Don't they? Almost as painful as writing a synopsis.
Most of you know that I spent almost a year rewriting and revising my latest project. What you may not know, is that I spent the last month or so rewriting and revising my synopsis.
How can two pages be so difficult to produce? I mean, seriously, I've already written a 250 page novel? Why is this so hard?
I don't have the answer, but I do know that I'm not alone. I thought for this week's Wednesday Websites post, I'd share a handful of sites which I found helpful in the synopsis writing process.
Writing.com
Literary Agent, Nathan Bransford
Author, Charlotte Dillon
Author (and fellow blogger), Elana Johnson
Author, Meredith Bond
Although, it appears that no one has any concrete answers for compiling the perfect synopsis, these websites offer a place to start. Go check them out, and good luck if you're writing your own synopsis. My sympathies are with you. :) Only kidding! Any other websites or other resources you know about? Please do share.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
These Shoes Look Painful!
Don't they? Almost as painful as writing a synopsis.
Most of you know that I spent almost a year rewriting and revising my latest project. What you may not know, is that I spent the last month or so rewriting and revising my synopsis.
How can two pages be so difficult to produce? I mean, seriously, I've already written a 250 page novel? Why is this so hard?
I don't have the answer, but I do know that I'm not alone. I thought for this week's Wednesday Websites post, I'd share a handful of sites which I found helpful in the synopsis writing process.
Writing.com
Literary Agent, Nathan Bransford
Author, Charlotte Dillon
Author (and fellow blogger), Elana Johnson
Author, Meredith Bond
Although, it appears that no one has any concrete answers for compiling the perfect synopsis, these websites offer a place to start. Go check them out, and good luck if you're writing your own synopsis. My sympathies are with you. :) Only kidding! Any other websites or other resources you know about? Please do share.
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28 comments:
I can't even tell a minute story in a minute. It'll take me at least 5. A synopsis must be hard!! Good luck!!
Those shoes are actually a version of an Alexander McQueen pair & models declined working for him because of them. hehe. Yikes!
I think, for a writer, being brief is nearly impossible. I got my GED when I was 23. One part of the test involves reading a statement and writing an essay stating the reasons you agree or disagree with that statement. It is suggested that you give three reasons to help keep you inside the suggested word count. For time's sake we were told to not count our words but estimate the total words. When I took the practice test, my instructor told me that while my essay was excellent, I had greatly exceeded the required word count and that doing so on the real test could hurt my score. She said that, for me, I should just list two reasons to try to keep the word count down. When I took the test, I did so but still wrote too much and it did indeed hurt my score, but not too bad. I still was in the top 100 scores for the state that year. A little tooting of ones own horn now and then is forgivable isn't it? ;)
Seriously, how does she walk without landing on her face?
Thanks for the links. I hate writing them too. The worst part is when you have a one pager finished and an agent asks for a longer one. Grrrr!
Thanks for the info on synopsis. I'm in the middle of mine right now too. Don't you just hate it when agents do that -- you have a fantastic 1 or 2 page and they want a 5 page. Ugh!
And who would even WEAR those shoes but a ballerina?
Thanks for the links! I'm not at this point in the process yet but knowing that they are here will help me sleep at night. :)
And yes, those shoes look very painful.
P.S. I love your shoe theme!
Great resources. It can be tricky. It's important to know the page length the editor/agent is looking for as well.
~ Wendy
Those are the resources I'd use. Those shoes look awful. How would you walk in those? Yikes.
Update. I just was continuing on with my blog reading and Suzie Townsend just did a post on synopses. It's very helpful. confessionsofawanderingheart.blogspot.com
Thanks for the links, I'm just starting to edit mine.
Hammertoes, here she comes! Those are ghastly shoes.
But I agree. Synopsis writing is every bit as painful. I'll follow the links. :)
This is both timely and awesome. I'm working on my long-and-short synopses at the moment. They suck!
A friend called it a sucknopsis and that is so so true!! I find it helpful if I go through the story chapter by chapter and jot down a mini synopsis of what happens just in that chapter. Then I link them all together and reword a bit adding in my voice and the character's voice.
Not sure if this is actually a successful technique..but it's what I do!! :)
I'm guessing those shoes are a lot like toe shoes in ballet. There are probably soft toe cups inside or something. I bet ballerinas have no issues with the shoes!!
They look like toe shoes with a little help.
You gave good resources for anyone stuck in the synopsis snag.
I don't have any tips to share. just wanted to chime in to agree that synopsis are tough!
Nope! I'm not a fan of the synopsis, except when it's done. Then I sit back and admire my hard work of condensing 90k words into two pages.
I really do not like writing the synopsis, either. I dread it and try to put it off as long as possible. :-)
I loathe the synopsis. I'm now facing the challenge of writing a synopsis BEFORE the book is written since my editor wants to approve the story for book two before I write it. I'm a pantser so this is giving me fits in all kinds of ways. If you figure out the magical answer, be sure to let us know! :)
Those shoes make me shudder. Writing a synopsis makes me shudder. I wonder...if I wear those shoes while writing a synopsis, will I fall to pieces?
Wow, those shoes look like torture devices. Thanks for the great links!
I bet lawyers follow women around who wear these, just waiting for them to topple.
If you go to Katie Gansherts blog she has a GREAT outline for writing a synopsis this week! She's in the comments section of my blog if you need help finding her! Good luck! =)
I'm in the middle/process of writing mine. I don't mind working on it, what I hate, is the feeling that after hours of working on it, I don't feel very productive compared to having written 2K words.
I don't think any of us enjoy that part! I usually have to wait until I am finished a novel before I can do justice to a synopsis. I wish I could plot and plan out everything before I start, but that's not how it works for me. So I guess the upside to my madness is that when I'm finally working on polishing my synopsis, I'm celebrating the completion of a book! Good luck, you can do it!!
Those shoes do look painful! Those poor toes.
I'm so glad to hear you've taken so much time to revise and write a synop. I think it improves a ms so much! Good luck with the synopsis. I'm not quit there yet, but almost.
Those shoes are ridiculous.
Synopsis and queries have to be the two most awful things to write. Kudos to you for tackling your synopsis!
No, it doesn't surprise me at all. Getting things down to the bare minimum is the hardest thing about writing, I think. Hats off to you for all you've accomplished!
Ah those shoes looks terrible, Wonder how can anyone walk in that shoes, would be fortunate enough if they do not fall after wearing it.
Thanks for the sources, Susan! As always, you're ahead of me in the process. I've just begun my first revisions and feeling a bit overwhelmed with the 123,000+ word mess I've created. But I'll plow my way through it and then I'll have to get onto this synopsis part!
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