Don't Judge Me by My Synopsis
By Andrea Merrell
As writers, most
of us shudder at words like proposal,
query letter, and synopsis. We
just want to write our stories and not be bothered with all the other stuff. Unfortunately,
if we desire to be published, all these other elements are an important part of
the process.
I can tell you
from experience that writing a synopsis is not an easy task. Writing a back-cover
blurb comes much easier for me. I can put a book in a nutshell without too much
trouble. But my first attempt at a full-blown synopsis was a disaster. Some of
it was all over the place, while other parts read like Cliffs Notes. Reading
that first draft would not give anyone the desire to read my story. Back to the
drawing board.
When you’re
writing nonfiction, it’s much easier to do a chapter-by-chapter outline of your
book. Each chapter has a title and a theme. You take that theme and break it
down into bite-size portions that will whet the reader’s appetite. One short
paragraph per chapter, and you have it.
With fiction, it’s
much more difficult to break your story down without giving too much detail or
leaving so much out the reader can’t follow you. I’ve read
dozens of proposals by gifted writers who were unable to master the synopsis
process. In other words, a poorly written synopsis is not necessarily a true
reflection of your ability as a writer. Generally, when I receive a proposal, I
skim through everything else until I get to the first chapter. It’s more
important to me to see the quality of the writing—the storytelling and grasp of
the craft—than all the preliminaries. If those first few paragraphs hook me, I
am excited to read on. Then I'll go back and pay more attention to everything included in the proposal.
Does this mean we
should not spend time making our synopsis the best it can be? Absolutely not.
As with everything we do, we should always strive to give it our all. And
whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God
the Father through Him
(Colossians 3:17 NKJV).
So, what did I do with my first synopsis? I sent it to a
friend asking for an honest rip-it-to-shreds opinion. Then I took it to my
writers’ group and asked them to do the same. This is how I ended up with a
decent synopsis to add to my proposal for my first novel.
As we hear over and over, writing is not a solitary venture.
We need a network of people who can help us get over the inevitable hurdles we
face along our journey. As I’ve said many times before, the best advice I ever
received early on in my writing career was, “Join a critique group, attend
writing conferences, and network, network, network” (thank you, Vonda Skelton).
What struggles
have you faced with writing a synopsis? How did you overcome them? We would
love to hear from you.
Photo courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and David Castillo Dominici.)
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