Say the word ‘synopsis’ and you’ll find the majority of authors run screaming in the opposite direction.

Why? Because they’re hard work. They require condensing your entire story down into basic explanation form. This happens, then that happens, and this character reacts this way and feels that way and so on and so on.

Me? I have a love/hate relationship with synopses. They’re a necessary evil of the business, so I know I have to do them. They’re time consuming and a pain in the brain.

But frankly, even before I was required to do them in order to sell a book, I wrote one out before writing a story. They were my outline, my map of where I was heading. I can’t write a book without a story outline.

Now I can’t sell a book without a synopsis, what they call a ‘proposal’, which is typically the synopsis and anywhere from 2-5 chapters. So my advice to authors wanting to break into NY? Get used to writing a synopsis, because you won’t be able to sell a book without it.

I’m working on a proposal right now and loving the creation aspect (this is the ‘love’ part of the love/hate relationship :giggle: ). This is where I put the story together, figure out who the characters are, what their backgrounds are, and what’s going to happen throughout the course of the story. It’s fun to figure out what happens next, what my characters are going to do, how the plot evolves. Now granted, I sometimes deviate from my synopsis when I write the book, but not so much that the overall story changes dramatically.

For those who don’t plot but just write and discover, yes, writing a synopsis sucks, but it still needs to be done in order to sell a book. My suggestion is to just write a synopsis according to how you ‘think’ the story is going to go. If it changes after you write the story, you can always revise your synopsis accordingly.

Keep in mind that marketing departments write the blurb, or back cover copy, from your synopsis. So if your story changes significantly from the synopsis, you need to let your editor know and revise your synopsis.

As for me, it’s back to my proposal. I need to figure out what happens next. :boobie:

Emma is a very good friend of mine, and I read one of the renditions of this book a long time ago. It was brilliant then, and it’s phenomenal now.

If you love riveting contemporary romantic suspense, then you want this book. I highly recommend it. You’ll fall in love with Trick Mancini, just as those of us who’ve read him have.

But he’s mine. All mine, I tell you. :sasmokin:

Revenge is a dish best served bold…

Patrick “Trick” Mancini wants revenge. Not only has he learned that his boss, William Ormond, might be implicated in his mother’s death, he’s just found out Ormond has sent assassins after him. After sixteen years stealing for the good guys, Trick is prepared to turn bad if that means he can keep ahead of the assassins long enough to uncover some long-buried secrets.

Kate Crawford, Ormond’s niece, wants a normal life. Not that she knows what “normal” would feel like. When Trick drags her into his pursuit of the truth he threatens the last few things she still cares about. Forced to help him, she’s determined there are some secrets he won’t discover. Including the real reason she was compelled to break up with him ten years ago.

Now Trick and Kate are racing against time to find out what’s hidden in Ormond’s black files, fighting a passion that never went away…and trying to stay alive.

Buy the book here

Bemoaning the dearth of western historicals?

Moan no more. Get thee to Samhain Publishing and buy Shannon Stacey’s Taming Eliza Jane.

Funny, sassy, heartwearming, and with a cast of characters you’re going to root for and fall in love with.

I loved this book. Read it in one sitting. Could not put it down. Of course that typically happens to me whenever I pick up a Shannon Stacey book (is there any genre she cannot write? The woman amazes me).

If you love western historicals, you’ll love this book. Go get it today!

TAMING ELIZA JANE
by Shannon Stacey

When a man sets out to tame a strong-willed woman, he’d best hang on to his hat.
Will Martinson, the town doctor, already has a heap of troubles on his plate, what with a pregnant whore, an ailing friend and a sheriff with a bad habit of shooting people. The last thing he needs is a strong hankering for a woman who think it’s her duty to turn a man’s life upside-down.

Eliza Jane Carter is a woman on a mission. She’s going to improve the lives of the women in Gardiner, Texas before moving on to the next town. But when her finances take a turn for the worse and her chaperone heads for the hills, Eliza Jane is stranded in a town full of riled up menfolk, a gun-happy sheriff and one handsome doctor who makes her question everything she ever believed about the love between a man and a woman.

Go here to buy the book!