Rewriting the Synopsis

Did you ever hear the one about "the best-laid plans of mice and men gang aft agley?" (Robert Burns, and you'll notice the famous title lifted from the line of his poem.)

Version Two of the synopsis was better received by my critique partner than Version One, but she still had plenty of suggestions to make it, and the novel, better. So, it's off to rewrite land to start over.

First things first. My cp advised me to start with a character sketch of the heroine, leaving out nothing important. I had left vital information about her until later in the synopsis, which affected the flow of timing and pacing. By putting everything pertinent about her into the first paragraph, I eliminate the need to mention things later, and the reader (editor) will know that the story is character-driven.

After the heroine, describe the Hero. (Unless you're writing something other than romance...male oriented action/adventure may not even have a heroine.) Everything that makes him who he is should be put on paper right at the beginning.

Then get into the story. Make sure the pacing is right. I had the Hero & Heroine admitting they loved each other on page three of the synopsis, which looks like it's halfway through the book, even though it doesn't happen until the last chapter! My cp's advice was to make it clear that it happens near the end, so that the editor won't think things are going too smoothly for the protagonists.

In addition, my cp had some wonderful suggestions for the story itself. We brainstormed a bit, and now I need to do some rewriting on the novel as well. All in all, it shouldn't take too long to fix, and it will improve the book. That, hopefully, will also improve its chances of selling!

In conclusion: if you're working on a synopsis, make sure you get all the important character information in first, and then leap into the storyline. Make sure you really care about your characters. If you don't care about them, no one else will!

Happy writing!

Hope's Incredibly Nitpicky Editing Techniques for Word, Part One

Sometimes as we're busy getting the words down in a manuscript, little errors can creep in that we don't notice. Most of the time, Word or whatever processor/program we're using will pick up on it, but sometimes, like at the end of sentences, it will sneak past the built-in grammer checker, too.

The problem: spaces

E.g. This is the first sentence. Between this and the first sentence, there are supposed to be two spaces. However, there are three. Visually, you can hardly tell there's an extra space there, but it's there.
E.g. This is the second sentence. Between "the" and "second" there are two spaces, when there should only be one.

These are minor, but attention to detail can put you ahead of the game with editors, who have to look at enough bad grammar and punctuation without having to deal with a manuscript that doesn't look quite right.

The fix: "Find"

The "find" feature (in Word you press alt-E, F) will allow you to find those extra spaces. Enter two spaces in the "find" box and then click on "find next." It will put a small black rectangle between every sentence. If the rectangle moves on to the next sentence, you have exactly two spaces after the period, question mark, or exclamation point. If, however, the rectangle just moves slightly and stays between those two sentences, you have an extra space. You can eliminate that with either backspace or delete.

The same holds true for extra spaces between words. Most times, the internal grammar checker will underline those in green (in Word), alerting you to the problem, but sometimes it doesn't. This will show you where those mistakes are while you're busy checking to make sure you don't have extra spaces at the end of your sentence.

Another good reason for looking for extra spaces: sometimes you can fit more onto a page and avoid "widows and orphans," as Word calls those pages with a single word or sentence at the top and the rest of the page blank. Think of it as one more way you can line edit more easily. Happy editing!