I recently had the (mis)fortune of having to write a synopsis for my current work in progress, GIRLS BREAK THINGS. You may recall my fever-dream reverse outline from a couple weeks ago, which was also about this work.
This manuscript is still pretty fresh – if it were paint on a wall, it’d be in that tacky stage – but I thought, hey, let’s start putting it out there and see what kind of response I get. On Valentine’s Day, I participated in a pitch event for this work on Twitter. Amazingly, I had a couple agents request pages. Of course, in their submission requirements, they asked for a synopsis.
Womp.
Insert about three days of me flopping around the house, moaning that I didn’t want to write a synopsis because they’re hard and I don’t wanna and can’t the agent just read my manuscript please so I don’t hafta. Honestly, I probably should’ve had a synopsis ready before I tweeted about this work in the first place, but I did this to myself, so I don’t even pity myself and you shouldn’t either. Regardless, a synopsis was needed, and I had to write one if I ever wanted this work to go anywhere.
So what follows is my (messy) process of writing GIRLS BREAK THINGS and getting to this point – it’s all relevant, I promise. Let me also preface this by saying that I did zero research on how to write a synopsis before I started writing mine. Operation Awesome has posted about writing a synopsis before, so if you're looking for something more like instructions, you should check out this post.
When I wrote GIRLS BREAK THINGS, I started with an outline. I followed the 90-day novel process of getting into my characters’ heads and repeatedly fine-tuning my outline before I even began writing. (I started writing this manuscript a couple times with very limited success, so this was super weird to me.) I began this draft about a week before NaNoWriMo 2018 and finished a few days shy of the end of the month. After letting the manuscript sit for a couple months, I went back and wrote my reverse outline.
The reverse outline was the most helpful tool I had while writing my synopsis. I had the major plot points already laid out in order, as well as the finer influences each of those points had on the plot overall. From there, it was a matter of deciding which points absolutely needed to be included as written and which ones could be further reduced, summarized, or glossed over. I copied those points over into a new document and set about transforming them from bullet points to proper sentences that flowed from one to the next, adding in details as needed.
The hardest thing with writing the synopsis was deciding how many characters to talk about. I have at least thirty characters of varying importance, and while it was clear that the waiter I wrote about in chapter nine wasn’t going to make the cut, deciding which major players were important enough was a challenge. Ultimately, I realized that the players could be reduced to five characters: main character Joyce, love interest Nyx, Joyce’s BFF Laddie, Nyx’s mom/the high school principal Mrs. Otero, and robotics club adviser Mr. Reed. There are certainly other characters who impacted the plot, but it was easier to refer to them by their role (Joyce's moms, Nyx's ex-girlfriend, etc.) rather than by name.
The synopsis clocks in a bit shy of two pages. I’ve seen suggestions that a synopsis should be anywhere from 1-10 pages, but the agent submission pages I’ve visited usually say “Please copy/paste your 1-2 page synopsis here” so that’s the length I went with. And to be honest, I’m pretty pleased with it. I think it does a good job of referencing the stakes while also connecting with the characters and their emotions – but I might be a little biased. I did get a request for more pages from one of the agents I submitted to from the pitch event, so maybe it wasn’t a total dumpster fire.
Showing posts with label outlines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label outlines. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Monday, November 3, 2014
Plot running astray?
The second draft of my novel has gone in so many unexpected directions, it feels more like a first draft, and I wish I could do NaNo WriMo with the rest of you wonderful people.
In my revisions, I built an ever-increasing word count that bordered on gluttonous, and it eventually ran my story into the ground. Kind of like this:
For days, I hemmed over how to jump start everything into gear. The answer came when I helped a student hone in on her research paper thesis. I told her a mantra from my own papers: "Stick to your thesis like glue."
I realized my novel's thesis was my synopsis and query, and I hadn't stuck to them at all. Notes and changes were spread across multiple documents, and there was a story thread that didn't need to be there. That's what was blocking my path.
Here's how I got myself untangled:
Step 1: Revised query and synopsis to reflect new story directions, and stuck to it like glue
Step 2: Condensed proposed story changes into a manageable to-do list
Step 3: Sliced out extra story threads that didn't belong
So far, I've been able to subtract 4,000 words, and I now have a clear path to the end:
I hope, whether you're doing NaNo WriMo, or if you're buried in revisions like I am, that you can stick to your query and synopsis (or outline, if that's your preference). Especially if you find your plot tangled or your story stalled. Letting go of what you don't need makes everything a ton easier.
Your turn: What are some ways you've tamed your unruly plots?
In my revisions, I built an ever-increasing word count that bordered on gluttonous, and it eventually ran my story into the ground. Kind of like this:
For days, I hemmed over how to jump start everything into gear. The answer came when I helped a student hone in on her research paper thesis. I told her a mantra from my own papers: "Stick to your thesis like glue."
I realized my novel's thesis was my synopsis and query, and I hadn't stuck to them at all. Notes and changes were spread across multiple documents, and there was a story thread that didn't need to be there. That's what was blocking my path.
Here's how I got myself untangled:
Step 1: Revised query and synopsis to reflect new story directions, and stuck to it like glue
Step 2: Condensed proposed story changes into a manageable to-do list
Step 3: Sliced out extra story threads that didn't belong
So far, I've been able to subtract 4,000 words, and I now have a clear path to the end:
I hope, whether you're doing NaNo WriMo, or if you're buried in revisions like I am, that you can stick to your query and synopsis (or outline, if that's your preference). Especially if you find your plot tangled or your story stalled. Letting go of what you don't need makes everything a ton easier.
Your turn: What are some ways you've tamed your unruly plots?
Sunday, October 19, 2014
The Key to Speed Drafting
Taking a break from my usual Reasons for Requesting or Rejecting, let's talk about speed drafting. We are, as we all know, only a couple weeks out from the start of National Novel Writing Month. The month of November in which every writer loses their social life. Everywhere, aspiring and established authors sit down in coffee shops or libraries or the isolation of their own bedrooms and try to crank out 1,667 words a day. Its a pretty daunting task, especially if you're not used to speed drafting.
But for me, speed drafting is the only way to write a book. Its just how my mind works. I tend to be very ADD and a book that sparks my fancy one month might lose my interest in the next. As such, I need to set goals for myself or I'd never finish writing a book. For every MS I've written, I have always written the majority of the first drafts in one month.
In fact, for the third year now, I am doing Octowrimo in addition to Nanowrimo. Its become an odd tradition now for me to have a 'Two book Autumn'. The first year, I started writing a novel in October and ended up finishing it because I wanted to start fresh on something for November. The second year I just got so excited about one new idea that I wrote it before September was out. I did Octowrimo after that and ended up getting too burned out to do Nanowrimo that year. And this year its Octowrimo again. I've done a lot of speed drafting so let's look at a few tips for how to crank out words fast.
1) Know Everything
Yep. Just know everything ever. Just kidding. But you do have to know everything about your world in characters. Establish everything in your head and get a good feel for the story you want to right. The better you understand your characters, the better they'll speak to you when you have to write about them. Your character might surprise you in the midst of the writing process. That's just what characters do. But you can at least TRY to know everything about them. Knowing your characters will especially help the dialogue flow. And knowing your world will make descriptions go a lot faster.
2) Outline
Seriously. I know that there are probably a lot of pantsers out there and if you absolutely, one hundred percent, can't outline, then don't. HOWEVER knowing the basic trajectory of your story can be very useful. For one thing, it influences how you write your beginnings, but more importantly, it gives you the ability to skip around.
For example, say you're having a lot of trouble writing this one scene. Its just not flowing at all. You're not in the mood. But there's this scene later in the book that you REALLY want to write at the moment. If you've outlined and you know where this scene fits in the story you can jump ahead and write that one. You can go back and fill in the blanks later. As long as the draft gets done, who cares what order you write it in. You're going to end up editing the crap out of it later anyway. And speaking of which...
3) Turn off that Inner Editor
Your speed drafts will be crap. This is a fact of life. The MS I'm writing right now? Hate it. Its awful. The dialogue prattles on for too long and there isn't nearly enough description. I use 'was' maybe ten times a page. I haven't even bothered to check on my punctuation.
But does that matter? Nope. Because the first draft isn't about making it perfect. Its about getting the thing down on paper. Your inner editor will be tempted to fix things. 'PLEASE let me go back and rewrite this chapter,' it will say. But you have to squash that voice down. Accept that your first draft will be crap, and you can let yourself go.
4) Find your Writing Time
In the end, none of this matters if you can't carve out a decent writing time. Find the place and time of day when you are most productive and lock yourself in. Inform your friends and family that you love them dearly but that you have to write. If they know you, they'll probably understand. And hey, if you write fast enough, you'll have time to spend with them later. But be intentional about when you are going to write. Don't dawdle and drift to youtube to watch cat videos. Sit down and get yourself typing. Because at 1,667 words a day, you'll have a novel by the end of the month. And that's pretty cool.
So are you prepping for Nanowrimo? If not, you really should try it out. Speed drafting might not be for you but at least you can say you tried it. And most people can't even say that. Happy typing!
But for me, speed drafting is the only way to write a book. Its just how my mind works. I tend to be very ADD and a book that sparks my fancy one month might lose my interest in the next. As such, I need to set goals for myself or I'd never finish writing a book. For every MS I've written, I have always written the majority of the first drafts in one month.
In fact, for the third year now, I am doing Octowrimo in addition to Nanowrimo. Its become an odd tradition now for me to have a 'Two book Autumn'. The first year, I started writing a novel in October and ended up finishing it because I wanted to start fresh on something for November. The second year I just got so excited about one new idea that I wrote it before September was out. I did Octowrimo after that and ended up getting too burned out to do Nanowrimo that year. And this year its Octowrimo again. I've done a lot of speed drafting so let's look at a few tips for how to crank out words fast.
1) Know Everything
Yep. Just know everything ever. Just kidding. But you do have to know everything about your world in characters. Establish everything in your head and get a good feel for the story you want to right. The better you understand your characters, the better they'll speak to you when you have to write about them. Your character might surprise you in the midst of the writing process. That's just what characters do. But you can at least TRY to know everything about them. Knowing your characters will especially help the dialogue flow. And knowing your world will make descriptions go a lot faster.
2) Outline
Seriously. I know that there are probably a lot of pantsers out there and if you absolutely, one hundred percent, can't outline, then don't. HOWEVER knowing the basic trajectory of your story can be very useful. For one thing, it influences how you write your beginnings, but more importantly, it gives you the ability to skip around.
For example, say you're having a lot of trouble writing this one scene. Its just not flowing at all. You're not in the mood. But there's this scene later in the book that you REALLY want to write at the moment. If you've outlined and you know where this scene fits in the story you can jump ahead and write that one. You can go back and fill in the blanks later. As long as the draft gets done, who cares what order you write it in. You're going to end up editing the crap out of it later anyway. And speaking of which...
3) Turn off that Inner Editor
Your speed drafts will be crap. This is a fact of life. The MS I'm writing right now? Hate it. Its awful. The dialogue prattles on for too long and there isn't nearly enough description. I use 'was' maybe ten times a page. I haven't even bothered to check on my punctuation.
But does that matter? Nope. Because the first draft isn't about making it perfect. Its about getting the thing down on paper. Your inner editor will be tempted to fix things. 'PLEASE let me go back and rewrite this chapter,' it will say. But you have to squash that voice down. Accept that your first draft will be crap, and you can let yourself go.
4) Find your Writing Time
In the end, none of this matters if you can't carve out a decent writing time. Find the place and time of day when you are most productive and lock yourself in. Inform your friends and family that you love them dearly but that you have to write. If they know you, they'll probably understand. And hey, if you write fast enough, you'll have time to spend with them later. But be intentional about when you are going to write. Don't dawdle and drift to youtube to watch cat videos. Sit down and get yourself typing. Because at 1,667 words a day, you'll have a novel by the end of the month. And that's pretty cool.
So are you prepping for Nanowrimo? If not, you really should try it out. Speed drafting might not be for you but at least you can say you tried it. And most people can't even say that. Happy typing!
Monday, September 27, 2010
How To Plot Your Awesome Novel
In case you haven’t heard, Kristal’s started an awesome 1k a day challenge. This challenge got me thinking about a bunch of stuff (like how I’m procrastinating… a lot… please don’t tell my crit partners…). But mainly, it made me ponder something I’ve recently become a fan of.
Outlining.
I know, I know—a 1k a day challenge is no place for pre-plotting. BUT I’m not here to tell you to map out everything beforehand. I’m here to share some uh-may-zing tips on what to keep in mind while you’re writing.
Confession: Heidi Willis is a genius. She blogged about what a novel’s plot should consist of, but in a way that even I understood it (yep, I’m sort of slow with the technical stuff…). Since it was such a great post, I decided to share it with all you pretty people.
Here’s how Heidi breaks down plot:
3 Act Method
Act I (25%) Set up characters, motivations, backstory. At the end of this section, a dramatic event propels the main character into conflict
Act II (50%) In the middle of this, the MC discovers a secret, by the end is the start of big confrontations with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Conflict rises steeply.
Act III (25%) Obstacles are overcome, MC must make choices
Percentage Method
Stage 1 (10%) draw reader in, identification with hero
Turning Point (10%) new opportunity, new journey often followed by MC refusing to take the journey or by into the opportunity
Stage 2 (15%) hero reacts, formulates plan
Stage 3 (25%) hero is overcoming obstacles
***Turning Point (at the 50% mark) hero must commit, there is no turning back
Stage 4 (25%) goal is more visible, stakes are higher
***Turning Point (at 75% mark) Major setback, a do or die moment
Stage 5: (15%) Final push; conflict becomes overwhelming, MC must give everything; accellerated pace; MC determines his or her own fate.
Stage 6: Aftermath, what life are they living now
When Heidi plots, she uses 300 pages as her guideline. Thus the above percentages would be:
p 1 - 30
p 30 - 60
p 60 - 105
p 105 - 180 (turning point at p 150)
p 180 - 255 (turning point at p 225)
p 255 - 300
I don’t know about you, but I feel all smart after reading that :)
Here’s the link to Heidi’s amazing blog:
And here are some links to other plot-related posts around the blogosphere:
http://kidlit.com/2009/12/09/writing-a-hot-plot/ (by Kelly’s agent, Mary Kole)
http://storyflip.blogspot.com/2010/08/find-your-plot-fridays-what-to-do-what.html (by MG fantasy author, Janice Hardy)
http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/08/how-to-write-novel.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NathanBransford+%28Nathan+Bransford+-+Literary+Agent%29 (by the ever-awesome Nathan Bransford)
Go get that 1k a day, everyone!
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Mid-course Corrections
When it comes to the outline/no-outline continuum, I’m squarely in the middle. I have a detailed synopsis, and even an Excel spreadsheet. But I find I’m not patient enough to map out everything. I plan to a point, and I want to start writing. Forward ho!
But sometimes that gets me into trouble. And not just when I get to the point in my outline that reads “exciting stuff happens and everything is resolved.” The problem is not when the outline has holes, but the book does. And then it’s time for a mid-course correction.
I’ve had two major corrections on this book. The first one was eliminating a character I liked a lot. When I described him to anyone, including my agent, they rolled their eyes. I still think he could have worked, but I was about a third of the way in when I decided that I didn’t need to handicap myself. Who wants to win over skeptical readers? I want my readers on board from the beginning.
So I killed my poor defenseless character. And I came up with another way to move the story along, and I think the book is better for it.
Now, two-thirds of the way in, I just completed another correction. I had lost the sense of one character in my drive towards The End. I had the poor girl doing and saying anything in order to further the plot along, and she just disappeared.
Joyce Carol Oates famously wrote that writing the first draft of a novel is like building a house. The second draft, she said, is when you decorate it. I believe that, but if your characterization isn’t on target from the beginning, you end up building a Barbie Dream House instead of story that seems to be populated with actual people.
So I thought a lot about my MIA character, discovered some things I didn’t know, and went back through the manuscript to reveal them.
I try not to revise until I’ve finished a draft. And that’s because I like revising too much – it’s fun to uncover themes, embellish details, and smooth out bumps. For me, writing a first draft is fraught with anxiety. I worry that I may never be able to get the end. The plot may fall apart, or I’ll just lose passion for writing and take up felting or bonsai instead. Or maybe I’ll just start tinkering with the incomplete text and never finish.
But some types of mid-course correction are necessary. When doubts start creeping about a character or a plot twist, they can take over. If those doubts aren’t resolved, they can stop me cold. I need to be able to write with full conviction.
So in my current project, so far one minor character had to die and a major one was brought back to life. Not a bad trade-off, if it gets me re-energized. I’m hoping this will be enough to get to The End.
But sometimes that gets me into trouble. And not just when I get to the point in my outline that reads “exciting stuff happens and everything is resolved.” The problem is not when the outline has holes, but the book does. And then it’s time for a mid-course correction.
I’ve had two major corrections on this book. The first one was eliminating a character I liked a lot. When I described him to anyone, including my agent, they rolled their eyes. I still think he could have worked, but I was about a third of the way in when I decided that I didn’t need to handicap myself. Who wants to win over skeptical readers? I want my readers on board from the beginning.
So I killed my poor defenseless character. And I came up with another way to move the story along, and I think the book is better for it.
Now, two-thirds of the way in, I just completed another correction. I had lost the sense of one character in my drive towards The End. I had the poor girl doing and saying anything in order to further the plot along, and she just disappeared.
Joyce Carol Oates famously wrote that writing the first draft of a novel is like building a house. The second draft, she said, is when you decorate it. I believe that, but if your characterization isn’t on target from the beginning, you end up building a Barbie Dream House instead of story that seems to be populated with actual people.
So I thought a lot about my MIA character, discovered some things I didn’t know, and went back through the manuscript to reveal them.
I try not to revise until I’ve finished a draft. And that’s because I like revising too much – it’s fun to uncover themes, embellish details, and smooth out bumps. For me, writing a first draft is fraught with anxiety. I worry that I may never be able to get the end. The plot may fall apart, or I’ll just lose passion for writing and take up felting or bonsai instead. Or maybe I’ll just start tinkering with the incomplete text and never finish.
But some types of mid-course correction are necessary. When doubts start creeping about a character or a plot twist, they can take over. If those doubts aren’t resolved, they can stop me cold. I need to be able to write with full conviction.
So in my current project, so far one minor character had to die and a major one was brought back to life. Not a bad trade-off, if it gets me re-energized. I’m hoping this will be enough to get to The End.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)