Advice

One of the first questions people ask me about writing a book is how I got started. Some are asking what inspired me, and some are asking what the “magic words” are that get a writer published. As for inspiration, everyone who feels compelled to write is inspired by something, whether it’s a story they want to put into words, or an event that wants to be written down. No matter what, writers write because we have an overwhelming need to put certain things down on paper (or hard drive, as the case may be). As for the “magic words,” there just aren’t any. There aren’t any shortcuts. You have to sit down and write, and then you have to go through the process we all go through of sending the manuscript out to editors and agents. Yes, some people spend years in this process. Some get lucky and only get rejected a few dozen times. In the long run, writers write because we have to, not because of the money or the fame (because, trust me, there’s not a lot of either of those).

On this page, I’ve put a few of the handouts and advice from workshops I’ve done at several conferences. Check in from time to time, because I plan to rotate topics.

Query/Cover Letters

Two words you want to remember about writing queries or cover letters: Be brief. Keep the length of these letters down to one page, with one inch margins all around.

Also, not all editors like queries. My first editor said, “Give me chapters or give me death.” However, some houses only accept queries, and these are just guidelines to help you put a professional query/cover letter together.

1. Tell the genre, working title and any lines specifically targeted at the publishing house.

2. Mention that it's a complete manuscript and what the word count is. No editor wants to read a partial manuscript from an unproven writer.

3. In a query, offer to send all or part of it, and enclose a business-sized, self-addressed, stamped envelope for them to respond in case they want to see more. In a cover letter, also include a SASE for them to return your work if they're not interested.

4. If you've been published before, including nonfiction, newspaper or magazine articles, etc., mention that.

5. If you've taken classes in writing, gone to conferences, are a member of any writers' organizations such as RWA, mention it.

6. Tell them if you've won or placed in any writing contests.

7. If you've read their lines extensively (and you should have if you're submitting to them), tell them and suggest that you feel your book falls within their guidelines.

8. If you have a book about a nurse, and you are a nurse, tell them. But don't mention your occupation if it doesn't directly help your writing. Your personal life doesn't interest them unless it's related to the book. They don’t want to know your marital status, how many kids/dog/iguanas you have, where you grew up, or that your hobby is growing bonsai trees.

9. Mention any other manuscripts you have completed or are working on. Hint at their story if you can keep it down to a sentence. Make it clear you're not a "one-hit wonder."

10. If the editor/agent has requested the material, always mention that within your first paragraph, and always label the mailing package “Requested Material.” Do NOT label it requested if it wasn’t.

11. In a query, condense the goals, motivation and conflict down to a short paragraph. Try to keep the length to 25 words, but if you need more, just remember to be brief. What they are looking for in that description is conflict, conflict, conflict.

12. Be truthful. Don't say you've completed a book if you've only finished half of it. Don't "embroider" anything you tell them to make it sound better. And don't try to show what a good writer you are with the letter. All they want in the query/cover letter are the facts.

13. Put your return address on your letterhead, your SASEs, and the title page of your submission. You’d be surprised at how many submissions come in with no return addresses.

14. Always send your submission to a specific editor, and make sure she acquires the type of book you’ve written, or else you’ll be wasting her time and your money.

SYNOPSIS

Everyone wants to know how to make writing a synopsis easy. Well, give up on that idea...there ain't no such animal.

Knowing what to put in your synopsis, however, can simplify things and make the whole process less of a chore. These are a few of my notes compiled from several workshops I've attended, as well as my own personal method of doing a synopsis.

Remember, these are just guidelines. Every editor is different. Every story requires a little different approach. And not every guideline works for every story.

1. Start your synopsis as you should start your book...when the action begins. Ideally you should even be able to say, "As the story opens" or "As the story begins".... If you must give any background information before you tell the beginning of the book, consider making your first page a "set-up" page, and include all the information there, such as the hero/heroine's age, occupation, location of story, and any background information you need to tell. But don't devote more than a page to a set-up.

2. Create a sense of suspense in your synopsis as well as your book. Don't give away too much information too soon. If part of your story's ending is the fact that the hero is the son of the villian, then don't tell that fact on page one. If you have a twist in your plot three-fourths of the way through the book, then that's where you should tell about it in your synopsis, if at all possible.

3. Proportionally, your synopsis and your book should come close to matching. That is, if half of your book is devoted to your hero/heroine's quest for something, then half the synopsis should be devoted to telling it. If a fourth of your book is devoted to something else, then a fourth of the synopsis should be used to describe it.

4. Don't put too many characters' names in the synopsis. In fact, the fewer, the better. If you must tell about another character, tag them with a label: the doctor, the landlord, the brother-in-law. It's much easier to visualize a doctor, landlord and brother-in-law than to try to remember that Robert is the doctor, William is the landlord and David is the brother-in-law.

5. State your conflict clearly. Use at least a couple of sentences to tell exactly what the conflict is; i.e. Dorothy wants to go home, but she must get to the wizard, who then makes her bring him the witch's broom before he will help her. Sustain the conflict throughout your synopsis to the very end, just as you should do with your story. If you've resolved your conflict 3/4 of the way through your book, then you wrote the last 1/4 for nothing.

6. Always include your motivation. Tell why your characters are behaving they way they are, why they have the goals they do, and what's keeping them from attaining those goals.

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Different authors have different aspects of their story that they turn to when drafting their synopsis. One author picks out five plot points:

1. The first meeting between hero and heroine

2. Their first kiss

3. Their first love scene

4. The black moment

5. The resolution

Another author picks out seven points:

* The opening scene

* A scene from the middle

* The closing scene

* Two pivotal scenes between the beginning and the middle

* Two pivotal scenes between the middle and the end.

When you're finished, take three hi-liters and hi-lite in separate colors your events, motivation and emotions. This helps you see if you have a good balance.

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Personally, I pretend my story is a movie I've just seen, and I've got two minutes to tell a friend about it and convince her to go see it. (One rule, though, is you have to tell the ending in your synopsis. Don't ever say, "And if you want to know how it ends, you'll have to read my manuscript.)

When you tell it like a movie, you're going to tell how it opens, all the pivotal scenes that make it so interesting, all the plot twists that you loved, and that fantastic ending that left you walking out of the theater going "Wow!" All those scenes will automatically include the goals, motivation and conflict of your characters, as well as the black moment and the resolution.

When you've finished describing your story like that, then you can always go back and add things or take out information not pivotal to the story. Be ruthless when it comes to editing the synopsis. If you've included a scene that you love, but it isn't really necessary to get the point of the story across, then cut it. The shorter the synopsis the better.

Now, a brief synopsis of this article: All you want are the bare bones...action starts here, this is what's keeping them apart, this is what they do to overcome that, these are the twists that make the reader think they aren't going to get together after all, and this is the way the whole thing gets resolved. The emotions of the characters should be behind all the events, and this emotion should be apparent in your synopsis.

See? Piece of cake. (No sharp objects or rotten fruit hurled at the author, please.)

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