Ask a Stupid Question...

[queenoftheskies]

May I? Please?

I have a question about writing a synopsis. (I keep having to resist the urge to call it a treatment, like in screenwriting.) Anyway...I understand the basics of writing a synopsis.

I just have a couple of little stupid, picky questions, for anyone who would care to answer. :)

First, when formatting a synopsis, how do you place your contact information on the first page? (Do you place it on the first page?) Do you place it in the upper lefthand corner like you do with the title page of your manuscript? Or, is it presented another way?

Second, if you place your contact information in the upper left-hand corner, how far are you supposed to drop down for the title of your synopsis?

Also, I understand that headers are required. Are they formatted the same was as novel manuscript headers? Or is different information required there?

Thank you. I appreciate any and all help offered. :)

I'm writing synopses today and I just want to make sure I have them formatted correctly.

I can't find my Writer's Digest book of formats and web search hasn't brought me the information I desire.

Comments

[jmeadows.livejournal.com]

Doode, I don't know, but let me know when you find out. :S

[lousy-timing.livejournal.com]

I did some research on this subject last year, and found that you should do one of two things for your book, but not both:

1) Submit the manuscript with a cover letter. (I can give you details of what to include and what not to include, if you'd like.)
2) Submit a query letter, which contains somewhat of a synopsis, but acts as a teaser, really, to get the editor's attention. The query letter goes without the manuscript, so that you can find out if the company is accepting stories such as yours, and would like to read the one you've written based on the teaser.

Apparently, doing both means an almost certain death for your book, as it won't fit into the sort piles, and can end up buried for long periods of time, or even circularly filed.

If you Google "sample query letter," you'll find some good guidelines for writing those, as well as a few cover letter suggestions. Also, I learned at LunaCon that including the fact that your book is copyrighted in your cover letter is silly; they know that it is your work, and that goes on the manuscript.

Hope that helps!

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

I format my synopses like a short story: contact info at upper left, sincelge spaced; a title five or six lines below that, centered (and usually bolded); the synopsis itself double-spaced below that; on every page a header with the title, my last name, and page number.

[irysangel.livejournal.com]

I really haven't found anything that has a consistant format of synopses. What I do is put a header at the top of the page, very similar to what I use for my novel/sample chapters. It usually looks something like this:

Plight of the Valkyrie / SYNOPSIS / page #
Jessica Madden / phone # / email

Then, depending on space, I tab down a few lines and head my document with:

SYNOPSIS -- PLIGHT OF THE VALKYRIE

And launch into the synop. Haven't had any complaints so far, so I assume there's no 'BAD' way to do it as long as you're neat and have all the appropriate info. Also, single space or double-space just depends on who you're querying. Some like double for readability, some don't mind single. It also depends on how much you're trying to cram in there. *g*

I've also learned (not that you asked, but after fiddling with mine for so long, I'm no longer uncomfortable around it) that you have to remember two things: SHORT and VOICE.

On short, well, keep it short. *g* The attention span of the reader is going to be somewhere between 'flea' and 'A.D.D.' Frex, I've heard Harlequin will not look at a synop of over 2 pages. I sent out a query with a 10 page synop and got auto-rejects (and it was obvious they didn't read past the synop itself). My current one is 2 pages, and that's the one I've had some measure of success with so far.

As for voice, I think we're so busy condensing we forget to make it interesting. I condensed mine down to the length I wanted, and then rewrote the entire thing, keeping voice in mind. It sounds SO much better and everyone that has read it has said good things about it.

HTH. I'm not an expert by any means, of course, but I've also learned what I *do* know the hard way. ;)

[irysangel.livejournal.com]

Oh, whoops. I forgot to mention, I put my contact info on the RIGHT, so I don't know that there's a 'correct' side to do it or not. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. Who knows. :)

[iagor.livejournal.com]

:) It does not matter actually :)

1) If you are submitting to a specific agent/editor, check the specific agent's/editor's guidelines first. If they say something, DO IT THE WAY THEY WANT IT no matter how stupid.

2) If they don't say anything, go with generally accepted standards, which are:

1) Put the manuscript, synopsis, quary into 12 pt Courier. Type 01234567896 times on the first line and adjust the margins so only 60 character fit on the line.

2) If you are sending a query first - which you should! - format it just like you would a letter. Your address in the top left hand corner, text of query, signature, date. Do no make your query more than one page. Do not send synopsis cold. Query first!

3) If the agent/editor responded favorably to the query, and you are sending him your synopsis, do not put your address on the synopsis - you will waste space. Write a nice letter stating your address in left hand corner and include something along those lines: "Dear Agentname. Thank you very much for your interest in my work. I've enclosed my synopsis and first x pages for you consideration. Thank you once again for your time." Signature and date.

Then you take your synopsis - no more than two pages! - and put following header on it "Name, synopsis manuscript name, page number." If your synopsis is too long and you are desperate, abandon Courier for a different font but only for the synopsis.

Then you take x number of pages the agent requested and put this header on it "Name, name of manuscript, page number."

Then you put letter, synopsis,and x number of pages into an envelop and add a SASE to it. - see that's why it doesn't matter about your address. You are already giving them a self adressed envelope.

Tada! If you get past this point, the agent is genuinly interested and you can ask him/her how he would prefer your stuff formatted.

[iagor.livejournal.com]

And I just made a buttload of typos in that post O_o. Anyway, lookit here: http://www.nelsonagency.com/faq.html#6 This lady has it all explained much better than I can.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

I have to disagree with some of this. I've been writing and selling novels for decades now, and since I moved to a computer in the late 80's, I've never used Courier as a font in a manuscript or a proposal, and neither my agent nor my various editors have ever said a word. Everything's been in Times, Times New Roman, Palatino, or some other readable font.

My last synopsis, which sold a three book fantasy trilogy in hardcover, was eleven pages (double-spaced) -- a little over 3,000 words. The shortest synopsis I've ever written that resulted in a sale was five pages. My contact info was on every one of them, too.

But... Your first point is spot on. The first thing anyone should do is see if the publisher/agent has published guidelines on what they want to see. If they have, then you do exactly that, no matter how you would prefer do it.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

In fairness, I should add that one of the reasons that the synopsis went eleven pages was because the synopsis was the entire proposal -- no sample pages were sent since I was pitching the idea to the editor who bought my last three books, and she knows how I write...

[iagor.livejournal.com]

"I've been writing and selling novels for decades now, and since I moved to a computer in the late 80's, I've never used Courier as a font in a manuscript or a proposal, and neither my agent nor my various editors have ever said a word."

That's strikes me as curious. If you don't mind my asking, how do you figure out typographical word count without Courier? The fonts you listed do not give accurate typographical word count due to each letter being of a unique size. Courier is the only monospaced font readily available. I'm pretty sure Courier has been recommended by SFWA for years now.

Just to demonstrate that I am not the only Courier freak out there:
http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/dec98/shunn.htm
http://www.sfwa.org/writing/format_rothman.htm
http://www.sfwa.org/writing/format_betancourt.htm

Having just gone through the agent-editor song and dance, I would strongly recommend using Courier :)

"My last synopsis, which sold a three book fantasy trilogy in hardcover"

Key here being a trilogy :) For a newcomer, a trilogy might be a little bit of a stretch. Average novel clocks at 90-120K. If a writer presents a 3,000 word synopsis for a 90-120 K than I would suggest the writer has a problem summarizing. The synopsis for my current sale, 127K, was a page and a half.

With all due respect, being an pro, such as yourself, probably results in a little more slack in the rule department. A new writer, unfortunately, has to cross all the t's and dot all the i's as I painfully found out - they just asked me to cut my novel from 127 to drum roll... 90k :)

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

No due respect necessary! :-) Yeah, you're right, there's probably a bit of slack inherent in a track record.

And you're not the only Courier freak -- I asked fellow writers how they formatted their works-in-progress in a recent post (http://www.livejournal.com/users/sleigh/89585.html?nc=31) and several indicated that they use Courier. Personally, I find Courier and other mono-spaced fonts ugly; if I had to submit in Courier, then I'd wait until I was ready to print out to make the conversion.

You can't go wrong using Courier.

But again, all I can say is that over the last two decades, I've been submitting manuscripts in proportional fonts and no editor -- not a single one -- has ever given me grief about it or asked me to re-submit in Courier. Maybe I've just been lucky, or maybe it's the 'slack', but that's the case.

As to typographical word counts -- since novels are never typeset in monospaced fonts, I don't see the issue (though that may be ignorance as to the precise niceties of publishing). I can generate a simple word count from the word processor; changing to Courier doesn't alter that number. In the ancient days of typewriters, a monspaced font allowed a semi-accurate guesstimate of word counts (average number of spaces in a line times the average number of lines per page times the number of pages divided by seven), but any word processor gives a far more accurate count. I've had publishers change fonts and margins in a book to get the book down (or up, too, I suppose) a particular number of folios -- so the number of pages produced by a certain number of words is flexible to some degree.

As to the synopsis length, I used a total of three paragraphs at the end discussing books 2 and 3. The other ten pages covered the first book... But -- I've certainly seen synopses that sold books that were a page or two. A good synopsis is one that sells the book. Period. Still, I think the page range is fairly variable. In general, I would tell someone that eleven pages is probably too long, given that you're handing in fifty to a hundred pages of your manuscript as well. But in that case, I wasn't handing in any manuscript pages at all, and so I went into more detail than I might have. I'd also tell someone that one page is probably too short. I'd shoot for the 3 - 6 page length myself. (And I'm talking double-spaced pages here, not single...)

A good book on synposes in the speculative fiction arena is "I Have This Nifty Idea..." edited by Mike Resnick (Wildside Press 2001). In it are the synopses for several published novels, by Robert Silverberg, Jack Chalker, Joe Haldeman, Walter Jon WIlliams, Robert Sawyer and several others (and me, too...). The synposes range from Joe's one-paragraph pitch for FOREVER PEACE to Walter Jon's 27 page (yes, 27 pages in the book. Don't know what it was in manuscript) synopsis of THE RIFT.

And ouch, Ilona! Cutting your novel from 127K to 90K is damned near a 30% cut. That will be an incredibly painful revision, no matter what you do. You have my sympathy. I can only shake my head.

[sleigh.livejournal.com]

Oops... In monospaced fonts (if I recall correctly), publishers usually considered a word to be five letters and a space, so in the Bad Old Typewriter Days, you divided by six, not seven as I said in the above reply...

[horace-hamster.livejournal.com]

Dunno if I'm doing it correctly, but when I send a synopsis along with a query letter (and, possibly, some or all of the manuscript, as per the individual agent's or publisher's guidelines) I put all my contact info in the query letter, and just put "TITLE OF BOOK: SYNOPSIS (by Moi)" at the top centre of the synopsis. I single space my synopses, double space my mss; dunno if that's right either.

[jsgbits.livejournal.com]

I always liked a single spaced cover letter with the following format:

Return address
Date
Editor's address
Salutation
P1: Introduction (intent, past published credits)
P2: Brief synopsis of enclosed material (please do not try and categorize your work beyond the broadest genre--science fiction, fantasy, horror. It's okay to say a science fiction horror, dark fantasy, speculative fiction. Don't try and compare it to anyone or anything. Book editors are smarter than that.)
P3: Specific contact information (like, due to hospital hours, I'll be unavailable during the day) and intent of ms (please feel free to recycle/enclosed is a SASE for submitted chapters--check first if agency/publisher will return even with SASE, some don't)
Signature

Enclose first three chapters in standard ms format--no book editor will reject submission if submitted in Courier New instead of Courier or in Times New Roman instead of Courier. They won't even reject it if it's in font size 11.5 instead of 12. But they will look at it funny if it diverts much from there. Use regular paper, nothing fancy, no pink cover letters or attention getting gimicks. No book editor will be impressed and I doubt the magazine editors will be impressed either.

Synopsis is usually formatted exactly like the ms. Be sure to include "synopsis" in header. It should match the first three chapters in format (page numbers in the same place, same font, same size, etc.)

Headers can include title, last name of author, page number. You can put the pagenumber as a footer instead of as header, but most editors like it in the right hand corners, not in the center. It's just easier to read, but I don't think any editor is so petty to reject a good ms. based on location of page numbers.

Never bind or staple your work--paperclip is fine. Rubber banding a large ms (when editor requests full ms.) or put into a ms. box is preferrable). Never print/photocopy double side--always have at least 1" margins all around.

This, at least, was the format I preferred when accepting ms. and synopsises. *g* Good luck.

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

As iagor says: Do it the way this particular publisher or editor says to do it if you can find out what that is.