Let’s talk today about the Synopsis. While your Cover letter and Marketing Plan sells the story concept, the Synopsis sells the story itself. What is the synopsis? This is your story, in a nutshell. It’s a wide angle look, highlighting the big moments, and telling in a way that engages your editor’s imagination. The last thing they want to read is a dry retelling of your story. Let’s start with an overview of a great synopsis: Step One: A good synopsis starts out with outlining the character’s goals, their fears (as a set up for the black moment) and their deepest desires – with a hint at why. You’re trying to show what they are they after, and why? What their conflict is, and what God is […]
Read the RestArchive | September, 2010
Cover Letters and Marketing Plans…sell your novel CONCEPT
So….you’ve polished your story, the agent is breathlessly waiting for it…time to send it in, right? Nope. First you need to write a proposal. A post-conference, request proposal consists of a Cover Letter, a Marketing Plan, a Synopsis, and the first three chapters. I like to write my Cover or Query letter last because, well, by then I know what I’m trying to say. And, you should already have those first three chapters written and polished, right? If this is your first book you should have your manuscript already written. And you should know your physical, emotional and spiritual plots, including the black moment and the epiphany. You should know who your character is, what his values are, what motivates him and what his greatest […]
Read the RestNow What? Post ACFW Conference Chalk Talk
Are you home from the ACFW conference? Finally unpacked? I took a terrible head cold home with me from the plane (thank you coughing guy sitting next to me). But, what a great weekend we spent together at the annual ACFW Conference! I hope you came home filled with encouragement and new ideas on how to make your writing breathtaking. Now what? Conferences can be overwhelming – between the requests for proposals or full manuscripts, new story ideas, craft lessons, marketing epiphanies and loads of new friends. Where and how do you start to process all this information? First, sit down a make a list of everyone you met, from editors to fellow authors, to newbies. Then, start reaching out. If they are editors or agents who […]
Read the RestRunning out of words
The truth is, I don’t run out of words very often. Usually, I have something to say, and frankly, should probably keep my mouth shut more often. In fact, I can count the moments when my world stopped and words swept from my mind. ~Seeing my handsome groom at the end of the aisle, waiting to marry me. ~The birth of my children. ~The day, in Russia, when God spared us from attackers who would have killed us. ~Watching my eldest son take the stage, head shaved, as Daddy Warbucks and realizing he’d grown up. ~Listening to my daughter sing the national anthem. ~Watching my middle son plow through the defense the first time he ran for a touchdown. ~The day my […]
Read the Rest
