Query War Update – Synopsis
A few years ago, well, more than that, actually, before email submissions became more common than not, the “standard” submission package consisted of the query, a synopsis, and the first three chapters or fifty pages, whichever was less.
Synopsis length as expressed by agents varied between two and ten pages. I ended up writing three to have on hand, short, medium, and long. The consensus among writers seemed to be that agents would only look at the synopsis after they had read the writing sample, and the purpose was to determine if the writer had plotted the remainder of the story well enough to call it a novel.
After finally writing a current query letter that seems worthy of submitting to agents, I began reading the synopsis review section on QueryTracker and discovered that the importance of the synopsis apparently has lessened in the years since I last submitted any material. Fewer agents require them as a part of the initial submission package, and although they may want one included with a partial or full manuscript, how well the synopsis is written doesn’t receive the same emphasis that it used to.
I don’t know if that’s a correct assumption or not, but in a fog of optimism that an agent might want additional material, I decided to dust off my synopsis attempts of years past and update them so as not to be caught without a fresh one ready to go.
I ended up with a five-page synopsis and posted it on QueryTracker. It received a number of “views” and a few comments. One QTer took the time to shorten it to about half its original length, and suggested that the synopsis should be written like you are telling a friend about a movie you’ve seen. Another said not to sweat it too much, keep it under two pages, tell the main plot points, don’t mention any characters that don’t play an important role in the outcome and be sure to reveal the ending. Most agents skim them to see if there is a real story with a solid resolution. Beyond that, they probably don’t read them that closely.
With that in mind, I’ll probably go for a shorter version and not hold off on submitting queries until I get a warm fuzzy from the synopsis.
And there’s another reason to take that approach. It’s been a while since I submitted, and I have to acknowledge a bit of apprehension. Using the “excuse” of getting the synopsis exactly “right” could end up being the perfect procrastinator if I let it.
Here’s where I make the sound of a chicken . . .
If I might add one thing: the querying process is not so much about process as it is in actually doing it, i.e., submitting the !@#$% query and getting on with it.
Rejection and criticism are parts of the game. Faulkner was rejected many, many times for his ultimately Nobel Prize winning novel, The Sound and the Fury.
Success is the greatest revenge.
Best,
Pat Evans
Author of To Leave a Memory
Thanks for visiting and your comment, Pat, and I agree with what you are saying in part. But I also believe that querying is most definitely about the process in the beginning.
With few exceptions I have one chance with each agent I query. If I send out twenty queries and receive twenty form rejections, what’s the next step? I submit that to use Faulkner’s record of rejection with The Sound and the Fury as justification to keep on sending out the same query and writing sample ignores reality. I haven’t written a Nobel Prize winner and never will, and after twenty rejections I have no idea whether the problem lies with the query, the writing sample, the story concept, or if I simply haven’t yet queried the right agent for my novel.
The turning point occurs when a submission package begins to produce results. Only when I have received at least some requests for additional material do I know the query is good enough to get agents to read the sample, and the sample is good enough to keep those agents interested and wanting to see more. Then I have taken a critical step because it tells me that one huge stumbling block has been removed.
I’ve already made the mistake of querying too quickly with two novels. This time, using all the resources available, I’m going to submit only when I have the confidence that this is the best query and writing sample I can send out at this point in my writing journey. That doesn’t mean I don’t expect rejection. It does mean that I’m not going to “waste” any opportunity with an agent if I can help it.
And I’m close for the first time in a while. The query and first five pages of the novel have been critiqued and given a thumb’s up by a number of knowledgeable people I trust in my writing groups and online. I’m getting the synopsis ready for when and if an agent asks for it so I’m not scrambling against a self-imposed deadline. I’ve narrowed an agent list from the 1000-plus listed on QueryTracker down to 155 possibles, and from there I’m going to rank-order them.
And when I begin querying, it won’t be to my “dream” agent at the top of the list. I’ll start farther down to “test” the submission package against the only useful criteria, which is the percentage of requests for partials or fulls generated by the query. In my opinion, to do otherwise is to “fly blind,” and pilots don’t like doing that . . .
Thanks again for visiting the site and your interest.
Tosh