Let’s talk just a moment about Sample Chapters. Every proposal package include sample chapters for the story you are proposing. Even if you are a multi-published author, you will have to write sample chapters for new contracts with new publishers, so it is wise to learn how to write them now. There are so many elements to writing decent sample chapters, and we’ve covered most of those topics over the past year, but I felt we needed to touch on them in order to fully cover the proposal package. When new authors read “Sample Chapters” in the submission requirements of an editor or publisher’s website, sometimes they are tempted to think… “I’ll pick my BEST chapters…chapter one, chapter eight, and chapter twenty-two.” Delete that thought. Editors DO […]
Read the RestArchive | December, 2008
Highlight it! Synopsis writing day 4
It’s Christmas decorating day here at the Warrens – I love it when our house goes from dreary to dazzle! We already have the red wall, and I jazz up the rest of the house with ribbons and ornaments and pine boughs, suddenly the season doesn’t seem so…filled with to-do lists. It seems, well, jolly. Color adds life! Yesterday, we talked about adding color WORDS to your synopsis. Today I want you to add actual color. When I first started writing a synopsis, it felt so…overwhelming. Weaving in all those threads, and helping my editor see the main plot, as well as knowing whether I’d sufficiently explained all the turning points and the black moment…arrgh! For example…through your synopsis, you should have three different story threads […]
Read the RestSynopsis Day 3 — Making it Colorful — Part 1
A synopsis, as you know, is not only a summary of your story. It is a slice of your writing style. It gives the editor the first taste of who you are and what you write. Because of that,you want to give it the flavor of the type of story you write. What do I mean? Well, every noun and verb you use conveys a feeling or mood. For example, if you are trying to up tension, and create fear, you might use verbs that generate feelings of fear. Stricken, caught, blindsided, choked. If you want to convey feelings of warmth, you might use, embraced, soothe, coo. If you want to create feelings of suspense, you might use: flicker, ripped, tear. The idea is to look at your piece, and choose carefully the words you […]
Read the RestThe Big Bang! Synopsis Day 2
Or how to deliver a knock-out in the first paragraph: Today, I want to talk to you about the BIG BANG – or the one-two first paragraph punch of your synopsis. Just like the first line of your book, you want the first paragraph of your synopsis to really grab your editor. You want to zero on the most important part of your book, the theme, or the plot and hook them good. Because, although you are going to try and make your synopsis as entertaining as possible, it is still a summary and you want to make sure you have them before things slow down. What am I talking about? Well, when you move to the Query-letter stage, we’ll be working on 100 word blurbs. These are the story in nutshell, focusing on the highest […]
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