Writing The "Dreaded" Synopsis

Will Phil the Pennsylvanian groundhog, see his shadow today?  He did not.  (Such a weird American tradition, to rely on a rodent for determining when spring will arrive.)

Will I continue to avoid writing a synopsis for the manuscript I'm querying?  Nope.  Not anymore!

 synopsis |səˈnäpsis|noun ( pl. synopses |-ˌsēz| )-A brief summary or general survey of something: a synopsis of the accident.-An outline of the plot of a book, play, movie, or episode of a television show.

I avoided the dreaded thing for a long time.  I mean, I'm not the one who coined the term "dreaded synopsis" so obviously I'm not in this boat all by myself.  I figured if other writers dread it, then I have the right to as well.  I made sure to query only the agents who didn't require a synopsis.  Yep, I'll admit it.  And once again, I don't think I'm in this boat by myself.

So anyway, I decided to bite the bullet and figure out how to fit my entire manuscript into a 500 word, one page summary.   How do you even write a synopsis?!?  And how do you make it sound compelling?

So, I did some research, and if you're in the process of writing your own synopsis (or need to stop avoiding writing it like me), you may find these links to be super helpful:

How to Write a 1 Page Synopsis

Five Tips to Make Your Synopsis Stronger

Writing a Synopsis

So, anyway, it took me two hours to write a decent synopsis.  It still needs some tweaking, but the point is, I DID IT!!  And it wasn't such a horrible, dreadful task. ;)

Anyone else need to write their synopsis?  

Or if you have written it, what advice to you have to share?

Cupcakes and Writing: Lemon

Lemon: Overcoming Setbacks

I must admit I'm not a huge fan of lemon, but vanilla cupcakes with a hint of lemon are moist and delicious.  While lemons can be bitter, the cupcakes themselves are sweet.

There are a lot of things in life that can lead to bitterness.  It can become so consuming you lose all the vanilla and sugary sweetness of life.  To be honest, I've recently had several bitter-consuming weeks filled with set backs.  I had a pregnancy complication that has me on limited bed rest (no picking up heavy things, bending, twisting, or walking/standing longer than 20 minutes) and unable to take care of my son and home the way I want to.  I'm in one state, so my parents can help me care for our son, while my hubster is in another, packing up our stuff and cleaning our place for our move and I'm missing him while we're trying to make major life decisions and prepare for the next stage of our life as homeowners, parents of two, and relocating to a new state.  Then there was a problem with our contract on our new home that we're supposed to move into on Monday.  As if I'm not already feeling bad I can't help with the move (being nine months preggo and on limited bed rest), the stress of trying to get the moving situation resolved has not been fun.  And then, as if that wasn't enough, I received three form rejections on my manuscript in one week.  Needless to say, I haven't written much in a while, nor had the desire to.

That wasn't meant to be a rant.  Just to prove a point: we can sink into bitterness and let it overwhelm us, totally changing the flavor of our lives.  Or we can rise above all the negative things in life and keep going.  We can keep on revising and sending out query letters.  Keep on writing.  Keep on loving our kids the best we can and know how. Keep on living and dreaming and persevering and do the things that make us feel alive.  That's what I decided to do. 

Today I've written 550 words on my new manuscript.  I revised my query and sent it out to three more agents.  I've written this blog post.  We got a lot of the housing situation figured out and under control.  I got to spend more time snuggling with my son and reading to him then I would if I wasn't on limited bed rest.  And I'm feeling good about life again.  Excited about what will be happening in the next few weeks.

When life hands you lemons, make lemon cupcakes.  Bon appetit!

If you've missed any of the first seven Cupcakes and Writing posts in this series, you can find them in the archive here.

Query Corral Blog Hop

 

So I'm participating in Heather Webb's Query Corral Blog Hop.  Basically, you post your query and give/receive feedback on it.  Sounds cool already, but throw in some prizes and I am so there.  So, let the awesomeness begin--any and all feedback is GREATLY appreciated!  Thanks! :)

Dear Awesome Agent,

When classmates begin exhibiting unlimited creativity with complete unawareness of what they are doing until after their masterpiece is complete, Ivy, senior editor of the newspaper, rushes to research the cause. Among those exhibiting bursts of creativity is Ivy's own basketball star brother, Sage, who can suddenly create vibrant paintings, sketches, and murals, though he's never taken a single art class. While the rest of the school embraces the creative events that unfold, Ivy is unconvinced the episodes are a positive thing.

Then the episodes begin to happen more often. And the side effects begin. One of which kills a classmate. Terrified, Sage joins her in a desperate attempt to piece together the mystery of the creative episodes before he or someone else gets seriously hurt. Or before the source of the increased creativity can be unleashed on the entire unsuspecting school.

RIGHT STATE OF MIND is a YA science-fiction/mystery completed at 53,000 words. Thank you for your time and consideration.

"The Writer's Voice" entry

“The Writer’s Voice” is a contest hosted by Cupid of Cupid’s Literary Connection, Brenda Drake of Brenda Drake Writes, Monica B.W. of Love YA, and Krista Van Dolzer of Mother.Write.(Repeat). 

The contest requires you to post the plot summary from your query letter and first 250 words of a finished manuscript.  So, with some nervousness and great excitement, I share with you:  

The Plot Summary of my YA sci-fi Right State of Mind:

Anyone who could provide humanity with limitless creativity would surely win a Nobel Prize.  Right?  Posing as a high school teacher, a neuroscientist chooses thirty unsuspecting students as his guinea pigs in his simple experiment: use light pulses to stimulate neurons in the right side of the brain and unhindered creativity will follow.  Genius!

Ivy, senior editor of the school newspaper, is the only one to see a dazzling light in the hallway.  Over time, several of her classmates can write, paint, draw, sculpt and design like never before.  And oddly enough, they are completely unaware of what they are doing until after their creation is completed.  While everyone fully embraces the creativity that unfolds, Ivy is convinced the light is not only connected to the new phenomenon she dubs “creative episodes”, but that they could be dangerous.  

Ivy’s popular twin brother, Sage, finds himself not only the captain of the basketball team, but also an artist with detailed drawings and vibrant paintings he doesn't even remember making.  The only one who doesn’t appreciate his new skills is his nerdy sister, whose crazy theories and recent articles are doing nothing to elevate his social status.
  
But then the episodes begin to happen more often.  And then the side effects begin.  One of which kills a classmate.  Terrified, Sage joins his sister to piece together the mystery of the creative episodes and what is behind them before he or someone else gets seriously hurt.

The First 250 Words:

They reminded him of bees.  Swarming around, buzzing excitedly with their friends, their minds focused on their task at hand—lockers, friends, homeroom.  That was always their pattern in the morning, much as a worker bee's pattern was flower, hive, honey comb. The hallways were always a hive of activity that he avoided as much as possible.

He scrutinized them as they joked with each other, crammed things in their lockers, talked about their previous night, about who was going out with whom.  They were on a mission to talk to as many people as possible before slipping into their seats just as class began.  He couldn’t blame them.  Class could be tedious.  But all this drama that they cared about was ridiculous.

          They were oblivious to what was to come.  He would show them what really mattered.

Adrenaline surged through his body.  Today was the day he would launch his great experiment.  If his hypothesis was correct, if the experiment went as planned, he would change these subjects' lives.  He would change education.  He would change neuroscience.  But mostly...he would change the world.

          Everything was set.  He had his experimental group of subjects.  He'd been observing them for the first months of school, meticulously recording data about their habits and personalities.

        All his research would culminate right here in ordinary Kennedy High School.  It was perfect.  Profound.  Nobel Prize worthy.