Writer Joe Konrath had an interesting post earlier this week talking about the transitory nature of the publishing industry.  By which he meant that just because a writer manages to achieve commercial publication doesn’t mean that they will have a long term career.  He makes note of the number of writers he met when he started in this business who seem to have disappeared from the scene altogether over the last few years. “Where are they now?” he asks.
Joe also mentions the false sense that many unpublished writers have that …

I know - what took me so long, right?
Sorry for the delay.  I’m in the midst of dealing with editorial revisions on two different novels while also starting work full time again.  So I’ve been up to my ears.
But at long last, we come to part three of How to Write a Novel Synopsis.  In this section of our series I’m going to simply post the complete synopsis to a novel called LIONS OF JUDAH.  LIONS was recently optioned for feature film production despite the fact I have yet to …

Jessica Faust of the Bookends Literary Agency has posted a list of several of the most common terms that come up when discussing book deals and publishing in general.
If you’re a new writer trying to understand this wacky industry or just happen to have an interest in the subject matter, I suggest you stop by. Jessica does a nice job of getting the primary point across without becoming bogged down in some of the finer details.
You can find her list at A Publishing Dictionary.

In part two of our three part series on writing the synopsis, we’re going to continue looking at the six key elements that I include in each synopsis that I write.  We’ve already focused on Theme and Setting/Time Period in our last post, so in this post we are going to examine Character Sketches, Plot Summaries, and Emotional Turning Points.

Character Sketches:
I always incorporate a short thumbnail sketch of each major character in either my novel proposals or as part of the synopsis itself. For example, here is …

Photo by Leah Jones
I want to talk about the dreaded S word for the next few posts.
You know the one I’m talking about.
Synopsis.
–Shudder–
I know so many writers who hate writing a synopsis and I’ve never been able to understand why.  After all, it is your ticket to publication.  A good synopsis will get an editor or agent excited about reading your book and that’s the first step to getting an acceptance.
So, this week we are going to dissect the synopsis, understand what it is used for, and begin showing you …