What is a Synopsis and Why? . . . Part Two . . . And an Award!!

"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor."
— Henry David Thoreau                        
                

Me?  An Award?  I'm speechless, which is unusual.  I never knew this award even existed!

I graciously thank Carol Apple, a talented writer from SheWrites for this Liebster Blog Award.  What an honour!  My very first award ever!  I feel like Sally Fields.  "You like me . . . You really like me!!"

Liebster means "beloved" in German where the Liebster Blog Award is supposed to have started.  This award is designed  to bring additional recognition to quality bloggers with less than 200 followers.  Please show Carol some love by visiting her unique and highly resourceful blog at http://www.carolsnotes.net/

The rules associated with this award:

  1.  Thank the giver of the award and link back to them.
  2.  Give the Liebster Award to 5 bloggers and let them know with a comment to their blog.
  3.  Copy and paste the award onto your blog.
  4.  Enjoy the love of some of the most supportative people on the Internet.
  5.  Have fun blogging!

These are my picks for the new winners of the Liebster Blog Award:

  1.  Fi Phillips - Fi's Magical Writing Haven  - The writing, thoughts and ideas of a playwright and hopeful novelist @ http://fionajphillips.blogspot.com/
  2.  Julie Farrar - Traveling through . . . the World, the second half of my Life, and my own Mind @ http://www.traveling-through.com/ 
  3.  Becky Green Aaronson - The Art of an Improbable Life - My Twenty Years with an International Photojournalist @ http://animprobablelife.com/
  4.  Lori Robinson - Africa Inside @ http://africainside.org/
  5.  ThelmaZ - Widowsphere: A Circle of Hope @ http://www.widowsphere.blogspot.com/

Enjoy your Award . . . and may this be "just the beginning . . ."

And readers, please take a glimpse at the unique blogs listed above!

Publishing is a business. Writing may be art, but publishing, when all is said and done, comes down to dollars.    - Nicholas Sparks

I sit here, prepared to write Part Two of my Synopsis blog . . . yet something I read this week, keeps knocking on the inside of my forehead.  I guess this means I'm to mention it now . . .

At this point of My Uncharted Journey into Publishing, I'm straddling the fence . . . vascillating between an agent and traditional publishing . . . and self-publishing!  The more I research and study, the more I'm leaning towards self-publishing.

Yesterday, I came across something that took place in March . . . which REALLY OPENED MY EYES!    

NYT Best Seller Barry Eisler turns down $500,000 advance in favor of Self Publishing

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing has an article titled, "Ebooks and Self-Publishing - A Dialog Between Authors Barry Eisler and Joe Konrath, which is a MUST READ for all straddlers like me.  Then judge for yourself . . .  check it out on Google.

Any stragglers riding the fence like me?

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.  - Sylvia Plath

What is a Synopsis and Why . . . Part Two?

TIME FOR YOUR ENTHUSIASM!!!

Envision one or two things while you rework your synopsis . . .   

• Writing a book jacket blurb for your book
• You must pique the casual browser's curiosity, make him want to buy the book to see what happens.
• Read a few jacket blurbs to get the feel of how it's done.

Let's say you've seen a great movie . . .

• You're describing it to a friend . . .
• You're not saying "Cameron Diaz was chased by this drug addict and the police shot him . . . the end."  Sound enthusiastic?
• No . . . you say something like, "Cameron Diaz was terrified, this pot-head kept calling her by another name like she was someone else.  He was everywhere.  His phone calls were more scary.  Finally she slips a note in her roommates purse to alert the police where she's going next.  The police are waiting undercover.  There's a struggle, he's killed. Only then does she find out it was the same creepy guy from her old job she refused to date.  (not a terrific example but you get the idea) 

This is how your synopsis is going to sound when you're done . . .

• Enthusiastic
• Enticing
• Tantalizing
• Description that makes the reader pick up the manuscript to find out what happens!

How can make your synopsis unique and exciting? 

• Start with main character and his crisis.
• Include snippets of dialogue from the manuscript itself.
• Show the character's emotions and motivation that explain why the character does something . . . keep it brief.
• Only use background information necessary for reader to understand story.
• Build excitement as you near the end, using short sentences and paragraphs.
• Synopsis is a sample of your writing.  A flavor of what reading your work will be like . . . give it your all.    

Remember that one or two sentence story line, or theme that you discovered!

• It should be in your synopsis, or cover letter.  Editors and agents like having this extract as something they can use when presenting your book to the buying board.
• And it's something you can use when someone asks you, "What's your book about?"

Synopsis . . . to be continued

Lesson learned . . . or my two cents

Did you know that in 1992 chewing gum was ban in Singapore?  In fact, littering of any sort warrants a hefty fine . . . like $700 for a gum wrapper . . . if not jail time.  There are 400 undercover agents always watching.  Thus, Singapore is rated as the cleanest country in the world.  Wouldn't that be lovely?  People who live there know the rules, it's the visitors who have problems it seems.  Check it out on Google.  I did because it was hard to believe . . .

Has anyone experienced this beautiful clean city . . . visiting, or better yet, living there?