18. I was feeling good about that one because i personally knew one of her clients (my Writing Pop Fiction professor....)
I've never queried an agent who wanted a synopsis. Mostly because other writers have told me that doing it correctly is more difficult than writing the novel itself. But I recently found an agent whose wish list more closely matched the genre, tone and plot of a novel that I've been trying to get represented than any other agent I've queried. So I researched how to write a synopsis and discovered things that are going to change the way I write queries, especially if the agent doesn't require a synopsis. Detailed comments are probably not appropriate in this thread. But I now see a synopsis as a tool for improving my queries and my novels to make it less likely my queries will be rejected and more likely that my novels will be represented. Moreover, learning why some agents request a synopsis makes me think that a great deal of the advice about how to write a query is not the most effective way to represent your novel to an agent. Too many say my hook should leave agents on the edge of their chairs or hanging on a cliff wanting to see more. That advice conflicts with the majority of the advice I've read about a synopsis. Agents need the surprises, the twists, the cliff hangers, the climax, and the ending to evaluate whether or not their readers will want to buy your novel. What that means to me is that my query should be a condensed synopsis that doesn't leave the agent wondering or even curious about what happens, who changes and how the story ends. Lay all your cards on the table. One agent wrote, "Blurbs don't include spoilers, such as how the story ends, because that would keep readers from buying your story to satisfy their curiosity. You wouldn't buy The Sixth Sense if you knew that Bruce Willis was dead before the boy said, 'I see dead people.' But I need that information to properly and fully evaluate your novel. And if your book is as well written as your synopsis, I want it." I'd love to hear what others have experienced with writing a synopsis.
I haven't written one yet personally, but I've always heard a synopsis should tell everything, twists and all.
I'd say around 30% of the agents I've queried want a synopsis. If they use Query Tracker, it's closer to 85%. I feel like I have the best chance for representation when I can lay out the entire story for them in a page or two to evaluate. Some of them want you to keep it brief, but most seem to give you up to 1200-1500 words to summarize your book. I like to submit synopses of around 800 words, but I have a 400-word shorter version if they prefer brevity.
19. "We were very interested but..." [Insert bit about not being a good fit, not feeling as passionate about it, not being able to sell ot, etc]
A personal favorite from a while back: As much as I enjoyed the read, I didn't find myself with the distinct vision needed to help break this one out and be your best advocate, so I'll be stepping aside for this one. I appreciated the notification as opposed to being ghosted, but my first instinct was to pull out the red pen and edit the rejection letter.
I wrote a synopsis of my novel-in-progress today just for practice, and it surprisingly felt really good. Not that it was amazingly well written, but it reassured me I know what my novel is trying to be. This comes after months of struggling to improve sections I was not happy with. My synopsis was about 800 words. I haven't tried to pare it down to 400 yet.
Collected a few more to post: 4-day and 7-day form letter rejections from agents, and a 27-day rejection from Augur Magazine. Up to 15 on the year now !
A 54-day form rejection from Ploughshares. 2023 rejection count: 8 I've sent out 12 submissions this month. I feel pretty good about that. And it's probably twice as many as I would have sent out if I wasn't aiming for 100 rejections in a year. For those of you also taking on the challenge, are you sending out more than you normally would? Hopefully, we all get some good news before reaching the 100 goal. I mean that's the idea behind it.
I typically send 2 for every 1 rejection. But since ive been getting a lot more rejections recently (and so close together) ive been submitting a whole lot more
So true. Query letters aren’t easy either trying to distill a year or mores ideas into a couple of paragraphs
My ambition is to write a 1,500 word story that's so deep and meaningful, so blessed and adored, that my synopsis will top 110,000 words.
Can't remember where I read it, but the gist of it went something like... "Anyone can write a 50,000-word story. Some can write a 5,000-word story. A few can write a 500-word story, but very few can write a 50-word story. And then there are those who can condense a zillion words into a haiku."
I have to say I pretty much disagree with that whole quote. I think writing a novel is much more difficult than writing a haiku or flash fiction. And, for me, personally, it's much harder to write a novel than a short story. A 5k word story (or right around there) is my sweet spot. I also think there are more readers and publishers looking for novels or full length short stories. I mean good luck selling a haiku. No matter how good it comes out there just isn't much of a market for that.
Three rejections this week: 108-day form rejection from Flare. 115-day rejection from a Writing Magazine competition (by not making the shortlist). 30-day rejection from Liars’ League (by not being included in the email including the chosen stories!).
