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.
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.
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.
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’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?
