ETA: edited to add direct permanent links to the other participants' posts!

jpsorrow put together this idea, which I thought was fun, of posting a successful synopsis: the kind of short summary you might send along with a query letter to get an agent or editor interested in seeing the full manuscript. The idea is to give any of you out there who are aspiring writers (or just curious!) a bunch of examples that were used to help sell a book.

My examples here are a little atypical: Betsy got interested in His Majesty's Dragon just from the manuscript itself, but they were interested in additional books; so she then asked me for synopses of the next two books before we agreed on the first three-book deal.

NOTE: Spoilers galore within! This is actually an important tip: do not worry about spoiling your prospective agent/editor. Give them all you've got. You will also note that there are many, many differences between these synopses and the eventual books, not least the titles.

( Original Synopsis for Throne of Jade )

( Original Synopsis for Empire of Ivory )

You don't get to see the rest of the original synopsis for Book IV because it is spoilery for future books. :D

I would ramble on a lot more about the changes but I am running around like mad getting ready to leave for Norwescon -- hope to see some of you there! Here's my schedule for the con.

And here for you to check out are links to ( more Plot Synopsis Project participants! )

Tags: plot synopsis project