Rumblings (and Ramblings) at Madeline's -- JANUARY 2008

[Teresa Edgerton]

Here begins my pseudo-blog. This will be the master thread, with news, my less expansive ramblings, links to the longer ones, and anything else I decide to throw in. Just because I'll be holding forth, please don't think that comments and discussion are unwelcome here. (It's exactly the opposite: if I don't hear from anyone, I'll assume that no one is reading this and that the experiment is a failure.)

Entry No #1

First of all news:

It looks like the reissue of Goblin Moon won't be available until after the first of the year. Unfortunate, but unavoidable. Trying to publish through lulu and do a professional-looking job when you don't have the same software that professionals do ... well, it turns out to be a messy process.

Fortunately, the people at HarperCollins do know what they are doing (even if I don't know what they are doing) and A Dark Sacrifice remains on track for release in late November or early December. When I figure out which it is, I'll post an excerpt a week or two ahead.

I've been interviewed by an online magazine. For those interested, you can find it here:
http://theopinionguy.com/OGsSpeculat...tionIssue8.PDF

He asked quite a few questions specific to The Hidden Stars, so it's not just a recap of previous interviews.

****

Articles: None just yet, but I'm working on one about originality and what I think you have to do to achieve it. Actually, I'm editing the article in an attempt to sound less opinionated and pompous . So ... it could be a while.

****

A poem: Every twenty years or so, I write a few. This one seemed appropriate for the season.

IN THE RED KING'S GARDEN

In the garden of the Red King,
where corpses hang like rotten apples
it is endless autumn.
The cold but amorous kiss of snow,
the fragrant breath of spring,
the long, rich, simmering days of summer
have slipped from memory.

And in the orchard where the deadmen dangle
like fruit that never ripens
there is nothing but decay,
for all the leaves have withered on the stem,
turned brown and dry and wrinkled like the faces of old men.

The birds and bees, the patient, burrowing moles who tilled the soil,
have fled.
(Even blind, their ears stopped up with clay and loam, they knew.
Perhaps they felt the taste of earth
turn bitter in their mouths.)

A barren wind rattles the sapless branches.
The Red King walks beneath the unleaved boughs
in pallid light of morning, and crimson-tinted twilight.
The nine dead princes in the trees: his elder brothers.
Two more, the youngest, are buried under stone
with earthworms and black beetles
and other little creeping things that sip cold blood.

The King has iron fingernails grown long
and twisted into shapes increasingly fantastic.
His face, once fair, is seamed with scars
and livid as the faces of the dead.
A waxy skin of cataracts obscures his eyes,
like milk left boiling in the pan too long.
He has outlived his time
and each new day bring with it a new torture
of swollen joints and aching, bleeding gums.
The paradox: excess of life had given birth to scarcity.

Something coughs, a little rasping sound:
a lion made of stone that was a fountain,
an age ago in summer
consumptive now with moss and slime,
stained with time, leprous with scarlet lichens.
Once or twice a day it wheezes
and trickles forth a drop or two of rusty water.
Husks of insects, the armor of a dragonfly,
float upong the oily phosphorescence of the pool below.

Yet in a hidden secret place screened by a wall of thorns
a single shoot, green as a mermaid's eye,
born from a seed long dormant,
shudders and unfurls a leaf, a fragile emerald banner.
And one of the dead men hanging in the orchard
begins to stir--

[Giovanna Clairval]

Brava, Teresa! I like your poem.

I am posting here first of all, of which I am very proud.

Cheers

Giovanna

[Jeremyf]

I observe with interest.

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by Giovanna Clairval

Brava, Teresa! I like your poem.

Thank you, Giovanna. I experienced considerable trepidation about posting it here. The last time I sent a poem out into the world I was about nine-years-old. It was, of course, cruelly rejected by the magazine to which I submitted it -- crushing my poetical aspirations for years to come.

A new blog entry is just minutes away. (I just have some formatting issues to deal with first.)

[Teresa Edgerton]

Entry #2

And no, I won't be doing this every day. (I hear a gusty sigh of relief from everyone who said they would read this thread.) But when looking through some old papers today, searching for something else entirely, I came across materials from various writing seminars I've conducted over the years, and I thought that it might be appropriate to post them here, from time to time.

I'm starting with this one, because the subject is one that comes up fairly often here on the forums.

On Writing the Synopsis

I know this is an area of considerable confusion and distress for new writers who are just getting ready to send off their manuscripts to agents or publishers. But, in fact, the mechanics of writing a good synopsis are not mysterious at all.

When I sent out my first novel, agents and publishers often asked for a three page synopsis. Today, they’re more likely to ask for two pages, or one. Try to give them exactly what they want, but if your book is particularly long and complicated, and you just can’t condense it that far, you might possibly get away with another quarter page. Just keep in mind that this is a test of your writing skill. Can you be succinct when you have to be?

Here are a few pointers:

Many books on writing tell you to write the synopsis in the present tense. No, I don’t know why, and no, it’s not a requirement. But because most synopses are written that way, I believe it helps the agent or editor slip into another mind-set: one programmed to evaluate the synopsis as a synopsis, rather than as a finished piece of writing.

You have to pack as much meaning and emotion and power into as few words as possible, so go for colorful, dramatic phrasing. The general rule about “showing” versus “telling” does not apply here.

If you can, include a few short bits of dialogue, a small amount of description. (This applies more to the two or three page synopsis than to the one-pager, where you may not have room). For instance, instead of simply saying, “she refuses his offer,” you put in an abbreviated version of what she actually does say. This brings the character to life and conveys some of the flavor of the novel.

The form of the synopsis should go something like this:

Set the scene (briefly). Leave out the philosophical ramblings on the nature of evil, cut the cosmology (unless it’s really, really important for understanding the action), don’t begin with a question or a series of questions.

Introduce, in a few sentences, your main characters and the most important conflicts and difficulties they face at or near the beginning of the story.

Describe the major movements of the main plot line, including any important plot twists, setbacks, or sudden reverses of fortune (so that the agent or editor can see that the plot is a dynamic one, rather than one that just plods along from incident to incident). Leave out (or, if you must, briefly summarize) everything else, including all the sub-plots. If you try to tell too much, you run the risk of sounding incoherent. Concentrate on what matters.

DO give a clear idea of how the book ends, and don't annoy the agent or editor with coy hints. This doesn't mean that you have to give away all of your secrets or spoil all the surprises, but he or she will want to see that you are able to bring your story to a logical conclusion, or at least (if it’s the first book in a saga spanning several volumes) to a logical stopping place.

If it is part of a multi-volume series, you may want to include a very brief summary of the other books, but on a separate page.


Oh, and don’t worry if the story sounds a tad implausible written as a synopsis. The plots of some of the greatest books in the world sound equally unlikely when given the same treatment. Editors and agents know this, and know how to evaluate the synopsis accordingly. The most important thing that you need to convey, in just one or two pages, is that your book has engaging characters caught up in a compelling story line.


______
©2007

[Sephiroth]

Well, I find that really helpful, thank you. And it's very clear and concise.

The interview was interesting, and I enjoyed your poem; very dark, but not without hope.

[LauraJUnderwood]

Oooooooo, the poem is creepy and yet, I would love to see it illustrated in some fashion, perhaps by Charles Vess, and maybe turned into a sort of graphic novel.

Laura J. Underwood

[Teresa Edgerton]

Well, that's flattering, but I don't think there is nearly enough content there for a graphic novel.

But as you are a bard, Laura, you might be interested in the poetry people are producing in this thread here:

http://www.chronicles-network.com/fo...6-or-less.html

Some of it is amazingly good, and I think it would be stunning set to music (and accompanied by a harp, of course).

[Teresa Edgerton]

Entry #3

My royalty statement for The Hidden Stars arrived today; suffice to say that I am in a mildly celebratory mood.

In recognition of which, and to prepare the way for the publication of the sequel in December (or is it November?), I am in the mood to give away some books. Therefore, I announce,

A DRAWING FOR FREE BOOKS

Prizes are three copies of The Hidden Stars. Anyone who wishes their name entered in the drawing for one of these books need only mention that fact here, between now and Midnight (GMT) on Friday.

[Sephiroth]

I would like that. I'm really keen to read some of your stories; I will buy your books when I can afford to, and in the meantime, I might get lucky. Yay.

And congratulations on getting paid!

[scalem X]

I already have a copy (and signed bookplates and a map huuuzay), but I wish all the other contestants good luck.
Nice to read how things are going, I'm a horrible critic for poems, so I will not comment on it (just so you won't think I disliked it, because I didn't say anything about it).

[JDP]

Thanks for taking the time to post here, Teresa. I found your passage on writing a synopsis very useful, especially:

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

Oh, and don’t worry if the story sounds a tad implausible written as a synopsis. The plots of some of the greatest books in the world sound equally unlikely when given the same treatment. Editors and agents know this, and know how to evaluate the synopsis accordingly.

Phew! I've tried to write the synopsis a few times for my WIP, and come across this problem. It's good to know that this is normal - I hadn't heard/read this anywhere else!

Cheers!

[Giovanna Clairval]

Wow, gosh, I'm in on the drawing. And I'll buy another book from the shop here as soon as I get my new credit card (I lost it last week, and it's taking ages to get another. Problems with the postal system).

[Teresa Edgerton]

Thanks for reminding me, scalem. I should have mentioned the books will be signed.

Originally Posted by JDP

Phew! I've tried to write the synopsis a few times for my WIP, and come across this problem.

Yes, I think a lot of writers fill their synopsis up with supporting information, and find they've run out of room to describe the action of the plot.

It's important to know what your plot actually is, and not every writer does. They get lost in all the incidents, and have a hard time figuring out which are essential.

A while back I devised a formula (sort of cobbled it together from other sources) for describing a story, no matter how complex, in a single sentence. Once you have your sentence, you know what your book is about -- as opposed to the things that just happen.

It goes like this:

Character (or characters) + something descriptive of who they are + immediate challenge faced or undertaken + ultimate goal semicolon turning point + consequence.

If that doesn't make sense, here is an example (I chose LOTR because so many people are familiar with it):

Frodo the Hobbit and a band of adventurers representing the free peoples of Middle Earth set out on a perilous quest to destroy the One Ring of Power; when members of the company are separated, each must fight the forces of the Dark Lord Sauron in his own way.

[pyan]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

Character (or characters) + something descriptive of who they are + immediate challenge faced or undertaken + ultimate goal semicolon turning point + consequence.

If that doesn't make sense, here is an example (I chose LOTR because so many people are familiar with it):

Frodo the Hobbit and a band of adventurers representing the free peoples of Middle Earth set out on a perilous quest to destroy the One Ring of Power; when members of the company are separated, each must fight the forces of the Dark Lord Sauron in his own way.

Now that'd make an interesting thread in "Workshop", Teresa.
Synopsis Challenge: Your favourite book in 50 words or less........