Synopsis logistics

I have a novella I'm preparing to sub and I need a synopsis to go along with it. That's not a big deal - I'd expect that. However, I have a logistical question.

The novella begins with a prologue that takes place between the first and second parts of the book. Do I write the synopsis to reflect the linear story? Or do I write the synopsis to reflect the structure of the book?

(And please don't get into all the "Don't have a prologue," warnings. I've heard them all and weighed everything out in regard to this particular story. It needs the prologue where it is.)

Modog814: Thanks.

Namatu: Well, from what I read in that thread it doesn't answer my question. But thanks for linking to it anyway.

Xelebes: It's not a premonition. It's simply the point at which the story starts. And then it continues by revealing the events which lead up to the start of the story and on past it.

ScarletPeaches: Thanks. That was my initial thought and then I wondered if that would be a mistake. So, I appreciate you weighing in. (Given your title of Synopsis/Title Ninja and all. )

Cliff Face said:

I'd agree with SP and add that you should mention which part is the prologue - the agent should be able to infer what's going on easily then, otherwise it might come out as weird time jumping in an unexplained way.

But "Here ends the prologue" will convey a lot.

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Yeah. And that was what I had thought to do originally (though perhaps not with "here ends the prologue") but I'd never looked at a synopsis for books written in non-chronological order and I was starting to wonder if maybe I was screwing myself by putting the synopsis in the same structure as the book.

Leanan-Sidhe said:

Actually, like Namatu said, I think the article in SYW does address this.

(I just read this article yesterday and that stuck out at me.)

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I think by the time I got that far into the thread my eyes had fogged over trying to find an answer to the thing I wanted to know in all the stuff I already knew. >_< Anyway, I think I know how to handle this now.

Thanks, everyone.

JayG said:

Why? What pressing reason is there for the reader to jump into the middle of the story? I ask this as someone who just did that same thing. In my case I felt it was necessary because there was a necessary story setup that was in a very different environment than the main story, and might give the impression it was a different kind of story, were someone who read only the first page or two in deciding to buy or pass. Because of that I, in effect, sampled the actual story, first, then gave the character reason to bring up the actual opening and transfer there. But other than that, why jump in, then talk about what happened before the story begins? Surely the story can stand on its own?

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I hope the story stands on its own. I'm pretty sure it does. But here's the way the story plays out.

I have the prologue, which is an introduction to the character in a position she has been in for most of her young adult life - in danger and on the run. It is her "zero point" so to speak. But the inciting incident is actually something that happened a bit earlier (timewise) in the story when she was offered the promise of change to her life. An offer she couldn't accept and one that was then complicated by the villain of the story and led to her being in on the run again. (Which in this case is both a continuation of the status quo and also something new and different.)

It sounds kind of backwards but I've tried moving things into chronological order and the structure simply didn't work as well. So, there's a prologue. Then there's part one which is the events that lead up to the prologue. Then there's part two which begins the events that follow the prologue. Etc.

I think it works. My betas seem to think it works. Whether an editor will or not... I'll have to sub it and see.