Crabbit's Tips 6: Writing a synopsis

Today's Crabbit's Tips is about how to write a great synopsis. As you know, I've written a book called, ahem, Write a Great Synopsis, but I'm giving you some free advice, too, as ever. The Crabbit's Tips series is available as free downloadable and printable documents and this one is here. God, I'm good to you.


PS Remember: today is the deadline for the What has Twitter Ever Done For You competition.

Crabbit's Tips 8: Authors Doing Events

The latest in my series of Crabbit's Tips for Writers aims to help authors doing events. If you'd like the downloadable, printable version, click here.


It follows my recent blog post aimed at event organisers. (By the way, I've had great feedback on that behind the scenes, from agents who are also sick of seeing their authors poorly treated or unpaid. And, for your info, the agent does not take a commission on the author's fee!)

Crabbit's Tips 7: The Non-fiction Proposal

I continue my irregular series of Crabbit's Tips with a list of advice about making a proposal for a non-fiction book to an agent or publisher. If you want to download a pretty version to pin above your desk or collect in a sparkly binder, then go here.

I also suggest you first read my Seven Steps to Publication, if you are a beginner at this game.

Crabbit's Tips for Writers - 5: Ingredients of Poor Writing

You may remember that last year I started a set of Crabbit's Tips for Writers. Here's No 5. To find the others, go to the list of labels on the right (scroll down) and choose Crabbit's Tips for Writers. You can also go here to download the pretty pdf and print it out, if you so wish.

Crabbit's Tips for Writers - 4: Publishing Yourself

Here is the fourth in my series of Crabbit's Tips for Writers. See the sidebar for links to the others. You can either read it in the post below or you can go here and download the complete document and print it out. Enjoy!

Crabbit's Tips for Writers - 3: On Approaching Agents and Publishers

Here is the third in my series of free CRABBIT's TIPS FOR WRITERS. This one is Crabbit's Tips for Approaching Agents and Publishers. For the ones I've already published, see the label "Crabbit's Tips for Writers" by scrolling down the righthand sidebar. Or, for the full list see the first post here.

Crabbit's Tips for Writers - 2: On Getting Published

Here is the second in my series of free CRABBIT's TIPS FOR WRITERS. This one is Crabbit's Tips for Getting Published. Last week's was Crabbit's Tips for Writing Fiction. For that and the full list, see that post. Next week will be the one on approaching agents and publishers and I will be publishing one every week or more often until they are all up or I've run out of energy. This might happen.

Crabbit's Tips for Writers - 1: On Writing Fiction

In my absurd desire to pander to your every whim and propel you towards publication at no financial gain to myself, I have written a series of free guidelines for writers, called CRABBIT’S FREE TIPS FOR WRITERS.

This series will consist of:
1. CRABBIT’S TIPS FOR WRITING FICTION
2. CRABBIT’S TIPS FOR GETTING PUBLISHED
3. CRABBIT’S TIPS FOR SUBMITTING TO AGENTS AND PUBLISHERS
4. CRABBIT’S TIPS FOR PUBLISHING YOURSELF
5. CRABBIT’S INGREDIENTS OF POOR WRITING
6. CRABBIT'S TIPS FOR SYNOPSES
7. CRABBIT'S TIPS FOR NON-FICTION PROPOSALS
8. CRABBIT'S TIPS FOR AUTHOR EVENTS
9. CRABBIT'S TIPS FOR TEENAGE WRITING
10. CRABBIT'S TIPS FOR CHILDREN'S WRITING
And maybe more!

I will publish them one at a time, starting today, both on the blog and as a downloadable document. Today's download is here, where you can print it or email it to anyone, or you can read it below.(I sometimes have trouble with these download links so please tell me if this one doesn't work.)


Remember: I explain and expand on all of this advice elsewhere, elegantly and succinctly in Write to be Published and with gayer abandon here on the blog. Please spread the word about this advice - too many agents and publishers are still receiving crap submissions. They are a bit cross with me that I haven't managed to reach more people. Also, some of them keep sending me examples of eel vomitish submissions and I have had enough. Enough, I say.

CRABBIT’S TIPS FOR WRITING FICTION

1. Never break a rule you don’t understand. When you fully understand it, you can do what the hell you like with it.

2. Here are the main things you must control in a novel (and often in a short story): structure/shape, character and character development, dialogue, point(s) of view, voice, pace, tension/suspense, believability, sentence rhythm, grammar and syntax (which includes punctuation), subject-matter and themes. All should be appropriate to genre.

3. Therefore, know your genre. Read, critically. Note that some genres are more tolerant of certain errors – and less tolerant of others.

4. Think carefully about what a reader needs to know and when. Don’t over-explain.

5. From the start, we need to know: who has the problem, what is the problem and why should we care?

6. Trail hints of future conflict or tension early in the book.

7. Give as little back-story as possible at the beginning. Drip-feed it and only as needed.

8. You do not have to start each scene at the beginning. Leap into the middle and leave before the reader’s had enough.

9. Beware saggy middles. Create an enormous setback in the middle and make us CARE. Spread obstacles judiciously, for greatest impact.

10. Know far more about your characters than you will ever need to say.

11. Manipulate pace by treating chapters like breaths. If you end a chapter at the end of an episode, you finish on out-breath – relaxing, complete. If you end midway through an episode, you finish on in-breath – tense, exciting, desperate for air. Control where your readers rest.

12. If in doubt, leave it out – sub-plot, character, scene, paragraph, sentence, word.

13. Avoid everything in my List of Ingredients of Poor Writing.(Coming soonish.)

14. Read your work aloud, imagining that your audience consists of appropriately-aged reluctant readers with ADHD. If you hear them fidgeting, delete or rewrite.

15. Read it aloud again, noticing rhythm and clunky sentences.

16. Read it aloud again, this time as though you have a rapt and attentive audience. Listen to the applause: you deserve it. But don’t let it go to your head. Someone didn’t like it but was too polite to say so. Trust me.

17. Of course your mother thinks your book is utterly fabulous. She’s your mother.

GOOD LUCK AND WRITE WELL!

www.nicolamorgan.com