Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Synopses Suck

Just by their nature, they suck. If I could tell the story well in two double-spaced pages, it wouldn't be a novel, now would it?

The constant fight against the instinct to write well and be interesting, as opposed to merely getting across all the plot points, is agonizing. I have to break it up with frequent tab-overs to the net. Like this one.

I have actually bumped potential publishers down the submission list just for requiring a synopsis. But there's no putting this one off any longer. So, back I go.

/whine.

2 comments:

  1. HarperVoyager's submission guidelines asked for a query letter (which includes a very small synopsis, more of a blurb) as well as a 1500 character synopsis. That's 1500 characters, not words. I was sorely tempted to write, "Some stuff happens to some people. There's a climax and a sword fight. Stuff is resolved."

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  2. :LOL: Perhaps they figure if you can make a 1500 character summary you're a genius and they won't need to go to the expense of editing you?

    I get why they need a synopsis. I do. But producing one is definitely one of the "non-fun" parts of the profession.

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