 Mindy Klasky
read all posts by Mindy KlaskySo, last week, I promised to post my own synopsis. Here’s one for an as-yet-unsold novel. I don’t follow my own formula perfectly (for a series of long, boring reasons that I’m not going to go into here…) Nevertheless, I mostly stick with the formula I shared. Obviously, on this website, you can’t see proper formatting, but assume that I nailed that, okay? In comments, let me know what you think — does the synopsis hold your interest? Does it show you the development of the main characters? Does it give you a view of what the novel is actually about?
* * * BEGIN SYNOPSIS * * *
ASHLEY WARNER is a typical high school senior: a good daughter to her widowed father, a great friend to the brilliant, high-strung KAYLA BARKER, and the somewhat unlikely girlfriend of Lincoln High’s ultra-popular All State pitcher, BRANDON METHENY. Ashley understands [...]
Continue reading I’ll Show You Mine…
Mindy Klasky
read all posts by Mindy KlaskyA couple of weeks ago, I told you about my basic take on synopses — what they are, what they aren’t, how they should appear, in either physical or pixel form. I promised to devote a post to how, exactly, to write one, including step-by-step directions. Here we go…
Let’s begin with one key fact: Your synopsis isn’t about the plot of your story. (I’ll give you a moment to scoff in disbelief, to roll your eyes, to tell me that I have no idea what I’m talking about.)
Your synopsis is about the character arcs contained within your story. Your goal, in writing your synopsis, is to tell about your main characters (usually two, possibly more if you have a really complicated, 250K or more epic on your hands). You are *only* going to tell plot details when you have no other way to describe what happens to your [...]
Continue reading Synopses: The Nitty and the Gritty
Mindy Klasky
read all posts by Mindy Klasky(You know — Synopsis!)
Two weeks ago, I got a phone call from my agent, who is currently shopping around a new manuscript for me. He said “[Editor Redacted] is very interested in Shiny New Project, but he needs a synopsis to continue pitching it in-house. Can you get one to me by the end of the day?” I, of course, put a smile into my voice and said, “Of course.”
And the thing was, I wasn’t really lying. I could get him the synopsis. I hadn’t written it yet. But I had just finished putting together my speaker’s notes for a presentation to a local writing group — all about writing synopses.
I still haven’t heard back from [Editor Redacted] yet. But I figured there was no time like the present for sharing my thoughts on synopses. So, without further ado…
There’s a lot of confusion in our field [...]
Continue reading The S Word
Mindy Klasky
read all posts by Mindy KlaskyOnce upon a time, I read a book about an ordinary woman in everyday contemporary society who wakes up to find an elf in her kitchen. She says, “Hey, what are you?” and he says, “Me? I’m an elf.” They proceed to have coffee and chit-chat, as if nothing at all is out of the ordinary.
Now, there’s a fantasy novel where that could happen — where people regularly confront the supernatural, where they have no understanding of boundaries in their natural history, where the extraordinary is absolutely ordinary.
But there was nothing about this book that made me believe that the kitchen-owner lived in such a world. Every aspect of her world was presented as identical to the one that I live in. And I can tell you that if an elf showed up in my kitchen — be he a tall, glamorous, Tolkien-ish elf, or a small, green-and-red [...]
Continue reading The Elf in the Kitchen
Mindy Klasky
read all posts by Mindy KlaskyEarlier this week, I had lunch with a writer friend. The conversation turned, as writer-lunch-conversations are wont to do, to promotion — what each of us does to promote our work, and what we should be doing. My views on promotion have changed considerably, so I thought I’d share them here, and we can hash out what we thinks works and what doesn’t work.
I promoted my first novel, The Glasswrights’ Apprentice, with a self-financed book tour. I traveled up and down the West Coast, stopping at a dozen bookstores (Borders, B&N, and independents) for readings and signings. I spent weeks scheduling the visits, phoning community relation managers, begging for a calendar slot. In addition to the West Coast tour, I visited my hometown (Minneapolis) for a reading, and I hosted a reading in my then-town (D.C.) I hosted a book launch party at the law firm where I worked. [...]
Continue reading Get Yer Hot Fresh Books!
Mindy Klasky
read all posts by Mindy KlaskyWe spend a lot of time talking about craft, here on Magical Words. We also think a lot about process. I’m taking a step back today, to talk about the basics. In particular, I’m talking about backing up your work.
Earlier this week, I experienced a catastrophic computer failure. We’re talking no booting in any mode known to man, no access to the hard drive through any utility, permanent, utter, complete doom for my primary computer. You know, the machine I use to write my novels. My freelance work. Every single piece of correspondence with friends and family. My photos. My music. Everything.
I spent an hour or so discovering the terrifying extent of the problem. I waited an hour or so for my in-house tech support (a.k.a., “my husband”) to return home from his long day of work.
And within 15 minutes, I was up and running on my [...]
Continue reading Backing Up
Mindy Klasky
read all posts by Mindy KlaskyThere’s a probably-apocryphal story about the movie MARATHON MAN (wherein, Dustin Hoffman is tortured by having his teeth drilled, without anesthesia). Supposedly, Hoffman (a method actor) went to his dentist and submitted to similar dentistry, so that he could know what his character experienced. When he recounted that story on the movie’s set, Laurence Olivier said, “My dear boy, don’t you understand? We call it acting for a reason!”
I think of that story often, when I’m writing. The goal of my storytelling — whether I’m working in the secondary world of the Darkbeast novels or the contemporary world (with witches!) of the Jane Madison books or any other fictional setting – is to make my created world seem real to my readers. (Duh!) Sometimes, in order to make something ring true, to make it seem real, I have to tweak my depiction of reality, actually making my text *less* real [...]
Continue reading Sacrificing Reality for Readability
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