I subscribe to author/quilt designer Carol Doak's monthly newsletter, mainly because I like her how-to books on paper piecing and want to know whenever she publishes something new. This month she mentioned the success she's having with teaching online classes at Craftsy.com, the hot new how-to crafting site. According to her newsletter in about a month she had 3,000 students sign up for her class on paper piecing, and even at the currently discounted price of $29.95 per student that comes close to making $100K in a month.
Startling figures, to say the least. Some disclaimers: I don't know how much of that Craftsy.com takes as commission or any other details involved in teaching one of their classes. It should also be mentioned that Carol is already quite well known in the quilting world as a very talented and innovative writer and artist. I noted that one draw may be that she includes free for her students a companion e-book which is valued at half the price of the class, which is an excellent bonus. I thought I'd mention it primarily for any of you who may have published how-to craft books and want to check out what's involved in teaching a class.
It would be great if there were a Craftsy.com-type site for writers (Writsy!) where you could sign up to learn how to write a proper query, what needs to be in a submission package, how to efficiently edit a chapter or even the real nuts and bolts of how to put together an e-book when going the indie route. There are a couple of obvious problems with that idea; the primary one being that writing does not translate as well to video as something like crafting. Writing happens in your head and on the computer and the page, and even the most basic screenshots quickly become tedious (or incomprehensible) in video's rapid delivery of visuals. Filming writing workshops like the kind put on at conferences might be a solution, as long as the instructor is a gifted speaker and does something besides talk.
The other big problem is that there is no one go-to, this-is-how-you-do-it standard for everything professional writers do. I think it would be tough to get everyone to agree on a standard as well -- a good example is simply how you write a novel synopsis. I learned first what synopses were and how to write them via my subscription to Writer's Digest magazine -- until an editor asked me why I wrote such odd synopses. Once I explaining that I was following examples from WD articles, the editor informed me that my synopses were in fact too short, that I should not put every character's name in all caps and I wasn't detailing my plot twists or my endings. I asked for an example I could follow, but the editor wouldn't give me one, so I began blindly writing longer synopses, ditched capping the character names and revealed all -- until another editor complained that my synopses were too long and too detailed.
The editor after that one wanted to know why I didn't write out the relationship arcs (and then had to explain to me what those were.) Another asked for chapter summaries to go along with the synopsis. The one after that, who started working with me in mid-series, asked for one-paragraph synopses for all the previous books (and if you want a real writing challenge, try to condense a novel series that contains hundreds of characters and settings and plot lines and over a million words altogether into just nine paragraphs.)
To this day practically every editor I work for has a slightly different opinion about what should or shouldn't be in a synopsis. Some want a lot, others just want bare bones, and still others want something I've never before done. That's why I put together a synopses bible on all the books I've sold so I can at least review what I've done in the past that worked. When I teach writing synopses, I also use for examples only the ones which have resulted in contract offers.
Until someone does come up with enough standards for writers to create a Writsy.com there are plenty of online classes for writers. A few weeks back I noted author Barbara Samuel is teaching an online class on voice; the way she has this set up (maintaining a small class size, the triad approach of lectures/exercises/discussions, and offering a scholarship as well as discounts for group) seems like a sensible way to go about it. Before you invest consider all these things as well as what sort of talent and experience the instructor offers, and let that be your guide.
Showing posts with label synopses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label synopses. Show all posts
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Synergy
Before you all jump into NaNoWriMo in November, you might consider putting together a synopsis for your story this month.
I will say upfront that synopsis-writing is probably the most dreaded job requirement of the professional writer. Condensing one hundred thousand words into ten or fifteen pages of concise paragraphs for an editor is a bit like trying to count then describe the freckles on a redhead to a blind person only willing to listen to you for five minutes max. But if synopses were easy and fun, we'd write them instead of novels.
With all due respect to the organic writers out there, I advocate writing the synopsis before writing one word of the novel. For me, it organizes my thoughts and reassures me on a couple of levels. I know if I can write an effective synopsis, I know the story inside and out. The folks in NY may not like synopses any more than writers do, but the standard book proposal remains a synopsis and the first three chapters (although once you've established yourself as a professional, editors are usually okay with just a synopsis.)
One of my oldest tricks to make synopsis-writing a little more palatable is to write one for another author's book that I love or have read many times. I also use synopses for nailing down annoying/lengthy story ideas that won't get out of my head. It helps get the pesky stuff that I don't have time to write out of my head, and I always feel good dropping a full synopsis into the idea file.
Some links to check out:
Charlotte Dillon's Writing a Synopsis page has tips, samples and about fifty links to other synopsis-writing resources on the internet.
This article on Pam McCutcheon's how-to, Writing the Fiction Synopsis: A Step-by-Step Approach, shows completed examples of her prelimnary worksheets from the book.
Down at the bottom of this article on synopsis writing from Where the Map Ends is an interesting five-paragraph formula for writing a very short synopsis (spiritual warfare, I like that phrase.)
PBW posts opn synopses: Synful Trio, John and Marcia tackle The Synopsis, and Novel Synopsis-o-Rama. I also wrote this workshop article on writing a synopsis a few years back, and it's still the way I write them today.
Anyone have any questions, suggestions or problems with synopses? Post them in comments.
I will say upfront that synopsis-writing is probably the most dreaded job requirement of the professional writer. Condensing one hundred thousand words into ten or fifteen pages of concise paragraphs for an editor is a bit like trying to count then describe the freckles on a redhead to a blind person only willing to listen to you for five minutes max. But if synopses were easy and fun, we'd write them instead of novels.
With all due respect to the organic writers out there, I advocate writing the synopsis before writing one word of the novel. For me, it organizes my thoughts and reassures me on a couple of levels. I know if I can write an effective synopsis, I know the story inside and out. The folks in NY may not like synopses any more than writers do, but the standard book proposal remains a synopsis and the first three chapters (although once you've established yourself as a professional, editors are usually okay with just a synopsis.)
One of my oldest tricks to make synopsis-writing a little more palatable is to write one for another author's book that I love or have read many times. I also use synopses for nailing down annoying/lengthy story ideas that won't get out of my head. It helps get the pesky stuff that I don't have time to write out of my head, and I always feel good dropping a full synopsis into the idea file.
Some links to check out:
Charlotte Dillon's Writing a Synopsis page has tips, samples and about fifty links to other synopsis-writing resources on the internet.
This article on Pam McCutcheon's how-to, Writing the Fiction Synopsis: A Step-by-Step Approach, shows completed examples of her prelimnary worksheets from the book.
Down at the bottom of this article on synopsis writing from Where the Map Ends is an interesting five-paragraph formula for writing a very short synopsis (spiritual warfare, I like that phrase.)
PBW posts opn synopses: Synful Trio, John and Marcia tackle The Synopsis, and Novel Synopsis-o-Rama. I also wrote this workshop article on writing a synopsis a few years back, and it's still the way I write them today.
Anyone have any questions, suggestions or problems with synopses? Post them in comments.
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.
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.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
The Synopsis
"Ms. Hartlace?" Jenny called over the intercom. "There's a gentleman and a lady here to see you."
Senior Editor Agatha Hartlace put her mah-jongg game on pause and cleared her throat, accidentally swallowing the Skittles she'd been sucking on. After coughing for several moments, she wheezed out "Do they have an appointment, Jennifer?"
"No, ma'am, but they have a letter from you." Jennifer paused and unfolded some paper. "It says you are interested in seeing the synopsis for their new novel, Angel's Darkness. They said they're here to deliver it."
These authors had no shame, Agatha thought, blanking on the book title. "Fine, whatever. Have them leave it with you."
"Um, they say they have to give it to you in person."
At this rate she'd never beat out the production team's top score. "All right, send them in." Her elbow bumped the half-empty bag of Skittles by her keyboard, spilling candy on the floor around her chair. As she bent over to grab a handful before the ten-second rule expired, her office door opened and closed.
"If you were a half-demon cop," a man said, "would you use your dark powers to solve crimes?"
Agatha banged her head on the edge of the desk as she sat up quickly. A tall, dark and handsome man in a black suit stood in front of her desk. "Excuse me?"
A petite, brunette woman in a pretty pink linen dress joined him. "Or would you resist the evil forces bubbling deep inside your soul," she asked Agatha, "so that you would not lose your humanity, or the chance to save the life of a half-angel librarian being stalked by a diamond thief?"
"I'd dump the cop and take off with the diamond thief," Agatha said. "I'm sorry, who are you people?"
"I'm John, the edgy but lonely detective wrestling to preserve his soul from the fires of Hades," the man said politely. "This is Marcia, my girlfriend."
Marcia elbowed him. "I'm also the half-angel librarian who is hoodwinked by the diamond thief at a Halloween party into transporting a soul-snatching diamond out of the protective walls of the house. Where the party is happening." She nodded toward her companion. "I meet John there, too."
"Of course you do." Agatha kept her eye on both of them as she reached for the intercom button, and then frowned. "Wait a minute. Are you two telling me a synopsis of a novel?"
"Yes. Angel's Darkness by Temperance Rising," John said as he sat down in on of the guest chairs. "I'm the protagonist. This is my love interest, Marcia."
Marcia laughed as she took a seat beside him. "His jokes are so cute, aren't they? I'm actually the protagonist of Angel's Darkness. He's simply the love interest, and the big plot twist." She pressed her fingers to her lips. "Oops. Better save the details of that for the end of the synopsis."
"You're giving her TMI, honeybunch," John said through his teeth as he smiled at the editor.
"At least my TMI is accurate, cupcake," Marcia replied, patting his hand.
Agatha sighed. An author who hired actors to perform a synopsis -- well, at least this would make an interesting anecdote for Mojito Night at the next BEA. "All right, so one of you is the protagonist, and you're both half-whatever. What's your story?"
"I've had a terrible life," Marcia said, her expression turning serious. "My mother sold me to gypsies three days after I was born. Then, after I spent many years telling fortunes and eating half-raw rabbits and stolen cans of beans cooked over open camp fires, I was rescued by my Aunt Millicent, who had been searching for me for years, as she never married and had no children of her own. Millicent never forgave my mother for that time she stole her boyfriend on Prom night--"
"I think Ms. Hartlace gets the picture, dearest," John said as he rested his hand on Marcia's arm. "Now, I was adopted at birth by a very wealthy couple who adored me, but who were also incessant travelers who couldn't stay in one place for more than ten seconds in order to die in a convenient plane crash on the day I turned twenty-one, so that I could inherit their billions. Before that I was raised by servants, went to private schools, that sort of privileged stuff, and frankly it left a bad taste in my mouth, so I went straight into the police academy as soon as I collected the life insurance and moved into Mom and Dad's bedroom at the mansion, because the only place I could sleep was in their beautiful old bed, not that there was any funny business going on between us when I was a child, you understand--"
Marcia studied Agatha's eyes, which were rapidly glazing over. "Sweetheart, maybe you should move along to the night we met, which is really the point where the story starts."
"Are you kidding?" John gave her an incredulous look. "I have another two chapters of weather reports and backstory to condense. I haven't even told her about my dog Rover getting run down in the street by the ice cream truck on that Thursday in late June, right after I turned eleven, and --"
"--the loss left you heartbroken, and you decided you could never love again," Agatha said, and yawned. "Been there, read that. You'll need to remove the dead dog from the book. Romance readers don't like animals being killed. Let's talk about the important details. Such as, when is the first time you two have sex in the story?"
Marcia glanced at John before staring at her shoes. "Well, not counting all the heated looks and erotic fantasies we have about each other, sort of on page five."
Agatha's eyebrows rose. "Page five?"
She nodded. "Right after my house explodes."
"We tell all of our backstory in flashbacks," John explained, "in between savage attacks, desperate car chases, Marcia's house exploding, other mystic but not too scary encounters with the netherworld, and bouts of increasingly passionate but non-consummated lovemaking."
"It'll all be in italics," Marcia assured Agatha, "and the page five thing? Is a quickie in the cloakroom at the Halloween party."
"It was not a quickie," John snapped. "I only do longies."
"Really." Marcia looked at the ceiling. "What do you want to call last night, then?"
John folded his arms. "I was tired."
The two began sniping at each other, until Agatha finally put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. "Enough. I'm only interested in the story. So you two meet at a Halloween party, and do the nasty in a closet, and then what?"
Marcia shifted uneasily. "You don't want to know about the very strange storm that blows up around the house while we're, you know, doing it?"
"Or what about the backstory of the soul-stealing diamond?" John asked anxiously. "It dates back to the time King Solomon had it dug up from his secret mines in ancient Egypt--"
"No diamond backstory," Agatha snapped. "Here's the deal. You two go home, tell your author that she needs to forget about all these useless details you're throwing at me and condense her story into a logical synopsis. It should tell me a little about you two, your conflicts and the other characters, but mainly it should chronicle everything that actually happens in the story. Save the rest of this stuff for the novel. Have her mail it to me when she's done and I'll look it over."
Marcia smiled hopefully as she and John stood. "Really?"
"Really. Now, if you don't mind, I have fifty other manuscripts I need to be reading," Agatha said, and gestured to the door.
"Thank you for the advice, Ms. Hartlace," John promised as he steered Marcia out of the office. "We won't let you down."
Agatha waited until they had left before she picked up the phone and called the legal department. "Prepare a standard two-book contract for a Temperance Rising. First novel titled Angel's Darkness. Paranormal romance." She listened for a moment. "No, don't date it yet. I haven't gotten a complete synopsis from the author." She listened again, and then chuckled. "Page five."
Senior Editor Agatha Hartlace put her mah-jongg game on pause and cleared her throat, accidentally swallowing the Skittles she'd been sucking on. After coughing for several moments, she wheezed out "Do they have an appointment, Jennifer?"
"No, ma'am, but they have a letter from you." Jennifer paused and unfolded some paper. "It says you are interested in seeing the synopsis for their new novel, Angel's Darkness. They said they're here to deliver it."
These authors had no shame, Agatha thought, blanking on the book title. "Fine, whatever. Have them leave it with you."
"Um, they say they have to give it to you in person."
At this rate she'd never beat out the production team's top score. "All right, send them in." Her elbow bumped the half-empty bag of Skittles by her keyboard, spilling candy on the floor around her chair. As she bent over to grab a handful before the ten-second rule expired, her office door opened and closed.
"If you were a half-demon cop," a man said, "would you use your dark powers to solve crimes?"
Agatha banged her head on the edge of the desk as she sat up quickly. A tall, dark and handsome man in a black suit stood in front of her desk. "Excuse me?"
A petite, brunette woman in a pretty pink linen dress joined him. "Or would you resist the evil forces bubbling deep inside your soul," she asked Agatha, "so that you would not lose your humanity, or the chance to save the life of a half-angel librarian being stalked by a diamond thief?"
"I'd dump the cop and take off with the diamond thief," Agatha said. "I'm sorry, who are you people?"
"I'm John, the edgy but lonely detective wrestling to preserve his soul from the fires of Hades," the man said politely. "This is Marcia, my girlfriend."
Marcia elbowed him. "I'm also the half-angel librarian who is hoodwinked by the diamond thief at a Halloween party into transporting a soul-snatching diamond out of the protective walls of the house. Where the party is happening." She nodded toward her companion. "I meet John there, too."
"Of course you do." Agatha kept her eye on both of them as she reached for the intercom button, and then frowned. "Wait a minute. Are you two telling me a synopsis of a novel?"
"Yes. Angel's Darkness by Temperance Rising," John said as he sat down in on of the guest chairs. "I'm the protagonist. This is my love interest, Marcia."
Marcia laughed as she took a seat beside him. "His jokes are so cute, aren't they? I'm actually the protagonist of Angel's Darkness. He's simply the love interest, and the big plot twist." She pressed her fingers to her lips. "Oops. Better save the details of that for the end of the synopsis."
"You're giving her TMI, honeybunch," John said through his teeth as he smiled at the editor.
"At least my TMI is accurate, cupcake," Marcia replied, patting his hand.
Agatha sighed. An author who hired actors to perform a synopsis -- well, at least this would make an interesting anecdote for Mojito Night at the next BEA. "All right, so one of you is the protagonist, and you're both half-whatever. What's your story?"
"I've had a terrible life," Marcia said, her expression turning serious. "My mother sold me to gypsies three days after I was born. Then, after I spent many years telling fortunes and eating half-raw rabbits and stolen cans of beans cooked over open camp fires, I was rescued by my Aunt Millicent, who had been searching for me for years, as she never married and had no children of her own. Millicent never forgave my mother for that time she stole her boyfriend on Prom night--"
"I think Ms. Hartlace gets the picture, dearest," John said as he rested his hand on Marcia's arm. "Now, I was adopted at birth by a very wealthy couple who adored me, but who were also incessant travelers who couldn't stay in one place for more than ten seconds in order to die in a convenient plane crash on the day I turned twenty-one, so that I could inherit their billions. Before that I was raised by servants, went to private schools, that sort of privileged stuff, and frankly it left a bad taste in my mouth, so I went straight into the police academy as soon as I collected the life insurance and moved into Mom and Dad's bedroom at the mansion, because the only place I could sleep was in their beautiful old bed, not that there was any funny business going on between us when I was a child, you understand--"
Marcia studied Agatha's eyes, which were rapidly glazing over. "Sweetheart, maybe you should move along to the night we met, which is really the point where the story starts."
"Are you kidding?" John gave her an incredulous look. "I have another two chapters of weather reports and backstory to condense. I haven't even told her about my dog Rover getting run down in the street by the ice cream truck on that Thursday in late June, right after I turned eleven, and --"
"--the loss left you heartbroken, and you decided you could never love again," Agatha said, and yawned. "Been there, read that. You'll need to remove the dead dog from the book. Romance readers don't like animals being killed. Let's talk about the important details. Such as, when is the first time you two have sex in the story?"
Marcia glanced at John before staring at her shoes. "Well, not counting all the heated looks and erotic fantasies we have about each other, sort of on page five."
Agatha's eyebrows rose. "Page five?"
She nodded. "Right after my house explodes."
"We tell all of our backstory in flashbacks," John explained, "in between savage attacks, desperate car chases, Marcia's house exploding, other mystic but not too scary encounters with the netherworld, and bouts of increasingly passionate but non-consummated lovemaking."
"It'll all be in italics," Marcia assured Agatha, "and the page five thing? Is a quickie in the cloakroom at the Halloween party."
"It was not a quickie," John snapped. "I only do longies."
"Really." Marcia looked at the ceiling. "What do you want to call last night, then?"
John folded his arms. "I was tired."
The two began sniping at each other, until Agatha finally put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. "Enough. I'm only interested in the story. So you two meet at a Halloween party, and do the nasty in a closet, and then what?"
Marcia shifted uneasily. "You don't want to know about the very strange storm that blows up around the house while we're, you know, doing it?"
"Or what about the backstory of the soul-stealing diamond?" John asked anxiously. "It dates back to the time King Solomon had it dug up from his secret mines in ancient Egypt--"
"No diamond backstory," Agatha snapped. "Here's the deal. You two go home, tell your author that she needs to forget about all these useless details you're throwing at me and condense her story into a logical synopsis. It should tell me a little about you two, your conflicts and the other characters, but mainly it should chronicle everything that actually happens in the story. Save the rest of this stuff for the novel. Have her mail it to me when she's done and I'll look it over."
Marcia smiled hopefully as she and John stood. "Really?"
"Really. Now, if you don't mind, I have fifty other manuscripts I need to be reading," Agatha said, and gestured to the door.
"Thank you for the advice, Ms. Hartlace," John promised as he steered Marcia out of the office. "We won't let you down."
Agatha waited until they had left before she picked up the phone and called the legal department. "Prepare a standard two-book contract for a Temperance Rising. First novel titled Angel's Darkness. Paranormal romance." She listened for a moment. "No, don't date it yet. I haven't gotten a complete synopsis from the author." She listened again, and then chuckled. "Page five."
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Synful Trio
#1: Someone (you know who you are) asked me if there was a one-size-fits-all-genres synopsis template anywhere on the web. I found a site that offered instructions on how to create your own template using Microsoft Word, which will make and store a blank template formatted for a synopsis (you still have to write it.)
#2: While looking for the template, I found the Vivian Beck Agency, and their excellent page on 5 Steps to Writing a Synopsis. If you get mired down in writing synopses, or don't understand them, definitely check this out.
#3: Although I've not yet found a synopsis-generating software program that doesn't cost an arm and leg, our blog pal Simon Haynes's yWriter freeware can be used to create a synopsis using the summary data entered for each chapter. Another reason to adore Simon: he understands our pain.
I think I got over my serious dread of synopses by following some advice to write one for a novel by one of my favorite authors. Great practice, and no pressure involved.
What's the best synopsis tip you've ever gotten?
#2: While looking for the template, I found the Vivian Beck Agency, and their excellent page on 5 Steps to Writing a Synopsis. If you get mired down in writing synopses, or don't understand them, definitely check this out.
#3: Although I've not yet found a synopsis-generating software program that doesn't cost an arm and leg, our blog pal Simon Haynes's yWriter freeware can be used to create a synopsis using the summary data entered for each chapter. Another reason to adore Simon: he understands our pain.
I think I got over my serious dread of synopses by following some advice to write one for a novel by one of my favorite authors. Great practice, and no pressure involved.
What's the best synopsis tip you've ever gotten?
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