Should a query give the WHOLE plot?

Yes. Include the whole plot. No surprises.

And there you go!

Include the whole plot? Absolutely not--only give a feel for the book. As a marketing tool, it should read like jacket copy.

Look at the threads in share your work, esp. those at the top of the query section: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=84
(The password is vista.)

Julie Worth said:

Include the whole plot? Absolutely not--only give a feel for the book. As a marketing tool, it should read like jacket copy.

Look at the threads in share your work, esp. those at the top of the query section: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=84
(The password is vista.)

Click to expand...

Man...that post just unlearned everything I learned during the last few weeks. Maybe I am thinking synopsis...but I thought the query should tell the whole thing too. Now...back to the drawing board for me.

Jeffrey Pace said:

And yet I have had some give me constructive criticism that my query read TOO MUCH like a jacket cover and didn't give enough specifics and plot points.

It seems like some like brief and enticing, while others like full and descriptive. Is it a personal taste as to which approach is more acceptable?

And yes, I have read through all the stickies and queries on the share your work page

Click to expand...

A query is a marketing tool, not a book report. Its purpose is to get an agent or editor to request the MS. The synopsis is where you give the plot, but there too, the real purpose is marketing...at least, you should treat it that way.

In my experience the agency wants the synopsis so that an intern can quickly reject a book without reading it. So they can look through the synopsis for clues that you don't know what you're doing. And who can blame them? Why read 400 pages if you can reject the book by reading a single page? So I never send one unless they ask for it, because I've never written one that was as good as the book.

It's fine for query to give away the ending. Agents and editors are not the same audience as book-buying readers of the end product in the store. Tell them there's a plot twist at the end and they're not impressed. Tell them at the end he discovers Darth Vader is his father and you've shown a plot twist.

KTC said:

Man...that post just unlearned everything I learned during the last few weeks. Maybe I am thinking synopsis...but I thought the query should tell the whole thing too. Now...back to the drawing board for me.

Click to expand...

I spent a long time asking this question and I have to concur with the NOT philosophy. The query is a teaser, supposedly designed to get them to read the synopsis which should ABSOLUTELY include everything. They don't need or want the whole story twice before they get to the book.

Admittedly, I'm having a hard time tickling anyone with my query. You see so many that claim to be successful and they are all different. There is no way to know how to tickle any one agents buttons. It is hit and miss. I do think it should be a blurb. It's whole purpose is to entice. The synopsis is to convey.

Hi JP

I'm in the not camp - sort of.

The query is a professional pitch to an agency or publisher about the work you would like them to consider. It needs to tell the overall view of your story, like a blurb - but it has to have a little more nuts and bolts about it. It is your sales pitch but a professional one, not the glossy one the end reader will be reading. Break your story into the beginning, the middle and the end, and give a brief overview about each. If relevant - depending upon the intended targets likes/dislikes/etc - you could go into a little more detail about the main characters motivators and any hidden morals, etc.

The synopsis is where you go into more detail about plot points and chapters etc.

Have a search around on the net - there are some really good articles around about both. This is one good resource that I refer to a lot:

http://www.fictionfactor.com/submission.html

Hope that helps

BT

Queries are 20 second ads, since that's all the time I've heard most people give them. It's an enticement to read more, that's it. One pro-friend said that queries are the "TV Guide" version of the book--one sentence, maybe two, to capture the spark. In the business world, I've heard this called "the elevator pitch"--you meet the agent of your dreams in the elevator and have ONE sentence to catch their attention and make them miss their floor or invite you to walk with them. (And, FWIW, I've know this to happen to people at cons and they've made it work.)

Synopses, OTOH, need to cover all the twists and turns of the main plot. From what I've heard agents and editors say, that's where they get their first glimpse of how well you handle conflict and building stakes. At least one major agent said that he looks at the synopsis before he looks at any sample pages because without conflict and stakes, the best prose is pointless. The synopsis is also important because, once your book is sold, it is probably the ONLY part of your book that many departments are going to have time to read before making various decisions--so get it in there.

Maybe I've been doing it wrong...

I've written queries that are 2 pages long, synoposis that are 5 pages long, I don't know if I'm coming or going with these things!

I usually say who I am, what I'm writing, and then proceed to tell who the main characters are, the struggle they're each coping with, and the problem they're trying to solve.

In the synoposis I tell a longer version of the other. I don't give away the ending. I tell them just enough to try to get them interested in reading the ms. Strange how they hate to read the ms, they want the whole nut in a shell right then and there.

Then again...I might be doing something wrong and thats why they keep saying my book isn't for them at this time.

Well, I'll check in again, 'cause I'm learning a lot here--good luck,

In the synopsis the ending must be told. the agent/editor needs to know that the whole plot will come together. You're not teasing him into buying a book. You are proving that you can deliver on your teasing. So tell the ending, all the time.

In a query, if you have a bizarre twist then yes tell them that. Show them that your story is a step above the regular stuff out there. Don't leave the impression that it's just more of the same.

Not telling the ending in a query or a synopsis is like tellling a long joke without the punchline. Nobody says "oh that's clever" tell me another incomplete joke. They'll curse you, and decide to never let you tell them another joke again because you can't deliver. Don't tease the editor/agent. Lay your cards on the table. all of them. THey see enough stuff every day that if you dont tell them the end, they wont be racing for the phone cause they've just "got" to know the ending. They'll shrug their shoulders and reach for the next manuscript.

I don't know if this helps, but in my query, I reveal the twist, but don't say how the MC resolves it. For my story, I think it makes the query even more enticing.

Anne Mini over at Author! Author! has just finished up a series of posts on writing queries. There's some really fab tips there.

Synopsis for what?

For a query: book jacket marketing blurb. Talk about the premise, give them a hook, let them ask for more.

For the manuscript: all the major plot points including the ending. They want to know if you have the whole thing well thought out.

I just make up some stuff that I think will make them request the manuscript.

Just kidding.


sort of

In a query, no.

In a synopsis, yes.

Two very different animals here.

Susan G.

aadams73 said:

Anne Mini over at Author! Author! has just finished up a series of posts on writing queries. There's some really fab tips there.

Click to expand...

That's an excellent site. Thanks for posting it!

Leave them wanting to read more with your query.

But the synopsis should include all (major) plot points, including twists and the ending.

Knowing how to write a query is a little bit like grammar. There's a right way and a wrong way of doing things, and the trick is to know when the wrong way is the right way.

As a novelist, I can guarantee you've written fragments. Now the grammar rule is that a fragment is a big no-no. However, fragments may be the best way of writing in a specific situation. As a novelist, you know when you can get away with breaking the rule and making a fragment work for you.

If there is a 'rule' about endings in query letters, then the rule would be don't include it. Save it for the synopsis. But, there are times when you want to either break the rule or bend it a bit. The trick is thinking through what the effect is and what you're trying to accomplish.

Now, for most books, the ending is fairly obvious. We might not know the details, but we pretty much know where your book is going. For example, when was the last time you read a mystery where there isn't a solution to the murder? Now I know when I start a mystery, there will be a solution. I will not be left hanging out there with no solution.

If I was pitching or querying a murder, I'd never reveal the ending. An agent or editor knows I'll have an ending where the murderer will be found and all will be made right with the world. If I don't, you know how fast the agent or editor is going to hit the reject button (and I'd probably be well advised never to contact that agent or editor ever again).

Some books, however, don't have an obvious answer. Either the twist is so bizarre that the general concept of the ending is going to cause readers problem (the murder where the murderer is never found) or the plot of the book presents some issues.

The next book of mine I'll be querying is The Next Step. The protagonist in this book is an 87-year-old widower with Alzheimer's, cancer, and thinking of suicide and what is the best way to die. Because the book is entirely about this dilemma, I decided that showing an agent that I had an ending was important, so my query has the ending.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

Limit your "blurb" in the query to two paragraphs or less. The common problem I see in queries is a 5-paragraph exposé. Try to condense the premise/story to a couple of paragraphs.

Jeffrey Pace said:

It seems like some folks suggest keeping it short and leaving some plot points to be discovered in the synopsis or the manuscript, while others think that the beginning middle and end should all be revealed in the query.

What are your thoughts? My novel has a bizarre twist at the end. Should that be revealed in my query?

Thanks!

Jeff

Click to expand...

The ending has to be part of the synopsis. Minor plot twists and subplots can be left out, but not the major plot elements. But no one expects all the plot to be in the query letter, if that is what you are asking. That usually contains a two or three paragraph "blurb" type description, basically a hook for the novel.

J. R. Tomlin said:

Absolutely. The ending has to be part of the synopsis. Minor plot twists and subplots can be left out, but not the major plot elements.

Click to expand...

Not in a query.