No, I mean really. Scout's honor.
This doesn't make me particularly rare among writers, of course. I've yet to meet one who, upon hearing the word "synopsis," breaks out the pom poms and starts doing high kicks or whatever. But really, I hate summarizing.
I just made a first attempt at summarizing Kissing Glass, which I'm posting below. It sucks; I know. If anyone would like to comment and offer advice on how to improve it, I would love to hear!
Kissing Glass Summary
Colette is not the typical princess. Much to her mother’s chagrin, she prefers playing baseball to attending royal balls and collects frogs rather than extravagant dresses. All of the princess lessons in the world won’t turn Colette into her older sister. Gorgeous and full of grace, Lucienne is the perfect princess—except for the horrible temper that regularly sends the line of arrogant suitors sprinting from the throne room under a barrage of anything within Lucienne’s reach.
When in a fit of temper, Lucienne smashes Colette’s favorite glass frog, accidentally breaking a curse and letting out an enchanted prince, Colette discovers that royalty isn’t all bad. Prince Frederick of Ganderland is everything all of her sister’s obnoxious royal suitors aren’t. He’s polite, willing to make his own toast, and quite possibly the only prince in the world who sees Lucienne for the fiend she is.
There’s just one little problem; according to the terms of the curse, Frederick is magically bound to marry Lucienne or he’ll turn back into a frog—this time forever. Lucienne, of course, wants nothing to do with such an un-princely prince, and Colette finds herself helping Frederick in a series of attempts to capture Lucienne’s attention, all while battling her own growing feelings for him. Nothing seems to work, and Frederick is on the brink of resigning himself to eternal frogdom when Colette discovers something about his curse that could change his life for the better. And leave hers in shards.
I don't think it sucks! I'm interested!! :-) Is this going to end up in a query? If so, I might condense the first paragraph if you can. At the beginning of paragraph three I think you want a colon instead of a semi-colon, and I feel like maybe a dash would work better than a period just before "and leave hers in shards." More dramatic, or something. :-)
ReplyDeleteOverall, though, I'm impressed! Summaries are SO DANG HARD.
I'm not sure, honestly, where it'll end up. Someone else mentioned it had more of a query flavor to it than a synopsis feel. It was just a first attempt because I need a summary for the critique I'm getting at a conference I'm attending in July. Eventually, though, I'll need a query and a synopsis. :) Or rather, :(
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting!
Well it's a good first attempt, at any rate! What conference are you attending? You can doooooo it!! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm attending my SCBWI region's conference in July. Thanks for the cheering!
ReplyDeleteCool, have you ever been to one before? Sounds fun. And you can always count on me for cheering! :-)
ReplyDeleteI think it sounds great!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Marileta! Joanna, I haven't been to one before. I've been to Chautauqua, though, which is where I met Marileta. :-D
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds like fun! I think you're on your way to a good query. If you can cut it down by a third -- maybe eliminate one tomboy activity and cut back the older sister material -- you'll be almost there.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'd make it a crystal frog, not a glass one!
Oh, sorry. I just reread the post. If you're going for a synopsis rather than a query, I guess you don't have to cut it back that much. I still think one tomboy activity vs. a princessy one would be enough.
ReplyDeleteEverything I read indicates that the synopsis has to include the end of the story, so I think you need to say what the something is that Colette discovers.