I need some quick help/thoughts...

cleasterwood

Ra's Warrio
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Feb 4, 2005
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I sent my revised query into some agents yesterday and the very first one I sent it to requested a partial and a full synopsis! :eek: I sent a one page synopsis but am thinking she wants a chapter by chapter summary. Should I write a chapter by chapter summary? I have three days until snail mail runs again. :confused:

Gosh, I'm excited, it doesn't mean they'll accept it but it's a start!
 
First things first...yay for you! Nice one Cleaster.

I'd Imagine that a full synopsis would be just as you said a full chapter by chapter breakdown, but I really wouldn't know I haven't really read much on writing a synopsis. I would have thought the best thing to do would be to phone or email and get confirmation from the agent. Unless you think that might come over as being unprepared or unproffesional (I'm guessing you just wouldn't want to give them any excuse to put a black mark against your name at this stage).

Maybe Kelpie or Aurellio or one of the other experienced authors on the site will be able to give you a more informed answer.

Anyway best of luck and well done.

If writing were a Japanese RPG you'd now be hearing the words "You have Levelled up!" :D
 
Thanks PenDragon! Um, yeah, I don't want to give them an excuse. The one page synopsis covered all the major plot points. The agent's website doesn't state what they want in a full synopsis so that leads me to believe they want a chptr by chptr only because it also states "A full synopsis or outline." Oh, I'm so excited!
 
Major congratulations!! I wish you the best of luck! Oh, and do keep us informed, the non-talented (that'd be me :) ) like to live vicariously through you guys with talent.
 
Big Congrats, Cleasterwood! :)

I've NOT done this before so I'm probably not of great help to you. Kelpie knows the protocol better, me thinks!

I found this on a quick Google search. It looked like it was pretty good:

http://il.essortment.com/synopsiswriteb_rqmx.htm

Here are my instinctual suggestions: I would recommend you keep your synopsis fairly short. I assume they don't want much more than a couple of pages, and I'd go for clarity. I would make sure to express your character's arcs rather than just plot points. It will give them more emotional connection to your story.

If there is a way to grab them in a single line, something that makes them feel your story and characters will have broad appeal, then that would be ideal. Put that right up front.

Good luck and YEE-HAH!!! I'm very exciited for you! Keep us posted so we can cheer you on! :D
 
Hmm, what exactly did the agent ask for, a synopsis or an outline? A synopsis tends to be 1-3 pages, so I'd think she wants about three pages -- unless she used the dread word "outline" which could mean the chapter by chapter summary thing. Except that an agent once told me that reading even the most skillfully written chapter outline is like having needles stuck into your eyes. That may have just been him, of course.

A "standard" partial, if there is such a thing, tends to be a three page synopsis and the first 3-5 chapters.
 
Oh, thanks for the help Kelpie and everyone. The agent's site asked for 'a full synopsis or outline" but they also do non-fiction. In her letter she asked for a full synopsis, specifically. I have a tight concise one page synopsis that has all the major twists and such but I'm wondering since I sent it to her already if she's wanting something longer or just a hardcopy of the one I sent already. Here, let me post the one I sent to them and let me know if it's fine the way it is or if I should expand it further.:

Intro is here.
At age 25, ANDREA REGAL and her twin, ELISE are accomplished Egyptologists. Andrea has searched her entire life for the tomb of the Pharaoh KHUFU, Builder of the Great Pyramid, but it has eluded her. When she finds an ancient prophecy inside the Queen’s Chamber, she releases a preordained chain of events that leads her to the tomb and the Talismans of Time.



Andrea vanishes and Elise begins to experience hallucinations. While her family searches modern day Cairo, the Ankh of Time transports Andrea to the court of the great pharaoh himself. She learns she is destined to become the Sun God RA’s Warrior and save the world from APEP, The Destroyer who wants to swallow Ra and unleash his torturous abyss upon the earth.



Khufu’s infatuation with the young warrior turns to love--a love she cannot deny or accept. As the ancient gods teach her the art of magic and war, her family seeks help from an occult master named MAJEED. After Andrea travels to the Egyptian underworld and frees herself of the evil she harbors within, she agrees to marry the king. Deception lies within and BASTET gambles with the future for personal revenge. A charm sent to Elise allows her to touch Andrea and return her to the present.



Injured, Andrea receives help from the gods to heal herself because during her extended absence Khufu has succumbed to the Dark Lord's spell of lunacy. Upon her homecoming, Andrea's husband kills her with a magical dagger which sends her soul to Apep's volcanic domain. Her training continues after ADEL, her dig supervisor and family friend, is murdered protecting Elise as she seeks the Ankh of Life, which recovers her sister's soul from death. Apep gains his freedom and his minions descend on the earth. The twins must merge souls into one body to defeat the Dark God. As Apep’s blade descends upon Andrea, she and Elise unite and together they bind Apep to the underworld.



Khufu and his warrior bride live out the remainder of their lives until he dies of old age. The gods have pity on Andrea. They risk their own immortality to return her to her proper place by taking a potion, which freezes them all in time. With a broken heart, Andrea is reawakened by her family and she attempts to resume a normal life. A year later her father, MARK, sponsors an exhibit. Mark introduces Andrea to a benefactor with an unsettling affection for her. During their first dance, he reveals himself not as a stranger, but as Khufu.



All the major twists are in there including the ending which paves the way for book two (something I also mentioned in the query).
 
That's a very good one page synopsis. If you decide to expand on it, all I could suggest is that you might want to include some little bits of dialogue here and there, for flavor, perhaps a very small amount of description, and the actual wording of the prophecy.

But it occurs to me that in asking for a complete synopsis (this one being pretty comprehensive as it stands) perhaps the agent wants to learn more about your plans for the other books?
 
Kelpie,
There are a couple of holes I can fill in where minor plot twists, which would improve the agent's view of the plot(like Set chases them down and attacks them while in Menfer), got overlooked and I sure could add some dialogue, couldn't I? I didn't even think of that. :) Your last statement is interesting. I never thought of it that way. I have many other books waiting to come out but the trilogy is the first thing I'm writing. I guess adding my statement regarding my second novel helped. I wasn't sure if it would or not. I'm wondering what I could include in the synopsis that would help them in seeing the other stories though. Maybe I should fill in the minor details of the last two books but the third one I still haven't got a plan for yet as I'm working on #2 now. I know overall where the entire trilogy is going but the details are rather sketchy on the last book right now as I tend to let the muse work her magic after I write the outline. Always good to have a reference point to look at when you're stuck. :) Any suggestions on what to tell them for the later books that aren't ready yet? Give a brief overview or something?
 
I'd suggest half a page to a page on each of the other two books. If you don't know that much about them as yet, invent something that sounds good, just so the agent will know that the story has somewhere (potentially) to go after book number one. No one is going to hold you to following the synopsis, you know. By the time you come around to writing those other books, no one but you will remember what was IN the synopsis.

But having given you my own take on the whole thing, I feel obliged to say this: I know you hate to ask the agent for an explanation of what she wants in a "complete synopsis" (chapter outline, more on the other books, or something else entirely), for fear of appearing ignorant, but truly, I don't think it would do you any harm to ask. Whereas sending her the wrong thing, so that she has to tell you =then= what it is she really wants ... that could bother her more than answering a perfectly reasonable question at the outset.
 
I filled all the holes in and it ended up being 3 pages, which is more detailed. I will though email her a letter asking just to be professional. Thank you for your input. :)
 
Yes, I-Brian, she is but I had to make it past the query hurdle first, which I have. I have a one page and a three page synopsis. I sent the one pager over to her and her exact words in her reply were: "I'd be happy.... please send the first 50 pages and a full synopsis."
 
Good thing I asked! You were right Kelpie, better to ask and remove all doubt! She indeed wanted the 3 pager. Thanks so much to all for not only the help but the encouragement.
 

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