!

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  18. That was so very brave of you! I'm really not sure I could have done it. I know as unpublished writers, we have much to learn, but don't you find, it's a bit of a terrifying ride?

    I have Nicola's book, Write to be Published and I love it. She really knows how to say it the way it is without coming across as though she's talking to a bunch of nursery school children. Her blog is great. I hope you get top marks for your new synopsis :)

    Keeping my fingers tightly crossed for your submissions!

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  19. Jax, it's Charlie (Charlotte Castle)

    Just saw this blog. Email me if you have a moment - I always loved Glass Houses and might be able to help. *might*. My agent is pretty cool about referals.

    Much love - long time no talky. Mwhah xxx

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  20. Hi Isabel, I'm so glad I mentioned the line spacing! I've heard mixed reports on the genre thing too but have heard more often that not that it's worth including the genre in the covering letter. So I don't include it in the synopsis but do include it there, as well as mentioning authors on their list who I like. I have to say that I've had good feedback on my covering letters, even when being rejected :)
    What stage are you at with all things writing and submitting? Good luck!

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  21. Hi Rebecca, you're so right, I have Write to be Published too and it just makes me giggle which also means the advice sticks in my mind - which has to be a good thing! And yes, trying to get published is a roller coaster ride in itself, let along exposing yourself to the lions but actually, I find that doing this kind of thing brings a bit of excitement back into the long, long process of waiting to hear about a submission. Where are you at with it all at the moment?

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  22. Charlotte, hello you! It's GREAT to hear from you. I have checked back at your page on FB a few times in the hope you'd be back but alas, it's a bit like the Marie Celeste over there. Anyway, it's great to know you're around and I'd love to hear all your news. And of course, I'd love to talk to you about your agent. I'll email. Thanks!And don't go away again, OK??

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  23. I'm about to submit. A terrifying thought! I will hopefully be blogging about it this week.

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  24. Great news, Rebecca. It's a great feeling when you actually get those words either in the post or you finally click and send. Best of luck and keep us posted :)

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  25. Thanks again, that'll get the synopsis down a bit further if I remove the genre bit to the covering letter. Have pretty much finished my novel - women's fiction if I'm stating a genre - after two years writing and huge amounts of help from my workshop partners and am now trying to get it into the best possible shape before submitting. Can you believe I've agreed to let my own book group read it for our January meeting (they are SO demanding!)and some readers in Brooklyn where it is partly set are also going to read it before it goes out. I am really excited and incredibly nervous about what lies ahead.

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  26. Eeeek! Isabel, good luck with that! Seriously, I imagine the feedback might be quite direct but as far as success of the future novel's concerned, gold dust. Let us know how you get on!

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