April 17, 2014

Writing and Rewriting the Synopsis

Dear M,

If my tail were actually on fire, I would not have run as hard as I was running the last few days.

I have absolutely no idea how I survived hopping between the different things and still managed to keep track of what was happening where (of course with enough slips along the way) and to continue where each was left off.

In between that fire-and-smoke existence, I managed to take a look at my synopsis. Now the synopsis, like the query letter, is another frightening thing. That is the first glimpse the agent/publisher has of our work. Either they like it, or they don't. Either they think it has potential, or they don't. Whether it lands up in the trash or the "Exciting New Author" box depends on how well we craft the synopsis.

I had written one for this novel a few months ago, possibly when my first draft was ready. Strictly speaking, there is nothing wrong with the synopsis. It is factually correct, it has a brief summary of the what and the who, and everything. As per the rulebook.
But.
Reading it again after months, it did not excite me.

Now the easiest person in the world to be excited over anything related to a novel is its author. No one else in the world thinks it is a masterpiece but the author. He/She pretends to be all modest and humble about it of course, but secretly, in their eyes, the novel beats the best of the best.

So if the author isn't excited by the synopsis, then there is really something wrong with it - no, a better way to put it is that the synopsis is dead. It was never even born.

The synopsis said exactly what was needed to be said about the novel, but that's not how a synopsis ought to be written. I need to write it again.

Let's hold the match stick to the tail again...

Love.

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