Synopsis - questions

[Teatime]

Just got off the phone to an agent who told me not to worry too much about the synopsis, as they can generally hear an author's 'voice' anyway!

Which is a good thing, I think...

(incidentally, haven't come across an agent in all my phone calls today who wants longer than a page synopsis, and some prefer half pages...)

[John Jarrold]

And I prefer none at all!

[Anarchon]

I am building a list of agents who don't want synopsis (although I have written three of them, and the two-page length came out easily enough--to my surprise).

And I'm actually finding a few agents who don't require them...

[John Jarrold]

Yes, you'll find that everyone has their own ideas - like everything else in publishing, it's subjective, there's no 100%-guaranteed template.

[Havlen]

In the US SF/F market, its pretty rare to find an agent that wants a synopsis in the initial query package. A query alone, query + 5-10 pages, and query + 2-3 chapters are all quite popular, but the synopsis seems to be on its way out.

[Teresa Edgerton]

I wonder if this reflects a change in what editors want, or simply how more agents choose to work now.

Because if it's the former, then the synopsis may really be on the way out; but if there are still lots of editors who want them, the same agent who didn't want one in the beginning could conceivably ask for one later when it comes time to send out the manuscript.

[John Jarrold]

I find that publishers sometimes want them because of the power and involvement of the Sales and Marketing Directors now - far greater than it was ten years ago - so they can give them a digest and the poor souls don't have to read an entire book!

Then, if they are considering a new novelist, as long as the editor can also make comparison with two or three recently successful writers in the same area of the genre, there's a chance that the Sales guys will allow you to make an offer.

[Havlen]

Originally Posted by Teresa Edgerton

I wonder if this reflects a change in what editors want, or simply how more agents choose to work now.

Because if it's the former, then the synopsis may really be on the way out; but if there are still lots of editors who want them, the same agent who didn't want one in the beginning could conceivably ask for one later when it comes time to send out the manuscript.

I would imagine that if the publisher/editor wants one, most good agents would work with the author to produce a synopsis.

I do know that if I was an agent, I definitely wouldn't want one in the initial package. Query letter + 5-10 pages would be what I would want. I imagine I could rule out 85-90% of the slush pile based on that.

[John Jarrold]

I ask for the first six chapters - many agents want the first three chapters. But yes, ten pages is plenty to weed out 90% of submissions. Because 99.9% of my submissions come by e-mail, I can just delete anything I don't want, so there is no waste paper involved.

[JFLewis]

With my agent, it was email query followed by the first three chapters then the balance of the manuscript. Although, IIRC, I sent the first four with an explanation that chapter four was the first appearance of my other co-tagonists POV.

I *did* eventually send her a synopsis, but it wasn't a deal breaker.

[The Alamo Avenger]

Ok, I'm getting ready to pull the trigger and begin sending out my ms to various agents. Most of them are just asking for a query letter with SASE. No problem. However, I'm assuming at least some of them will want a synopsis if interested. Besides the fact that doing this for a 263k word novel feels like trying to stuff an elephant into sardine can, I'm running into another problem. My novel is science fiction and I have various cultures, concepts, and character designations that the reader comes to a gradual understanding of during the process of reading the novel that I'm not sure how to put them in the synopsis.

Should I just include these terminologies matter-of-factly, assuming the agent will pick out the main plot lines and learn the rest if and/or when he/she decides to delve into the ms? Or should I include short descriptions after each new term--which seems like it would bog down the synopsis an awful lot.

For example: "On the planet Halfa, the Quibinder Podnar rescues the Provost’s daughter from drowning. Then he takes his nisuromer to the mountains and yada-yada-yada...."

Should I give a quick description of the words in bold, or leave as is?

[Troo]

I think that example reads like Jabberwocky.

[The Alamo Avenger]

Originally Posted by Troo

I think that example reads like Jabberwocky.

Next time, Troo, try not give so much constructive criticism.

Shall I interpret your response to mean that for the purposes of a synopsis I should offer a bit more in the way of terminological explanation?

[Troo]

Originally Posted by The Alamo Avenger

Next time, Troo, try not give so much constructive criticism.

I'll see what I can do

Originally Posted by The Alamo Avenger

Shall I interpret your response to mean that for the purposes of a synopsis I should offer a bit more in the way of terminological explanation?

Not at all. My response was merely to indicate that, to me, it read like Jabberwocky: The sentence structure is fine, it bears all the hallmarks of correctly-written English, it's just all nonsense to me.

I honestly cannot tell you whether to give explanations for the terms that you have created for your world, but I can tell you that if I received a submission which contained such a sentence, I would assume that my brain had broken and that I'd spontaneously developed Aphasia. That's not to say that it's a bad thing to do, but anything which risks alienating an editor can't be good.

The only constructive advice I can offer is to reference other writers who have created world-specific terminology and see how their publishers have coped with this in the cover blurb. For instance, Liz Williams' Banner of Souls launches right into the story with no explanation of who, what, why, where, when, or how. She uses her invented terms as though you know what she means, and attempts to allow you to unravel their meaning for yourself as you go (I say attempts to because I find Banner of Souls an extremely tedious book, but it suffices for this example).

The cover blurb, however, manages to both interpret this for the casual browser and make it look a bit interesting:

In the far-distant future, a flooded and shattered Earth is governed by the iron hand of the Martian Matriarchy. Martian warrior Dreams-of-War is despatched to Earth to guard a young girl called Lunae from an unknown threat. The clone of an extraordinary heritage, Lunae ages with unnatural speed, and has the special talent of being able to alter time. At the half-ruined city of Fragrant Harbour where Lunae resides with her malignant grandmothers, and a member of the genetically modified race known as the Kappa, Dreams-of-War encounters a host of intrigues centering on the sinister presence of an alien mission station nearby. When her protege is nearly assassinated, the Martian warrior is forced to flee with Lunae to the flooded northern islands of what was once Japan. But then the child and the Kappa go missing en route, leaving Dreams-of-War determined to return to the plains of Mars in order to discover the truth about Martian rule over Earth, and the nature of all the secrets behind it...

This manages to avoid sticking too closely to the terminology used in the novel itself, while relaying enough of the plot to make the reader want to delve in.

While I'm not suggesting that cover blurb is the same as query letter synopsis, the premise is the same: You want the editor to continue on from your synopsis to actually read your sample chapters.

[iansales]

Have a look at Sean Williams - plot synopsis project - you might find it useful.