Synopsis Boot Camp: Day 5

Well . . . time to wrap things up. Today feel free to post anything you are trying to iron the kinks out of, but more importantly . . . let's review.

What was helpful? What did you learn about your own process? Has your view of the Synopsis Beast changed? Anything you want to share about what you did to fine-tune your synopsis or the writing of it? Any Before and After thoughts?

Grab your cups of joe. Gab.

Sign me off,
Sarge

Synopsis Boot Camp; Day 4

Between what was posted and what different lurkers and regulars have emailed me . . . most of those participating in the boot camp, or even revising their synopses on their own, are just about done with the initial version. So let's assume that's where you are . . . what next? Here are some revision tips and instructions:

1. If you are finished and your word count is over 1500 words, try to cut your word count by 10-20%. Higher than 2,000, 25%.
2. Regardless of your word count, look for ways to tighten.
3. Use the following method to edit/revise if you want. First . . . read all the way through, not stopping yourself. Next, read it through and with a pencil, circle any paragraph that starts to sound like a recitation of events. Those will have to be rewritten.
4. With your pencil, look at EVERY single verb. Circle any passive verbs for possible replacement. Don't worry about the replacement just yet . . .
5. Notice any gaps? Anything that seems confusing? Put a big checkmark in the margin near anything that might have to have some details filled in.
6. Now go fix the above. (Simple, right?)
7. NOW you need to make sure you have your voice there. Looking at the events you recount in your synopsis, are there are any that you can shift to the main character's POV? This is simple enough to accomplish with sentences like, "Lucy wonders if she's finally lost her mind along with her reputation." I.e., how would your character THINK? Can you get the flavor in there? Let's use an actual example from one of the participants, Melanie's amazing book. I took the liberty of writing one sample sentence: "Heart pounding, in the suffocating confines of a car trunk in sheer blackness, Mateo wonders if this will be his tomb." Rather than simply telling us he is in a car trunk at the border, take us INTO the trunk. Look for any places where you can move your synopsis from recitation to STORY. If you've cut elsewhere, you should have the room to do this.
8. After you've done all that, read it through once silently, and twice aloud, making your last-minute changes.
9. Send that sucker out.
10. Get a book contract. :-)

All right . . . today's assignment will be to take ANY paragraph you've posted and show us the new version as in number 7.

See you on the other side.

Synopsis Boot Camp: Day 3

All right . . . has boot camp worn you out? Today you get to PICK your assignment. See how nice your drill sergeant is being?

Same rules . . . post in the comments.

Choice #1: By now you should be 1/3 or more into a synopsis, getting into the flow of your voice, your plot, and hopefully from the boot camp, maybe seeing some areas where you have now improved. You can post the next 3-4 paragraphs of your synopsis for the same sort of feedback as yesterday--only hopefully the comments/changes will be less because of what you've learned.

Choice #2: I call this "The Beast." Every writer runs into a synopsis or query issue where they believe they have distilled a paragraph down to its essentials, but not matter how much they try, they can not "wrangle" a certain plot point so it's not confusing, or "wrangle" how to explain x or y in just a few words. If so, you need professional help. Lucky for you . . . we're in Boot Camp. You can post a particularly beastly paragraph and I will try to walk you through taming it.

Now . . . just so you know . . . once your synopsis is complete, hopefully tomorrow . . . we're going to POLISH these babies. You will cut 10-20% of your word count, and get rid of passive verbs and adjectives and adverbs that just lay there. That will be the most grueling day. Make sure you pack your Gatorade.

You know the drill. See you on the other side.

Synopsis Boot Camp: Day 2

Gosh, wasn' it so easy writing your opening paragraph? With that under our belts, it's time to get to the rest of it. In under four pages. Snap! Simple! Easy!

Today, your assignment is to post three paragraphs of what directly follows your opener. In two, three, or four paragraphs, it's often easy to spot the fatal flaws that can doom a synopsis. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Do not leave out critical bits of information that are obvious to you but not obvious to someone unfamiliar with the novel. Some of you can see from yesterday that I am familiar with a couple of the novels in question that writers are posting about. When I read the synopses, I am trying to see if there are gaps, if it's confusing, if some key element is missing were I to read them cold.
2. Do not overcomplicate your synopsis. We do not need to know EVERYTHING. Just don't leave any glaring gaps.
3. The trickiest: This cannot simply be a chronology, a "first this, then this"--that will doom your synopsis more than anything. You have got to write like a back cover jacket marketer. Include some flavor and "voice"--be clever if that's appropriate to your characters, for example. Be wry, sardonic, or dark. Let's get a sense of what reading this novel might be like.
4. How to do #3 and avoid a chronology? Use sweeps of time to get us to the NEXT KEY PLACE in your novel. Things like, "Over time, Jack discovers . . . " or "Soon he sees that . . ." or "By spring, she finds herself unemployed. . . ." Look for ways to "jump" in time and gloss over chronology so you have more room in your synopsis for your voice.

Simple, right?

Okay, I will pick up Freudian Slip where I left off yesterday.

Julian, former heroin addict, long-haired, raspy-voiced, sexy DJ, is rich, famous, and hated. His radio show is infamous for inviting lesbians and porn stars on air, and raising the ire of every conservative pundit in the United States. One morning, Julian is shot in the back by a crazed fanatic and awakes in a place where nothing makes sense.
Julian is in a coma and, as his Guide explains, his spirit is in a place called Neither Here Nor There. Julian, in a panic, tries to absorb what he’s told. But there’s more. Gus, an Englishman from the 1800s, soon informs him that he has a job to do. He’s been assigned as a sort of celestial social worker, to Kate Darby, who walked in on her boyfriend, and love of her life, in bed with her best friend. Coupled with the anniversary of the death of her fireman father on September 11th, the fallout from her mother’s hasty remarriage to a financial planner with a combover, and the fact that she has to work in the very next office from her supposed best friend, Kate is seriously depressed.
Unfortunately for Julian, he is in Neither Here Nor There, which means he is not as powerful as either angels or devils. His only tool in his quest to help Kate is his gift of gab. He is allowed to talk to her—incessantly and nonstop. She won’t be able to hear him per se, but after a while, if there is a bond between her and Julian, she will be able to hear an inner voice, almost like a conscience, speaking to her. If the connection is particularly strong, she might even find herself blurting out Julian’s words as her own—a Freudian slip.

********

A couple of things to point out . . .

1. I could have simply written her mother married a financial planner, but the "combover" is the kind of snarky detail Julian would notice.
2. In the opener, "rich, famous, and hated" is the kind of back cover info that's quick, easy, and breezy.
3. Aim for strong verbs that convey your message. She doesn't "speak" Julian's words. She "blurts" them out.
4. There's MUCH more to the world Julian is in. He can walk through walls and doors; the "Boss" (God) is a woman; he can see other spirits; the Guides hang out in a bar that only has ABBA on the jukebox since that "scrambles" anything they say so that the Boss can't hear them. But all the little quirks of this world would only complicate what the essential thread is--Julian and Kate.



All right . . . I know you'll do great. You know the drill. Same rules as yesterday. See you in the comments section.

Synopsis Boot Camp: Day 1

I have three writer friends in synopses crises. So I decided to do a one-week participatory workshop on writing the synopsis. Grab your cups of Joe and bring your synopsis to the table, and let's see what happens. If we switch from cups of Joe to scotch by week's end, Lord help us all.

No crunches or push-ups required. (Just the way I like it!) As your drill sergeant, I'll remind everyone that there are dozens of ways to write these beasts . . . and this is simply my way. I've sold 25+ novels on proposal . . . this works for me. You can tell me "Well, so-and-so says you should . . ." and that likely works for so-and-so. This is what I've found works for me. And better yet? I really have FUN writing mine. I know, it really DOES sound disturbing when I say that.

A few boot camp facts and rules so we're all on the same page:

• We're aiming for a 5-8 page synopsis. Less and it'll be too weak and without enough detail; longer and YAWN. That's double-spaced pages.
• You want some of the voice/flavor of your writing in there. We'll cover how to do that as the week progresses.
• We're not going to worry too much about formatting. This is about substance. I have heard of writers who initial cap the first time a character name appears. I've even seen whole blogs devoted to the discussion of how many pages and single- or double-spaced. Don't worry about that right now.
• THIS IS IMPORTANT: You want flow . . . and continuity. A synopsis isn't just regurgitating the events of the book. You are telling a STORY in under 8 pages.
• Finally . . . the rules for this week . . . as people post, please do not totally rewrite other writers' offerings. No "I would have written it this way." We're aiming to critique professionally . . . rewriting isn't the goal; constructive criticism is.

DAY 1

I think they key to all synopses is the opening paragraph. And to my way of thinking, it's your shortened back cover blurb. Here are two of my synopses openings from books that sold on proposal.

Freudian Slip
Shock jock Julian Shaw expected a long tunnel. Then a white light. Or at least his dearly departed grandmother. What he got, instead, was a Guide named Gus and an assignment in the world between heaven and hell, the aptly named Neither Here Nor There.

[NOTE: under 50 words]

Magickeepers
On his thirteenth birthday, Nicholai Rostov discovers nothing in his world is as it seems. He has grown up in Las Vegas—with its flashy neon and spectacular shows, including that of the world’s most famous magician, Damian. But when his eccentric grandfather takes him to a mysterious ancient Russian woman, who teaches Nick to read a crystal ball, he learns that magic is more than an illusion. Magic is real.

[NOTE: under 75 words]


In both these cases, you discover the main character, the premise, and the setting all in paragraph one. I do not believe in taking the editor or agent "out" of the storytelling of the synopsis by offering word count or genre or comparisons to other books like mine. That's what the query can do. This is MY story and I'm going to tell it.

You assignment . . . post the first paragraph of your synopsis for critique or comment. KEEP IT LEAN. Because with only a handful of pages to tell the story of your entire novel, you want lean and mean . . . and you want it to flow crisply.

All right . . . ready?