I’m pretty sure I’m not the only writer who tries to run from writing a synopsis.  In fact, I haven’t spoken to anyone yet who says, “Writing a synopsis?  Yeah, that’s a cakewalk.”  But the question is why do so many of us struggle with them?  I mean, a synopsis only has to be two or three pages.  If you’ve put down a 70,000 words novel, that should be nothing, right?  Sadly, no, that’s not right at all.

 For me, since I’m a wordy by nature, it’s sort of like trying to squeeze an elephant into a mouse hole.  I have thousands and thousands of words in a manuscript, and in my humble opinion, they’re good words.  I used each and every one of them because I thought they had value, but now to create a synopsis and use hardly any of those cherished words.  Eek!  On top of that, a synopsis should only include scenes and characters that are pivotal to the story.  But every scene and character is important!  I wrote them, so they must be!  But there again, the truth is, not every character and scene in a book is needed to make a good story, or to at least get the point of the story across.

My awesome editor at MLR Press, bless her for her patience and understanding, was well aware I was procrastinating on writing a synopsis for this novel.  And when I finally decided to quit procrastinating, progress was slow as I had other things to do; eating breakfast, going to the grocery store, cleaning the house, checking email every two minutes, playing games on Facebook.  You know, important stuff.  This same day, my editor and I were chatting, and got talking about the synopsis. 

 As we were finishing the discussion, I said, “Yeah, I guess it doesn’t really have to be creative, it just has to get to the point.”  Bingo!  Hallelujah!  By Jove, I think I’ve got it!  And that, in a nutshell, is the whole point of a synopsis.

 It’s true, you want a synopsis to be somewhat engaging, but I think if the story itself is engaging, that’ll come through in the synopsis.  A synopsis and a story have two different jobs.  The story’s is to entertain and be creative.  The synopsis’ is to relay information.   

Everybody has their own way of writing a synopsis.  I like to start mine off with a character list describing the main characters and their roles.  This way, my editor has easy access to who the important players in the story are.  But for me, my stories are heavily character driven, so that’s why I focus on them in a synopsis. 

Following the character list, I’ll put down about three pages of what the story is about, hitting on all the major events, and mostly the moments of high emotion and high action.  Once I have all that down, I check over the finished synopsis to make sure I have the basics in it.  Is it clear where the story takes place?  Whether the story is set in Chicago, or on Alderaan, (yay for a random Star Wars reference), I think it’s important to have the setting in there.  Do I introduce the main characters and their relationship well?  Do I muddle things with letting too many minor characters say hello?  Am I keeping on track with how the main conflict is introduced, developed, and resolved?  Is it clear what genre the story is, m/m contemporary, m/m paranormal, and so on?  And the biggest of all, do I reveal exactly how the story ends? 

If you’re like me, giving away the ending of your book before someone has actually read it boarders on sacrilege.  But when it comes to a synopsis, it’s not only okay, it an absolute must.  You’re not spoiling the story for an editor, you’re helping them to understand it better.

Now, I’m by no means an expert on synopsis writing.  Sure, I’ve written a few in my day, but it was only with this most recent one that I truly got a sound understanding of its purpose.  So while I always used to look at a synopsis as an author’s worst foe, I’ve come to accept mine as a friend.  Maybe not a friend I want to hang out with all the time, but certainly a helpful friend.  There’s no denying they’re an editor’s friend, and what’s good for the editor is always good for the author.

By:

S.J. FROST

I’m saddened for my friend and wish there was some way to help her but I know deep in my heart there isn’t. I would jump on my soapbox and rail at the moon if it would help change peoples ideals about gay fiction but it isn’t going to help so I won’t. For now all I can do is keep writing and hope to prove to those lackwitted nitwits that gay romance  is about romance and nothing more.  You don’t want to read about two men kissing – then don’t buy the damn book! You don’t want to see two men hugging on a book cover  then DON’T go trolling thru a gay publishing company’s coming soon section.  GAH!  Sorry…rant over.

TTFN

Aeryn Traxx

Hugh Jackman

Ian Somerhalder

Shemar Moore

Ryan Reynolds

Cristiano Ronaldo

Whose nakedness would make your world a better place?

Blog – Twitter – Facebook – Sculpting a Demon at Ellora’s Cave

This new e-book from Untreed Reads is, in fact, the very first non-erotic story I’ve had published. Sure, I’ve had a few LGBT romance stories published, but this one is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish. It’s lesbian literary fiction.

So, if UGLY NAKED PEOPLE isn’t about an ugly naked beast with two backs, what is it about?

Ugly Naked People

By: Giselle Renarde | Other books by Giselle Renarde
Published By: Untreed Reads Publishing, LLC
ISBN # 9781452443492

Categories: Lesbian Literature Short Stories

Rave is concerned about her girlfriend Astrid’s rapidly declining weight and health. As Astrid’s eating disorder begins to take its toll on the couple’s relationship, Rave hopes that a dramatic move on her part will save both Astrid and the future they could have together.

You can buy UGLY NAKED PEOPLE now from just about any reputable seller of ebooks, including Smashwords, AllRomance ebooks, and many others.

Hugs,

Giselle Renarde
Canada just got hotter!

http://gisellerenarde.webs.com

http://donutsdesires.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/GiselleRenarde
http://audreyandlawrence.viviti.com/

Seriously, though, I know which one I‘d choose.  Cowboys.  To me, they seem almost as fictional and idealized as pirates & ninjas, since I hadn’t come across a real, live one until I was mid-thirties. I spent most of my life in Toronto.   I’d be willing to bet there’s not one real cowboy in Toronto, unless they wandered away from the Calgary Stampede and got seriously lost (it‘s a loooong way between the two).  Horseback riding, chaps, tight jeans… Yep, I totally get the cowboy as romantic hero, in historicals, contemporaries, or even futuristics – Firefly, anyone?

Zombies as romantic heroes…  I don’t know.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love zombies.  I adore zombie movies (I was even an extra in a funky little movie called Enter, Zombie King).  I could go on ALL day about my favourites, but in them the zombies are generally villains.   If there’s any heroic hotness, it belongs to the last humans trying to survive.  Zombie as romance hero?  I think that might qualify for one of my absurd, yet insurmountable mental blocks.  Because in my mind, zombies = rotting flesh and I’m pretty sure I know which parts are going to be immediately vulnerable.

That’s right.  Noses.

Okay, so I’m lying.  I was thinking of other bits, but no sense in making everyone think I have an unhealthy obsession… it’s a perfectly healthy obsession, I assure you!  But I am talking about romance, and sex is usually a big factor.  Of course, that does give me an idea for a bittersweet tragedy about a zombie eunuch…

Regardless, it would have to be a stellar idea to solve for the rotting bits to make me accept (writers, I may be throwing down a gauntlet here) a zombie hero.  Paige Tyler came up with a great take on the zombie as romantic hero (I believe it‘s coming soon).  Clearly, it can be done.  Who knows?  Maybe there’s a lot of you out there who think zombies are poor, misunderstood creatures who only need the love of a good man or woman to fix them.

I came across these and picked out the one I liked best. Really just wanted to show off some of my photos today.

Steven Wright’s Humor.. If you’re not familiar with the work of Steven Wright, he’s the famous erudite scientist who once said: “I woke up one morning, and all of my stuff had been stolen and replaced by exact duplicates”. He also said “I went to the store to buy some batteries, but they weren’t included – so I bought them again”

His mind sees things differently than most of us do. Here are some of his gems:

1 – I’d kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.

2 – Borrow money from pessimists — they don’t expect it back.

3 – A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.

4 – A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

5 – If you want the rainbow, you’ve got to put up with the rain.

6 – All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand.

7 – The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

8 – If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

9 – Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

10 – When everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.

11 – Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.

12 – Hard work pays off in the future; laziness pays off now.

13 – I intend to live forever… So far, so good.

14 – If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?

15 – Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines.

16 – What happens if you get scared half to death twice?

17 – My mechanic told me, “I couldn’t repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.”

18 – If at first you don’t succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

19 – A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.

20 – Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.

21 – The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.

22 – The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.

23 – The sooner you fall behind, the more time you’ll have to catch up.

24 – The colder the x-ray table, the more of your body is required to be on it.

25 – Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don’t have film.
                              

It is easy to be grateful when everything is going our way—your bills are paid, affairs of the heart are in order, and you’re healthy.But, when you don’t know how the bills are going to be paid, your love-life is a mess, and you’re dealing with a difficult diagnosis about your health…

‘Thank you’ most probably isn’t the first word to come to mind.It is so easy to fall into the black hole of depression and worry when life isn’t going our way. In order to stay ‘centered’, especially in difficult times, I must completely change my focus away from the negative, to all that is good in my life.To help me do this I keep a journal in which each night before I go to sleep, no matter how hard the day was, list three things I am grateful for.

When I first learned about keeping a gratitude journal, to say I was sceptical would be putting it mildly, but I promised a friend I would give it an ‘honest’ try for one month.

Looking back, I have to laugh when I see an entry like…

‘Today I am grateful I didn’t completely lose it when talking to tech support on the phone for TWO FRICKING HOURS!’

‘Today I am grateful I could plunge the toilet to flush ‘before’ I called a plumber.’

‘Today I am grateful there are no men allowed in my house.’

You get the picture? Over time I’ve learned there is so much more than I ever imagined to be grateful for…

‘I am grateful for hearing a song that touched my heart.’

‘I am grateful for the loyal, loving companionship of my dog, Chachi.’

‘I am grateful for the sense of pride I felt after re-reading the last chapter of a book I am working on.’

I challenge you to try this for one week. If nothing else, it will change your focus before you close your eyes at the end of the day.

So what do you have to be grateful for today?

So, now that you know something deeply personal about me, I’m going to switch gears–sort of–to talk about home decor. Yes, that’s right, home decor with the armoires and the cushions and the HOYVIN-GLAVIN! (Sorry, just having a Professor Frink moment, there)

The very first time my girlfriend Sweet came to my apartment, she said (and I quote), “You know, if you moved the couch under the window and the TV unit against that wall, you could put your bookshelf over there and create a little reading nook with that chair.”

And I said, “Uh-huh…yeah, thanks for the advice. Now shut up and kiss me!” (Okay, that one was not a direct quote. I don’t remember what I said.)

I didn’t think I’d end up taking Sweet’s decor advice. It didn’t sound like it was going to work. If I moved the couch under the window, it would block my heating vents. And put a bookcase in the middle of the room? The more I thought about it, the stupider her idea sounded. Want to know why?

Because I’m a person who sees only obstacles. That’s it. My whole world is comprised of one obstacle after the next. That’s not necessarily a bad thing…unless you couple my obstacle-seeing characteristic with my “screw that” tendency. It’s fine if you see an obstacle and plan a way to overcome it. I don’t do that. I see the obstacle and I say, “Screw that. It’ll be too hard. It won’t work. There’s no point.”

But now that I’ve realized these things about myself, I can work at improving. That’s what life’s all about, right? Learning and growing and improving. So I took Sweet’s advice. I moved all my furniture around, adjusting for foreseen obstacles, and you know what? She was right! My living room looks amazing now.

Thus, we come full circle to trust. It is damn hard to trust people–for me. I don’t know if it is for you. And trusting Sweet’s home decor vision was akin to trusting her. In fact, it was a segment of trust, a little trust that makes up part of trust as a whole. The reason I didn’t hop right to taking her advise about my living room was that I couldn’t blindly trust that she knew what she was talking about. Seeing was believing, for me.

Now I’m filled with a sense of weathered awe as I see her vision fulfilled in my home. It makes me happy. It’s like a piece of her mind is living in my…living room–hey, neat! I trust her decor sense. Next victim is the bedroom. She’s got a vision for that as well.

Hugs,
Giselle Renarde
Canada just got hotter!

It was carnival day in Provincetown, where (as a charming man we met said), “You can just be yourself”. So straight and gay, families and singles, children and old folks, me with my biological kids and other people with their adopted ones, just mingled and had fun. Nobody minded if two blokes or two women (or even a man and a woman *g*) walked down the street holding hands or with arms around each other.

We saw lots of things we liked:

(not just the nice scenery). This was good:

I can identify with that. I also got a really nice badge which sort of sums up how I feel about what some parts of the church are doing with my faith: “Jesus called – he wants his religion back”.

Longer and more coherent post next month.

Our scenery didn’t come with this guy…

But it did inspire…..

I see several outdoor scenes in my current work in progress.  Not only was the surroundings recharge me but the ease of the days.  My mind was able to focus on my writing (or okay, the bear and how to use the bathroom), or just wander. 

It was a great trip….that I’m sure will fuel many scenes in the future.  One thing it did remind me of…the importance of using ALL aspects of nature. The chipmunk running across the trails, the squirrels chattering, and feeling of really being ‘small’ in a very large world. By including what aren’t the first things to come to mind when you look at the above pictures, I as a writer, can bring you closer to what it really was like.

Hope eveyone has a great day!

Lyncee