Uh oh, synopsis time

I've done several editing passes on The Trickster Society over the past month or so, and I finally decided it was time to query. I tweaked my query letter Saturday and sent a bunch out to agents.

I've received a full request and a partial request already. Hot diggity! Unfortunately, the agent who requested the partial also wants a synopsis. And, um, I haven't written the synopsis yet.

This is actually an unusual book in some ways. While it does have plenty of action, the character development is the main thrust of the story. Main character Ivy is six years into the Einnars of her trollish culture--a decade-long separation from family that's required before a troll is considered a full adult. Not only is Ivy dealing with that, she's also feeling guilt for sleeping with a human and is having to come to terms with her relationship with the guy, who also happens to be her best friend. On top of all that, she's a nonhuman minority and keeps bumping up against racism and her own assumptions about where she belongs in society.

That's all good and meaty stuff to me, and I hope it's compelling enough to carry the book before the action parts of the plot unfold, which they don't start to do until about a quarter of the way into the book. I'm proud that the character arcs of Ivy and her best friend dovetail so neatly with the action plots (of which there are two, which are in turn closely related and intersect at the end). But I'm not sure I can convey the plot's complexity in two pages without making it sound like a confusing mess--or just lame.

I hope it's not just lame.

Mt. Miniature

Okay, sorry, I'll stop being a complaining complainer now. I'm home, I'm full of rather indifferent Wendy's chili, and I'm wearing my green pajamas that have pine trees and deer on them. And I have a real two-day weekend ahead of me for once.

Yesterday at work, in an excess of wretchedness, I wrote a draft of the synopsis for The Taste of Magic. I don't know a single writer who likes doing synopses. They're horrible. You have to take a novel the size of, for instance, Mount Kilamanjaro and reduce it to something about the size of a Hershey's Kiss.

Jettison the subplots! Do not mention most of the characters! Collapse events that happen days apart into the space of half a sentence! Ignore everything except the high points of plot and just enough character bits so that anyone reading will know that there is character stuff going on! Reduce reduce reduce!

And of course, don't forget to make it PUNCHY and HOOKY, and make sure it reflects the flavor of the book! Which is not actually possible in 500 words!

But it's done, at least, although it needs more work than the actual novel took. Next is the query letter, which is much more fun although just as difficult.