Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Novel Synopsis-o-rama

Over at Tobias Buckell's blog I came across this list of links to writers posting synopses today online, among those who participated are Naomi Novik, Mindy Klasky and S.L. Farrell. I'd mention it for those of you out there who wrestle with the Dread Syn and like to see examples that actually sell books.

Last summer I put together a rough draft of my revised novel notebook (and I'm still revising the revision, as it happens; every time I think I'm finished I find one more thing I want to add or change.) Among other things I put in the notebook was the original synopsis for one of my published romantic suspense novels, Heat of the Moment. Naturally I forgot about it while I was transferring everything from the old ftp files, but I moved it tonight. You can now read it online or download it at Scribd here.*Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I have removed my free library from their site, and no longer use or recommend using their service. This e-book and all of my free reads may be read online or downloaded for free from Google Docs; go to my freebies and free reads page for the links. See my post about this scam here.

6 comments:

  1. Regarding scribd--are you happy with using their site? I went exploring in their archives and found a lot of books posted that I had serious doubts that those uploading had the rights to do so. (including all of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game novels, among others.)

    I also saw authors like you and Tobias Buckell posting their own work (yay!) available to read freely.

    It seems a bit hit and miss, but I have a free ebook I want to make available and it seems a simple, elegant solution.

    best,
    lisa

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  2. Lisa wrote: Regarding scribd--are you happy with using their site?

    So far I've had pretty good experiences with them. There are some occasional glitches here and there -- I wouldn't recommend trying to upload a document on dial-up, for example, because half the time it doesn't work -- but it seems to be on approximately the same level as Blogger.

    I went exploring in their archives and found a lot of books posted that I had serious doubts that those uploading had the rights to do so. (including all of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game novels, among others.)

    I've seen some questionable docs in regard to copyright, too, and I've e-mailed a few heads-up notes to the authors and/or publishers involved. I think (other than reporting it to Scribd administration as well) that's really the only thing you can do.

    I also saw authors like you and Tobias Buckell posting their own work (yay!) available to read freely.

    There aren't a lot of us over there yet, but I'm hoping that some other authors give it a whirl. Having Scribd store the documents for me is a blessing, especially with all the problems I've had with other methods, and I feel making my docs free to all their readers is a fair exchange for the service.

    It seems a bit hit and miss, but I have a free ebook I want to make available and it seems a simple, elegant solution.

    Why not test drive it with a simple document like a letter first, before you upload your e-book? You can try out all the features and if you don't like it, no harm done.

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  3. Lisa, one more thing I should add -- I went with putting everything over on Scribd mainly because it is a free service, and as with Blogger I want to demonstrate to other writers that some free services are decent enough until you have the budget for something bigger/more elaborate. Also, I'm cheap when it comes to internet stuff, and that definitely factors in, too. :)

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  4. Thanks for posting up your novel notebook, Lynn. I can see myself using that, or a version of it, for my next novel.

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  5. Anonymous2:22 PM

    I'm so glad I found your books and your blog. I have finally decided to start writing - again, sort of, since I did it in my twenties and then abandoned it, and now the itch is finally back. I've had characters and dialog in my head for ages (I haven't told anyone, of course - you generally shouldn't talk about the voices in your head, shoud you?) but I've been stymied by the little stuff, like plot. And genre. And structure. You know, stuff like that. And I have some confidence in my ability to write - I've done a bit of non fiction writing in my professional life and I used to make money ghostwriting papers for students* - but not so much in my ability to finish something once I start it. So right now I'm looking for tools, and your site has become the motherlode, both for the stuff you put out there and for the links you've provided to other useful sites.

    *No, I have no guilt about this. English majors will understand.

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  6. Lynn--thanks for your quick and thorough answers! I went ahead and uploaded the ebook. It's an expanded version of a class I ran at Forward Motion called Pain, Pain Perception, and Healing: A Primer for Writers.

    Handy if your characters are always getting in trouble. :)

    Pain ebook.

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