The joy of writing a synopsis
Well, one of the things I've set for myself to do before our baby is born is work on finding an agent for my latest novel. As of yesterday, I'm done with the novel! Sort of. I'll be polishing up the first few chapters as I'm gathering my list of agents to query and all that. But last night and this morning have been all about getting the synopsis written. In my first stab at it, I wrote quite a short version--shorter than some places seem to prefer, so I may have to come back and do an expanded one. But my impression is that typically such synopses are more for publishers who take unagented submissions rather than for agents, so the hope would be that I won't need that.
Now I've been distilling it even more, getting the kind of 3-paragraph synopsis/teaser that goes into a query letter. A part of me likes doing that, actually, but it's certainly work--weighing every single word as well as the whole even more than I tend to do for short stories. I've been doing some agency research too...but that's even more of a mind-twisting process that I quickly distract myself from.
Well, one of the things I've set for myself to do before our baby is born is work on finding an agent for my latest novel. As of yesterday, I'm done with the novel! Sort of. I'll be polishing up the first few chapters as I'm gathering my list of agents to query and all that. But last night and this morning have been all about getting the synopsis written. In my first stab at it, I wrote quite a short version--shorter than some places seem to prefer, so I may have to come back and do an expanded one. But my impression is that typically such synopses are more for publishers who take unagented submissions rather than for agents, so the hope would be that I won't need that.
Now I've been distilling it even more, getting the kind of 3-paragraph synopsis/teaser that goes into a query letter. A part of me likes doing that, actually, but it's certainly work--weighing every single word as well as the whole even more than I tend to do for short stories. I've been doing some agency research too...but that's even more of a mind-twisting process that I quickly distract myself from.
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