Author Heather McCorkle

This week's top tweets that I caught are all over the board of writing topics, which is kind of where I'm at right now, all over the board. I'm wrapping up the final read through edit of The Secret of Spruce Knoll , am searching for an agent for Trouble With the Dragon Empire , and am writing The First Dragonwatcher  which just tipped over 75,000 words! Whew. This first one is a link for those of you who need help on your synopsis: @ inkyelbows  Excellent synopsis-writing tips from @ Becky_Levine : http://bit.ly/9S7dLK This one is an interview by Chuck Sambuchino of a new agent that is searching for children's books: @ alicepope  Today on the @ SCBWI blog --Agent Interview: Mary Kole @ Kid_Lit   Andrea Brown Literary Agency. http://tinyurl.com/2busdd5 If you haven't heard about the Wylie agency e-book deal with Amazon you have to read this! It's huge news in the publishing industry and affects all authors: @ WeronikaJanczuk Have you heard? Wylie-A...

The answer to that is both easy and utterly complicated. Your story is what makes the synopsis good. But how do you decide what parts of your story to spotlight in the synopsis? That is the tough part and unfortunately it could be the difference between someone asking to read your manuscript or passing altogether on it. Now that I'm nearly finished with the editing process I'm faced with having to write a synopsis for my new book. Even if my agent doesn't require a synopsis before he reads it, if he decides to try and sell it I know he'll want one to send to editors. It is inevitable that I will have to write one so I might as well just do it. Sorry to break the news to those of you who were hoping that once you land an agent you'll never have to write another synopsis! Here's a few things you should ask yourself when writing a synopsis: Why are people going to want to read this book? What makes this book different from others of its kind? Be sure to include...

Some people hate writing a synopsis so much they avoid agents who ask for it. I have bad news for those folks, chances are good that even agents who don't initially ask for one will want one if they take you on. So how can you take the pain out of this horrible process? One paragraph at a time. It isn't easy to condense your hard work into a 3-5 or sometimes one page summary. It's even harder to do it and not make it sound like a stacatto scene by scene breakdown. Start similar to the way you started your query letter, with a hook sentence that sums up the heart of the book. From there hit on the important parts of the book. Infusing it with your writing style (or character voice) will help keep it from sounding like a scene by scene breakdown. Don't overdo the style though. The synopsis is about your story, not your writing. Finding that balance isn't easy, which is why most people hate doing one. Know what the agent wants in the synopsi...