Synopsis in first person - any opinions?

Stlight · Jan 16, 2008

Don’t mean to annoy you with too many posts, but I’ve got another question from the world of did too many things wrong once to charge without checking the saddle girth twice.

Okay, to continue torturing… learning I’m continuing reading about synopsis as well as query letters. Last night I read, not on AW, that regardless of what is used in the mss, the synopsis should be written in first person. Any opinions?

Second level, my mss is in first person. Any opinions about synopsis in first or third for it?

And thank you for being helpful.

Stlight

Straka · Jan 16, 2008

I have a work in 1st person so I started the synopsis in first person until I read somewhere that a synopsis should be in 3rd person. To be honest I think third person is more effective from a selling point of view because you have to shorten and boil down the work so much. You're really trying to tell the reader that you know how to write and have a cohesive plot.

SinkFulloDishes · Jan 16, 2008

As I understand, the synopsis should be written in third person, present tense, regardless of what person or tense the story is in.

jclarkdawe · Jan 16, 2008

Third person, present tense. It would be difficult to do in first person other than for a memoir. How do you separate the "I" of your synopsis from the "I" of you?

You might want to look at this thread: How to Write a Synopsis. Andrew does good work at discovering sources of information.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

maestrowork · Jan 16, 2008

"Synopsis should be written in 1st person?" News to me. Go to the book stores and read as many book jacket blurbs (especially if the novels are written in 1st person). Then go online and read as many synopsis (movies, books, etc.) as you can. Tell me now: How many are written in first person? And how many are written in third/present?

You're welcome.

ORION · Jan 16, 2008

My editor wrote my jacket blurb in third person and my book is first person. I've never seen a synopsis in first person...

Ziljon · Jan 16, 2008

I second what SinkFulloDishes says:

SinkFulloDishes said:
As I understand, the synopsis should be written in third person, present tense, regardless of what person or tense the story is in.

SageFury · Jan 16, 2008

Always third person,

I've only seen first person work for movies...

Synopsis is a quick run through of your stories critical moments and is not suppose to really be more than a page at most... usually i hear agents like a paragraph. First person makes it hard to pull off length requirements.

Stlight · Jan 16, 2008

Thank you. I’m thrilled to discover that I was on the right track.

Jclarkdawe, thanks for the link.

Stlight

Stlight · Jan 16, 2008

The link is everything you said. The password was tricky, that caps thing.

Thanks

HourglassMemory · Jan 16, 2008

What do you mean in first person?
Like "I'm xxxx and I wrote this story about this character".
Or "I am xxxxx and I have killed a man. I am struggling with my depression."

The second one would certainly scare the hell out of the editor.
and the first one is just too much lik ea phone conversation.

Have you watched the 2005 version of "The War of the Worlds"?
do you know Morgan Freeman narrating at the beginning and at the end of the film.

Write your story description to be read by his voice.

herdon · Jan 16, 2008

Definitely third person. I think first person done right could make for a killer synopsis, but its best to leave the tricks out of the query and synopsis for the most part.

juneafternoon · Jan 17, 2008

The only book cover I have ever seen with a first person blurb was Sarah Dessen's Just Listen, the Brit version. So, not entirely unheard of, but I think the conventional way is third person present.

Synopsis in first person - any opinions?

Stlight

ideas are floating where they will

Straka

Bored Fanatic

SinkFulloDishes

jclarkdawe

Feeling lucky, Query?

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray

ORION

Sailed away years ago

Ziljon

Tortilla di Patate

SageFury

Overcoming the Darkness

Stlight

ideas are floating where they will

Stlight

ideas are floating where they will

HourglassMemory

herdon

What's up?

juneafternoon

Return of the Jedi