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Hi,
An agent who has being reading my full has asked me for a chapter-by-chapter synopsis, and I am pretty sure I know what is required (she only wants a few lines/bullet points for each chapter - there are sixty chapters in total, and she has also asked for an indication in the time lapses between each character's chapters).
I have seen some people suggesting that where the novel has multiple narratives and/or time shifts, that this should be indicated in the chapter heading in the synopsis (e.g. Chapter 7 - Catalina - Santiago - 1813 or Chapter 13 - Jorge - Two Days Later).
To indicate why this could prevent a difficulty for me, let me explain a little about the structure of my novel. I have seven main characters in my novel. At the beginning none of them have met, and they only begin meeting about a third of the way through the novel. Now, while each character's chapters occur chronologically (i.e. Catalina 2 follows Catalina 1 and Jorge 2 follows Jorge 1), they don't necessarily happen in lock-step with each other (Jorge 1 & 2 occur before Catalina 1 & 2). However, for the purposes of keeping each character fresh (amongst other reasons), the book order goes something like this:
Catalina 1
Jorge 1
...
Catalina 2
Jorge 2
(and so on - but for seven distinct characters).
My question is this (if you are still with me): Do I need to indicate all the time shifts in the novel? Or (and this is my hope) will it suffice to give the time lapse from the character's last chapter (e.g. Chapter 13 - Jorge - Two Days Later).
This is only really an issue for the first third of the novel, then all chronological issues disappear.
Should I just forget all the time-nonsense and just write a clear, spare summary of each chapter?
Thanks,
Dave
An agent who has being reading my full has asked me for a chapter-by-chapter synopsis, and I am pretty sure I know what is required (she only wants a few lines/bullet points for each chapter - there are sixty chapters in total, and she has also asked for an indication in the time lapses between each character's chapters).
I have seen some people suggesting that where the novel has multiple narratives and/or time shifts, that this should be indicated in the chapter heading in the synopsis (e.g. Chapter 7 - Catalina - Santiago - 1813 or Chapter 13 - Jorge - Two Days Later).
To indicate why this could prevent a difficulty for me, let me explain a little about the structure of my novel. I have seven main characters in my novel. At the beginning none of them have met, and they only begin meeting about a third of the way through the novel. Now, while each character's chapters occur chronologically (i.e. Catalina 2 follows Catalina 1 and Jorge 2 follows Jorge 1), they don't necessarily happen in lock-step with each other (Jorge 1 & 2 occur before Catalina 1 & 2). However, for the purposes of keeping each character fresh (amongst other reasons), the book order goes something like this:
Catalina 1
Jorge 1
...
Catalina 2
Jorge 2
(and so on - but for seven distinct characters).
My question is this (if you are still with me): Do I need to indicate all the time shifts in the novel? Or (and this is my hope) will it suffice to give the time lapse from the character's last chapter (e.g. Chapter 13 - Jorge - Two Days Later).
This is only really an issue for the first third of the novel, then all chronological issues disappear.
Should I just forget all the time-nonsense and just write a clear, spare summary of each chapter?
Thanks,
Dave
