Elizabeth Grayson's Writing Tips
www.onceuponaromance.net
The following is two in a series of "Dear Abby" type articles
Elizabeth Grayson did for her local chapter newsletter and are used with her permission.
Dear Elizabeth,
I have read a guideline of one synopsis page per twenty-five manuscript pages.
I have heard one so lengthy it would bore a prospective agent or editor to tears.
And I have also heard they are not even read by editors (but I don't know if I necessarily
believe that).
Cindy
Dear Cindy,
I can't bring myself to believe that ANY editor or agent would be so cruel as to require
an author to write a synopsis and then not put it to the use God intended. Besides a
synopsis is a vital part of any submission. The pages/chapters tell an editor you can
write. A synopsis tells an editor you have something to say.
What an editor looks for in a synopsis is 1) the logic and structure of the story, and
an escalating tension. Will this hang together? Will it pull readers along? He/she wants to
know 2) a bit about the characters and how they behave through the arc of the story. Are the
hero's and heroine's actions consistent and are they worthy of the reader's concern? Will
readers like these characters? He/she is also judging 3) whether there are elements in the
story that will make a book commercially viable. Why will people want to read it? Is the
author balancing the difficult issues she wants to write about with things that will pique
the readers interest?
As an aside, I'd like to take a minute to illustrate that balancing thing because it's
so important in thinking about ALL the stories we want to write. This is the gist of a
conversation Eileen Dreyer had with her editor when she proposed her Kathleen Korbel
Silhouette Intimate Moments JAKE'S WAY.
Eileen: I want to write a romance with an illiterate hero.
Editor: Hum. Well, I don't know...
Eileen: Did I mention to you that the illiterate hero is a cowboy?
Editor: Why didn't you say so in the first place?
Beyond the things listed above, there are a couple of other things the synopsis lets you
do that may be relevant to selling your book. You can talk about the story, as well as
tell it. In an overview you can summarize your story in a sell line that the editor can
take to an editorial meeting to help HER sell your story to her editorial department.
Patricia Coughlin's Rita Award winning book MERELY MARRIED might have been explained in
the sell line as: A marriage of convenience book where the duke marries a dying
spinster -- but then she lives. Or you can write what is called a "high concept" line
like the one for JAWS: Shark terrorizes beach resort.
You might also want to give a little background information in your synopsis if you are
using an unfamiliar historical period/event or new technological advance as the basis of
a story. Or you might want to say a word or two about how you mean to tell the story. I
wrote something in the synopsis for COLOR OF THE WIND about using epistalatory material
(the heroine's letters) to further the plot. Keep this stuff brief, but it may be useful
in giving your editor further insight about what you mean to do.
To get back to the correct length of a synopsis -- your original question --this varies from
editor to editor or project to project. The best way to judge what kind of a synopsis an
editor wants is to get the information from her directly. Whenever an editor gives a
workshop, someone invariably asks this question, and the editor dutifully answers. Track
down a tape of her last workshop and find out. Ask someone who submits to her regularly.
Sometimes tip sheets will tell you what kind of a synopsis an editor or house prefers. If
you're really worried about this, it's not inappropriate to call an editor -- though I would
probably track down her assistant, if she has one -- and ask outright. Or let your agent
guide you to the correct synopsis form to accompany your submission. After all, your agent
works with this editor every day, and that insight is part of what you're paying her for.
Everyone has a theory about how long synopses should be, and I guess that one page per
25 manuscript pages is as good a rule of thumb as any. That's in the ball park for what
I've done most of my career. I have a friend whose synopsis advice is, "sell the sizzle,
not the steak," and her synopses run three to five pages. I couldn't do that, but it works
for her.
Keep in mind that synopses are highly personal things. You have to be comfortable with the
way you tell your story in the synopsis just as you must be comfortable telling it in the
text of the manuscript.
The thought I'd like to leave you with in all of this is that in spite of all the cursing,
twitching, and gnashing of teeth we go through over writing a synopsis,
NO EDITOR EVER TURNED DOWN A MANUSCRIPT SHE WANTED TO BUY BECAUSE THE SYNOPSIS WAS TOO
SHORT, TOO LONG, OR IN THE WRONG FORM.
Cling to that truth,
Elizabeth
Writing Tips
Dear Elizabeth --
How on earth do I take my 75,000 word manuscript and turn it into a 2-3 page synopsis
and not have it sound like the average eight year old's book report?
Julie O.
Dear Julie --
Since my advice last month also dealt with the synopsis beast, I suppose we should
entitle this column "Synopsis Part Deux." Or "Doing the Dirty Deed."
I think it's important to approach writing a synopsis with the right attitude. Some people
find it helpful to meditate to clear their heads, or take a walk to order their thoughts.
I personally prepare by gritting my teeth and muttering the words of the German philosopher
Nietzsche, "That which does not destroy you makes you stronger." But that might
not work for everyone.
It's easier, of course, to synopsize a manuscript you've already finished. But since you
often need to do a proposal -- which generally includes a synopsis and about three
chapters -- long before you've completed your novel, I advise you to write the chapters
first. That way the characters are alive to you, and you've probably already established
the setting and introduced the story's conflict.
How you cut your story to fit your synopsis requirements is a highly personal thing. Over
the years I've tried several methods of cropping to synopsis length. I tried listing all
the plot points in the story, then crossed out the unnecessary ones. More recently, I've
planned my books by writing incidents on recipe cards, then manipulated them until I had
a storyboard that works as a basis for a synopsis. Since I used the Syd Field's* paradigm to
organize my wip (work in progress), I used it to help me hone the story to it's essentials --
not very successfully, though, because my agent asked me to trim it some more before we
submitted it.
Doubtless other writers have their own techniques for winnowing things to managable
lengths. If you ask them how they do it, they'll probably make a face and share their
experiences, but don't expect the Holy Grail. The truth is no one knows an easy way to
do this.
Oh, and while your doing this miserable, scary, difficult thing -- remember not to get so
distracted telling what happened that you forget that the heart of your story lies in the
characters and their emotions. THIS IS THE SINGLE HARDEST THING TO REMEMBER WHEN YOU ARE
WRITING A SYNOPSIS.
For a 2-3 page (that's only 500 - 750 words, for crying out loud!) you might try something
like this. Start with an active introduction of the hero and heroine -- perhaps at the
moment they meet -- and give a sentence (2 maximum) about each. Include what they want
(internal conflict) and what it is about them and/or their situation that will make
sparks fly (external conflict). Don't dwell on physical descriptions unless they are
pertinent to the story.
Spell out the major conflict in letters about a foot high; be specific and tell how this
problem will impact on both the hero and heroine. If you have a villain, introduce him in
conjunction with the conflict if you can. Also mention only secondary characters that are
VITAL to the story -- ie: the heroine's son who has been kidnapped -- but keep these
characters to a minimum. (This should cover about the first three to five chapters of
your novel.)
Set your sites on the midpoint climax and tell only what incidents/interactions you need to
reach it. Spend a couple of sentences on the midpoint climax (usually some moment of
intimacy that changes the hero and heroine's relationship). Explain the EMOTIONAL
CONSEQUENCES this has on the hero and heroine.
Reintroduce the conflict and perhaps new problems. Show how what happened at the midpoint
plays out as the characters meet these new dangers/challenges. Move as quickly as possible
through the circumstances that spiral your characters toward their dark moment. At the dark
moment briefly reiterate what each of the characters has at stake.
Give a strong, active sentence or two that sums up the final confrontation. Resolve
whatever remaining conflicts are keeping the hero and heroine apart. Write one emotionally
satisfying, happily-ever-after sentence -- and Voila!
Now before you reward yourself will a box of bon bons, look at your synopsis as a whole
and remember, in romance THE HERO AND HEROINE'S RELATIONSHIP IS THE REASON YOU'RE TELLING
THIS STORY. Does your synopsis reflects that? Does it give the HOW and WHY of your story,
as well as the what. Remember that CONVEYING THE CHARACTER'S EMOTIONS IS THE KEY TO SELLING
YOUR BOOK.
Rewriting and rewriting and rewriting again is essential to a putting together a selling
synopsis. Once you're convinced yours makes both logical and emotional sense, take some
time with your technique. 1) Use a variety of sentence structure in your synopsis -- simple,
compound, and complex. Simple sentences are especially effective for emphasis and in action.
ie: They made love. 2) Beware of the passive voice; a good number of your sentences should
begin with a subject and an active verb. Check for this. It keeps your narrative vital. 3)
Give things a flow when you can. ie: After a pitched battle with Essex's men, Sir
Reginald... 4) Simplify as much as you can. Patrol for unnecessary adjectives, adverbs,
and prepositional phrases. They add bulk when every word counts. (You can cut 20-25 pages
from a 500 page book doing this, too!) When you're sure you're done, have someone who doesn't
know the story read the synopsis for sense.
In the end, there is no better advice about writing a synopsis than what Nike gives
you in its advertising: JUST DO IT.
And do it and do it until you've got something you're willing to show an editor.
Have courage,
Elizabeth
We appreciate Elizabeth's contribution to the writing tips at Once Upon A Romance.
Please, visit her website for more info. Click on the link below.
elizabethgrayson.com
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