I've written this synopsis for a pitch letter. What's it missing? My memoir “Past the end of the road” is a 77,150 word collection of stories set in the small logging village of Port Rupert on the rugged British Columbia coast from 1953 to 1977 as the village transforms from a sleepy little logging village to a thriving multi-industry town. Port Rupert had experienced a brief boom during World War II when an air base was built nearby, but though the airport remained, the town had returned to much as it had been in the 1930s with no road south and only air and water access. As I grew up, the village grew too, with smaller logging companies competing with the McMillan and Bloedel beginning operations, a cannery opening up in 1966 and the Western Copper Mine opening in 1971. Port Rupert boomed at that time growing from a small community of 700 people in 1969 to 4,500 by 1974. My linked stories follow my own experiences including extremely risky adventures on the water and along the shore and fishing and working on the log booms with my father from an early age. As I got older , a teenaged adventures included a purloined beer keg and a solo hike to along the coast in 1971. I went deer hunting at an early age and took up black bear hunting when I reached adulthood. With a small population, every fatal logging accident, suicide or family break-up impacted everyone in the community. In the book you get to meet loggers and fishermen, log pirates and First Nations people and read about the history of life in the village as it transforms from a tiny one-industry hamlet into a boom town.
This is what I'd do with it - I'm often harsh but I can see a strong sales pitch in here Spoiler My memoir “Past the end of the road” is a 77,150 word collection of stories set in the logging village of Port Rupert on the rugged British Columbia coast from 1953 to 1977. The stories follow my own experiences: working on the log booms from an early age, or as a teenager the fate of a purloined beer keg. With a small population, every fatal logging accident, suicide or family break-up impacted everyone in the community. Readers will enjoy meeting loggers and fishermen, log pirates and First Nations people; and reading about life in the village as it transforms from a tiny one-industry hamlet into a boom town. The parts I'm suggesting to take out are straightforward. Young man goes on hike in 1971 might be the most exciting part once the reader's in there, but the highlight of the back blurb for me was the log pirates. If I saw that in a shop I'd pick it up and look for that chapter. "Shiver me timber: they're boarding me log!" etc
