Writer Jana: Holy Hell!! I...(insert a string of curse words here...a long string...keep going...drink some sweet tea because cussin' takes a lot out of you and you need your sugar...okay...write the damn synopsis)...
Editor Jana: Let me flip over here to the synopsis to see when such-and-such will happen...
What Is A Synopsis
Well, simply put, a synopsis is your manuscript. The nuts and bolts. The bare bones. It tells the whos, whats, whens, wheres, whys and hows of your entire story. Only without the lyrical prose, witty banter and character development.
A synopsis does not outline your manuscript with bullet points or chapter by chapter, or consist of less than 100 words (unless you're writing a short, short, short story). A synopsis is not a repeat of your blurb and/or back cover copy. [A blurb is designed to tease and intrigue; a synopsis lays everything on the line.]
How do you write a good synopsis? Well, class, that's Part 2.
My editorial process when reading a submission is to
1) read the intro letter (because I want to know a bit more about you, i. e., are you a new writer? do you have a website/blog? are you previously published and with whom?)
and
2) read the partial manuscript (which can be 1-6 chapters). If I get stuck while reading the partial, I immediately read the synopsis.
A synopsis helps me to determine whether to continue reading the partial.
And how do you write a synopsis? Stay tuned...
For another editor's point-of-view(hi Imogen!), visit Imogen Howsen's post at the Samhain Publishing Blog.
Great post, Jana, very informative!
ReplyDeleteA synopsis does not outline your manuscript with bullet points or chapter by chapter, or consist of less than 100 words (unless you're writing a short, short, short story). A synopsis is not a repeat of your blurb and/or back cover copy.
That sounds familiar, where did I hear that before? *grin*
Great minds think alike, I suppose. *grin*
ReplyDeleteI'd actually had this post drafted for a couple of days but it's nice to see all the editors in blog land in sync!
They synopsis is the hardest thing for me to write. I’d rather write ten bios and fill out twenty artform request forms than write one synopsis. They always feel rushed, flat and unappealing to me.
ReplyDeletePart of that is, in the beginning, I didn’t really understand what a synopsis was. I thought it was the blurb. Luckily, Chippewa looked over my inadequacies and gave me a chance anyways. *blush* Once Tami explained to me what should be included in a synopsis, I found writing them to be very difficult.
And they should be around 100 words? Oh dear…Thinking about trying to summarize a full novel in 100 words makes something in my mind break. Somehow, you just made writing a synopsis hard. *sweatdrop*
I also didn’t know you wanted websites and whatnot in the cover letter.
Thanks for the information, Jana!