Ever heard the term "the dreaded synopsis"? If you think writing a synopsis of your completed manuscript sucks, then what about a blurb or elevator pitch? Or even *splutter, choke!* a one-line high concept?I remember the first time I was forced to write a synopsis. Frankly, it was hell! I had just completed my very first manuscript, been "dared" to submit it and had spent about a week researching this whole submission thing. To my horror, I discovered I was expected to write a synopsis of my 150,000 word manuscript, which, depending upon individual submission requirements, had to be anywhere between 10 pages, right on down to 1 page.
Gasp! One freaking page? You gotta be kidding me!
To cut a long story short, it took me about a month to "perfect" (hah!) a 10 page synopsis and I ended up doing it by writing a paragraph summary of each chapter and then painstakingly cutting back and cutting back until I had a somewhat cohesive synopsis. Ah the pain and agony of it all! What to leave in? What to leave out?
Then I did the same again, deleting deleting and deleting, until I was left with various file versions in various lengths, which I could use in my queries depending upon the individual agent/editor submission requirements. Of course the pain didn't end there. Then I had to boil it down to a paragraph-long "pitch".... not to mention getting my query letter down to one page.
Honestly? I look back at those early efforts and I cringe.
These days, I've had enough good feedback from writing contests that I'm confident I can toss off a pretty darn good synopsis. But as we writers know, it doesn't end there. There's the one sentence "high concept" to master, too. Here's some of the short pitches/high concepts I've come up with for my single-title length unpublished works. Feel free to critique, as these -- as always! -- are still very much works in progress.
The Seers trilogy
Seer's Hope: What if you were a blind woman who's been transported to a primitive world where people insist you're a Seer with supernatural powers?
Hope's Children: With ultimate power comes ultimate sacrifice, so be careful what you wish for.... Be very careful indeed.
Soul-Mate: He crossed between worlds to find his soul-mate. Now he must choose between the love of his life or the lives of his people.
The Crystal Warriors series
Chalcedony's Warrior: She’s a dancer who’s sworn off men — the most important thing in her life right now is making her dance studio a success. He’s a cursed warrior with delectable pectorals. In a moment of weakness, she lets him seduce her.... Now they’re magically bonded and his life is in her hands.
Ruby's Dream: A plus-sized woman with squashed self esteem, bonded to a leather-clad male Adonis? The Crystal Guardian’s really got his work cut out for him this time!
Jade's Choice: A young woman, fighting to keep the shreds of her family intact, is bonded to an alien Crystal Warrior who’s still in love with the woman who refused him two decades ago.
Elemental Riders series
When Lightning Strikes: What if you died in a lightning strike, then were brought back to life and found you were sharing your body with the alien who rode the lightning bolt which killed you?
Scentinels series
Scent Of A Man: What if you were born into a fanatically religious world that rigidly enforces chastity but overnight you became a God-forsaken monster who was completely irresistible to women?
Super-Phreaks series
Freaks Of Greenfield High: As if being the only Goth freak at high school isn’t dire enough, what if the hot new boy, who’s totally into you, is a cyborg struggling to cope with human emotions?
Hmmm. Definitely need to do some more work on those!
Okay, now for the fun part. How about I refer you to a website which will show you a bunch of incredible 30 second summaries of popular movies?
The entire plot of Twilight summarized in a 30 second video? No probs.
March Of The Penguins? Too easy!
What about Star Wars, Terminator, Jaws? You gotta see it to believe it.
Well, I'd like to introduce you to:
Angry Alien Productions have an extensive library of 30-second theater productions and believe me, these guys are truly experts in the fine art of 30-second summaries. Not only that, but the stars of their productions are.... Nope. Not gonna spoil the surprise for you. Click on the link and see for yourself!
Warning: I'd advise against holding a hot drink while you watch these, because you ARE going to laugh--no doubt about it.
Enjoy!
:-)
Maree
4 comments:
I actually like writing query letters :) However, I definitely don't like writing the synopsis. It's something I've gotten fairly decent at but I doubt I'll ever enjoy writing. The one line pitch? I'm still working on mastering that, lol :)
I'm with Katie. Love those queries and hooks. Synopses...let's just say they hold up ALL my subs, I agonize over them.
I'm dying over the alien shorts. I can always count on your posts to leave me ROFL. Makes me want to read your books! :D
Loved your blog. I was working on a pitch last night and still had the scars this morning when I woke up. Words can bruise so easily, but with the help of a couple of great critique partners I think I have survived this ordeal one more time. I thought your work is well done...
Katie: you LIKE writing query letters? Are you like, insane? LOL! I know what you mean, tho. It's like wallpapering -- you do the sucky prep and then, when the paper goes up, you step back and go, WOW! A great query letter is the result of all that hard work to encapsulate your story just coming together into something that really pops.
Liane: Glad I made you laugh. I try, really I do. You gotta know it's my mission in life ;-)
Paisley: Hey, thanks for stopping by and for being so sweet about my post! You, my dear, are welcome back any time *g*. Seriously though, congrats on finding some great critique partners. The good ones, who won't lie to you but won't cut you down just to make themselves feel better, are worth their weight in gold. Good luck with your pitch and I'd love to hear how it goes.
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