Hi, people:Please cast your eyes over these two pieces. The cover letter is first draft and the synopsis is second draft.
Cover letter:
Dear Editor:
The Spiral Staircase, a completed fantasy – love story of 85,000 words, follows a young girl with one foot in childhood and the other firmly placed in maturity. During Rebecca’s transition from a child like fantasy world, she embarks on a quest hoping to steer her mother through an uptight, disjointed marital relationship.
15-year-old Rebecca has an inner wisdom beyond her years, often referred to as a second-timer. Aware that her mother Elizabeth has a deep-rooted and hidden sadness. Rebecca captures Elizabeth’s imagination showing her a world of fantasy and fairies hoping to bring some joy. Soon, the family move to a sixteenth century gothic mansion where Rebecca discovers a spiral staircase in an old summerhouse down by the lake. This staircase leads Rebecca on a series of adventures back to various points in the history of the mansion. During these journeys, Rebecca is always Rebecca, remaining in character, although bizarrely she is temporarily the daughter of the current mother. Rebecca experiences equally dysfunctional associations, which aid her transition to a woman. Armed with this know-how can she turn her mother around and transform her father’s terse approach?
The Spiral Staircase is my second novel. My first started life as a plot driven sci-fi, which unwittingly I turned into a philosophical love story and understandably struggled with both the synopsis and placing it somewhere on the shelf. Realising my natural genre – which came as a shock – I set about my second novel, having finally accepted where my soul lay.
This novel, although always a fantasy and the account of a charming bond between a mother and daughter, it primarily looks at communication, or sadly the lack of it, all too often experienced in marital relationships. This is a well-documented subject, which I have attempted to see this through different eyes. As a child, I experienced a torrid, hostile, and abusive upbringing. Having learnt from these experiences, I wrote this novel hoping to impart some of my understanding.
I hope to become a published author; however, I will continue to write, having further tales to tell.
I appreciate your valuable time in considering my novel and hope it comes someway close to your high expectations.
Regards,
Newbie
Synopsis -- The Spiral Staircase
15 year-old Rebecca is a popular girl, but often prefers her own company, where she sits drawing fantastical scenes of imaginative worlds, chatting merrily to her various make believe friends.
Elizabeth, her mother, lives a difficult life with James whose Victorian approach toward the women in this family is a burden to her. Despite an upbeat appearance, Elizabeth has a deep-rooted unhappiness fuelled by feelings of intimidation and an inability to deal with any form of conflict.
Elizabeth soon learns to find a solace in Rebecca’s world. After school, they often sit together in the wood, where Rebecca tells her stories while Elizabeth writes them down. On one occasion, Rebecca explains how the fairies dance the heather. Explaining that to most adults it just looks like the heather swaying in the evening breeze, but if you your mind and look closely, it is actually the fairies wings.
Although they are settled and have a lovely home in Cheshire, James comes in one day and announces they are moving in December. When Elizabeth tentatively questions the timing, he states, ‘no buts woman, my decision is final.’
The new house is a stunning gothic mansion dating back to the fifteen hundreds. It nestles on the banks of a large lake in Cumbria, where the family quickly settle in. Elizabeth and Rebecca try to establish some history on this old house. Curiously they draw a virtual blank, other than it was used during WW2 as an evacuation home for children. A local records officer suggests there may have been some form of cover up during the eighteen hundreds, but hesitates and fails to elaborate.
One day, whilst drawing in the woods, Rebecca drops her pencil, and during her search, she finds an old large key. In her world, she believes the pixies moved her pencil so she would find the key, setting her on a mission to locate its rightful home. Finally, after failing with every door in the main house, Rebecca suggests to Elizabeth they go and try the old derelict summerhouse down by the lake. The key fits the front door, however, once inside only two of the three doors are accessible, both leading to empty rooms barring an old tallboy.
Sometime later Rebecca returns alone and to her amazement, the third door opens. Inside she finds a spiral-staircase leading to a series of small doors. One of these doors inexplicably takes her back into the 1850’s, where she is still Rebecca, remaining in character. Bizarrely, she is the daughter of the current mother of the house, Meredith. While on this journey, Rebecca learns how Meredith deals with a dysfunctional relationship. Later that day - during a storm - Rebecca falls, banging her head, knocking herself unconscious and is awakened by Elizabeth. Not sure if this was a dream, Rebecca goes back to the door many times but to no avail.
Reflecting on her experience Rebecca realises the greatest marital sin is to stop talking and equipped with this often encourages Elizabeth to talk with James. She tells her mother how Meredith dealt with her relationship, in the hope that Elizabeth will somehow learn and hopefully improve her relationship. Elizabeth, although delighting in her tale, considers it another one of Rebecca’s imaginary stories, but nonetheless takes on board these wise words.
During the summer, the third door finally opens again, and takes Rebecca on two more adventures. Rebecca experiences two similarly uptight marital associations and sees how the women admirably deal with these by just communicating with their partners. Armed with these experiences, and rapidly stepping out from her child shoes, she is finally able to help Elizabeth dramatically improve her own relationship with James, rekindling their original love.
Thanks Steve
