Synopsis in first person?

Is your wife an agent or editor?

There may be one or two agents/publishers who accept first-person synopses but the overwhelming majority - certainly every one I've ever dealt with - say third person, present tense.

Your wife may enjoy reading them, but - and I apologise in advance for how brutal this will sound - unless she's an agent or publisher with the power to advance your career, she doesn't get a say.

Now there are others on AW with far more experience than I in this regard, so I'll leave it to them to put you (and me!) right, but I say rework your synopsis to show the humour, but for God's sake keep it in third. If an agent asks you to recite The Iliad backwards while standing on your head, you do it.

(n.b. This has never occurred).

Welcome to AW, rite4food.

Scarletpeaches is right about what the norm is for these. I've heard of writers crafting a query letter in 1st person, but never a synopsis. Maybe you could do the query in 1st, since that's the first document that gets through the door. Also, this will allow you to show the tone of your story upfront. Many times, the agent won't even ask for a synopsis until they've requested more material.

You could always craft a query both ways, then post it in the SYW forum for feedback. Good luck to you!

Queries are marginally acceptable in first person, synopses are not. A synopsis is to show the structure of your book, and entertainment is far down the list of requirements. Your voice will show up better in your book and query.

What a synopsis should be showing is things like plot holes, logic disconnects, and issues like that. Synopses will not usually sell your book, although a bad one can unsell your book. It's just a tool for analyzing your book.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

It's not really the viewpoint that influences the tone of your synopsis anyway.

It's perfectly possible to play up the humour in third person...or first...or hell, even second.

What Scarlet said, it's more than doable to get across that first person quirky feel in a third person synopsis:

Now he's running from the law, has the secret to life hidden in his saddle bags, and all he can think is, "Did I leave the stove on?"



The key is to take a moment to share his unique thoughts, and not just go through a list of things that happens in the story.

FYI I've read more than one agent blog that says they read the synopsis only AFTER they've decided to pass on a MS. It gives them a sense of closure.

Sort of a betrayal to the writer, in my opinion (oh, by the way, can you fret and slave over a synopsis so I can know how your story ends without reading it?) But there you have it. Many times it's not even close to the determining factor.

Maybe it's different with editors, but if you're going for an agent first you can always revise the synopsis with an agent's help before submitting to publishing houses.

rite4food said:

RainbowDragon--

That seems kind of odd...why would an agent want to waste their own time?

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Curiosity?

rite4food said:

RainbowDragon--

That seems kind of odd...why would an agent want to waste their own time?

Click to expand...

I thought the exact same thing.

The comment here should be read in connection with "FYI I've read more than one agent blog that says they read the synopsis only AFTER they've decided to pass on a MS. It gives them a sense of closure.It might be because they are curious, but I'm inclined to doubt it. My guess it's one last hope that this project can be saved." that Rainbow posed above.

An agent reads the query and decides they want to see more. So what is shown in the query? The agent will get an idea of the writer's style, the premise, the overall plot, and ability to avoid typos. After reading the query, the agent has certain expectations as to what he/she will see in the partial.

So then the agent reads the partial. Instead of the writer meeting or exceeding those expectations, the partial is a dud. It can be a dud because the grammar is off, or it moves so slow that watching concrete set is more interesting. Both of those problems can be commented on easily by the agent, and simple solutions suggested for a resubmit, should the agent desire (remember that the agent likes the idea or the agent would not be reading the partial -- if the agent can suggest a cure it can be in the agent's interest).

But frequently when reading the partial, you have no idea what the hell the writer is trying to do. You have a theory based upon the query, but the query doesn't seem related to the partial. You start wondering whether the partial was even written by the same writer who wrote the query. At that point, some agents will look at the synopsis to see whether this thing can be saved. Although the answer is usually no, sometimes in looking at the synopsis, you can tell that the author started the book way before the story begins, and a fix can be suggested.

I read a lot of queries in QLH. It is exceptionally rare that I'm curious as to the ending of the book. Until I get invested in the characters, the ending doesn't matter. My guess is agents are the same. If they want to know the ending, the book is working, and they'll want to figure out some way of saving the thing.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

I've seen agents say that the reason they ask for a synopsis is because it's an easy way to tell if the author has developed a decent plot or if it's completely off the wall/plotless. A big complaint is that the story might start off okay, but something really bizarre happens partway through, or the ending is crazy, or something of that sort. I think they see the synopsis as a way to make sure, without having to read the whole full, that the story has potential to really work. So I don't think it's necessarily a last final save, but it could be that they're really intrigued but checking to make sure it's going to hold up before requesting a full and wasting their time reading it all just to find out aliens show up three quarters of the way through.

Also, you can write your character's voice in third person. Just pretend your the narrator telling the story. That's how I do it, and it works really well for conveying voice and humor.

RainbowDragon said:

FYI I've read more than one agent blog that says they read the synopsis only AFTER they've decided to pass on a MS. It gives them a sense of closure.

.

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There are many, many incompetent people out there who call themselves agents, but I have yet to meet or talk to a good one who reads a synopsis after deciding to pass on a novel. I've never met an agent, or an editor, who had that much time to waste. An agent or editor who does have that much time to waste needs a new career.

Most agents and editors read the synopsis after reading sample chapters. This tells the agent or editor whether story carries well from the end of chapter three to the end of chapter last.

The acquisition board also usually needs the synopsis, and this is very often all that gets read.

Jamesaritchie said:

Most agents and editors read the synopsis after reading sample chapters. This tells the agent or editor whether story carries well from the end of chapter three to the end of chapter last.

The acquisition board also usually needs the synopsis, and this is very often all that gets read.

Click to expand...

Yep, so make that synopsis rock.