MORGAN REILLY

The dreaded query letter.

The even more dreaded synopsis.

Seriously. Synopses are evil. At least queries, as explained in this great video from the BookEnds YouTube channel, are focused around the blurb. Read enough blurbs on the backs of books, as well as reading every archived entry on QueryShark, and you can study your way to a polished query. But a synopsis, no matter what, will make you want to gouge out your own eyeballs.

Don’t gouge out your own eyeballs. We all have to endure the synopsis trench, crawling on our bellies as we pare every sentence down to its bare essentials.

Even though I’ve gone indie and no longer work to publish in the traditional market (at least, for now–we’ll see what the future holds), writing myself a query letter and a synopsis is a very smart first step. Something that I’ve just done for a new WIP, which is still in its outlining phase, is write the query letter and the synopsis NOW. The novel hasn’t even been drafted yet. I’m not even six chapters into the outline. But I’ve already written the query AND the synopsis.

Why? Two reasons:

1. For the synopsis: Because I have a rough timeline of what happens in the story.
2. For the query: While the concept is fresh, the query helps me to develop the story’s voice. (And your query letter should reflect your novel’s voice.)

Both of those are drafts, just like my manuscript is about to be (once I finish this outline, that is). Is this akin to writing in reverse? Some writers have talked about taking their novel from the end and writing it to the beginning, which seems like a really cool idea. That, to be, would be a good exercise once you’ve already drafted the MS and are going through revisions. (I wouldn’t write in reverse for a draft–my brain doesn’t work that way.)

Writing the query and the synopsis now, while the concept is fresh and I have an idea about the story’s voice, has really helped me move forward with my outline. I reached a plateau, a pretty wide one if I’m honest, and I wasn’t sure where the story was headed. I didn’t even know the theme until I had a eureka moment after watching a TV show that’s inspired the story. I took some furious notes and slept on it, and the next morning I took a look at what I’d outlined so far and felt the query letter words forming. Then I made myself write the synopsis.

They’re both printed and hanging on my wall next to my computer, a quick reference as I outline and write so I maintain the goals I’ve set out. Is the story likely to change, as I write it and the characters develop? 100%. Will the synopsis and query likely be rewritten, even as I draft, to reflect those changes? You betcha.

Do I feel better knowing that I have a destination ahead, and the road map to follow? You have no idea…THE RELIEF IS IMMEASURABLE.

I hope this helps you in whatever stage you’re in with your MS. It’s certainly helped me, and it’s still early.

Plus, with the dreaded synopsis, it’s much easier to revise something already written than to try to conjure up something from nothing. YOU CAN’T DIVIDE BY ZERO. Just ask Siri.

Happy writing, friends.