Novelicious - The Female Fiction and Chick Lit Blog

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author - What Makes a Good Synopsis?

No, really! What makes a good synopsis – I’m asking you!

I’ve got to the stage where I’ve painstakingly prepared the first few chapters from my latest novel. I’ve written a cover letter, which I hope is a vast improvement on my last cover letter (anyone who read my column a couple of weeks ago will know all about that). But I’m struggling with what goes into a synopsis.

The last synopsis I subbed, I wrote in the first person voice of one of my characters. She blushed and cringed her way through the story and used bad language with her potty mouth. I don’t necessarily think that was the way to go. For my latest synopsis I’m getting business like, telling the plot of the novel in a matter of fact style. Nothing funny and endearing. No language that would make a sailor blush. I’ve managed to get the story line down to two pages, but that's pretty much all my synopsis is - the plot.

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author - Finding The Perfect Partner

I think I have the perfect partner in my husband, he’s very motivational, pushing me upstairs into my writing room of an evening (has nothing to do with the darts/rugby league/snooker/football/superbike that is on TV, he tells me).  But lately I’ve been thinking I may need a new partner. This is nothing do with my husband’s choice to go watch to a football game on Valentine’s day. No, I think I need a writing partner...

Now, I’m not talking about writing with someone, I don’t think I could ever do that – I’m a terrible sharer. But I was reading last week about a Match.com equivalent for writers; a website called Ladies Who Critique where you can sign up and connect with a critiquing buddy who also writes your genre. 

I’ve never joined a writing group, mainly because I haven’t wanted to join a mixed group of genre writers. I guess I think that often chick lit is viewed as the poor relation in the literary world (undeservedly so) but I didn’t want to have to constantly defend my writing choices. I also don’t know whether I’d trust non chick lit lovers to critique my work. I mean, I wouldn’t dream of reviewing a fantasy novel for a review site because I’d have no idea about comparable works in the genre, so how could I critique a fantasy writer in a writing group?

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell - How NOT to Sub a Novel

1. Don’t write ‘Dear sir or madam’

Every blog about this subject will tell you to take your time, to do research on the company, and target agents that read your particular genre. The query letter I’d written was addressed to Curtis Brown and started ‘dear sir or madam’ . I wonder now why I hadn’t taken the time to look at their website. Surely I should have addressed it to Shelia Crowley (who represents Melissa Hill, Jo Jo Moyes, Fiona Walker.... I could go on), but I clearly hadn’t done any research.

2. Don’t tell them your work is a cross between other authors

 “Imagine a combination of the authors Emily Barr and Freya North; all the local flavour of a tropical destination (without the dark story line) combined with a warm and fuzzy heart warming tale.”

This presupposes two things, that they’ve heard of these authors and if they have heard of them that they’ve actually read their books. It tells them very little about my book.

3. Don’t tell the agency that your book is a result of a drunken conversation (ESPECIALLY in the first line)

“I’m submitting you part of my debut novel which was written because of a drunken statement I made to my boyfriend after a failed interview attempt for the television show The Apprentice.”

Whilst I’ve never come across this as a piece of writing advice, I’m pretty sure that it's not the best first impression to make. At the time I thought it was endearing, but now I think not so much.

4. Don’t tell them you don’t want to win awards

“I don’t want to write a Booker prize novel”

I’m guessing this would be read as I’m not capable of writing a Booker Prize Novel. Which of course I am (honestly).

5. Don’t forget to actually write about your book in your query letter

In how many lines of the 29 lines in the letter do you think I mention the actual storyline of my novel? A) 15 B) 10 or c) 3. You know that based on the above it has got to be C don’t you?! And those 3 lines barely mention the plot of the book.

6. Don’t be funny. Unless you are  (judging from the rest of my letter I am not)

“In terms of writing experience, people read my work on a daily basis, although on the walls of museums... In order to make my writing more accessible (and less limited to walls) I’ve created my own website” 

Now considering that I work in a fairly academic industry this is probably not the best description I could come up with about my day job.

7. Don’t write your synopsis in first person narrative

Now this is a peculiar one. I wrote my synopsis from the perspective of my main character Kate, as if she were talking about her ‘Thailand Fling’ in a chatty almost Phoebe-from-friends-catch-up-on-the-past-series, type of way. Not only is that probably not how you’re supposed to write a synopsis, the weird bit was the original book is not even written in the first person. Which means even if they had liked the synopsis, the book was not more of the same.

8. Don’t write more about your boyfriend than you do your book

“Unlike ‘Rich’ the evil villain in my chick lit, my boyfriend is not a ‘dream quasher’.” 

Again, you think this might be a no brainer. But on line counting, my now husband, is mentioned on five lines (I was telling an endearing story) as compared to my three lines that mention my novel. I may have got confused with the acknowledgment page in an actual book and the purpose of a query letter...

So there you have it! My top 8 tips of how NOT to sub a novel. Points I've hopefully learnt loud and clear for my new round of subbing. Now what I want to know is, am I the only aspiring author to have written a cringey submission? Anyone else want to share? 

 

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author: Novel News - Millie and the American Wedding by Anna Bell

Millie's about to reject the invitation to an American wedding from a long lost college friend Kristen when she accidentally agrees to be bridesmaid at it. Which doesn't seem too bad, what with the wedding being in New York and coming complete with bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner and all those American traditions seen in the movies. But then you add to the equation that she's slept with the groom, and her ex boyfriend Rob (the only love of her life to date) is going to be the best man at the wedding. And not only is he best man, but he's already married, and she's going to the wedding single.

And if that wasn’t enough for Millie there’s also the maid of honour from hell, Collette, bridesmaid dresses that don’t fit, maxi dress malfunctions and secrets from her college life that she wanted to leave firmly behind in the past and on US soil.

As Kristen gets ready for the best day of her life, Millie gears up for the worst week of hers.

So there you are, writer’s Tuesday readers. There is the synopsis of my e-book and you can buy it now on Amazon! I still can’t quite believe it, I keep bringing up the link to the site to see the lovely cover that Novelicious’s own editor Kirsty designed. I can’t quite believe that that is my book. It’s dead funny to see my author page on Amazon and to think I’m an indie author. Although to be honest, I’m still desperate to be a published author too, so I’m not going to give up trying.

Now this last week before publication has been far from calm. I started waking up in a cold sweat last week, panicking that I’d ruin a career in writing before I’d even started. Thinking that people would give me no star or one star ratings that would ruin my writing reputation and then no agent would touch me with a barge pole.  By the time it got to Friday I felt that I had gone completely mad. I mean, here I was on the verge of publishing an ebook and no one had read it but me. Yes people had listened to it, but no other human eye had read it. Yes, I know, you’re thinking I’m crazy. So I sent it off to my step dad, who proofread (and nudged me in the right direction) on a lot of my university essays. So I was preparing myself to get brutal feedback. I sent him instructions to read the first three chapters as a test sample. And then the email came back I’d misspelled the word ‘stared’ I kept putting ‘starred’. ‘That was it,’  I said down the phone. ‘That’s it,’ he replied. He also told me that far from chick lit being his cup of tea he was sucked into the story, but he stopped reading in chapter 3 as instructed in case he got embarrassed if it got ‘smutty’. And from then on I’ve been serenely calm and just so excited about the launch.

I want to say a huge thanks to all the lovely comments I’ve had on Novelicious and twitter encouraging me with the ebook – and if you read it DO let me know what you think!

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Writer by Anna Bell - Can You Edit Your Own Book?

I know every author edits their own book, some send it out to be edited professionally, but what happens if you bypass that stage? With the rise of eBooks and the ease in which you can self publish, I’m sure there are plenty of self published authors who have been the only person to have edited their book. And I am no exception.  Regular readers of the column will know that I’m committing a slight heresy. I’m publishing an eBook in February and I’m not having it professionally edited.

 

I honestly think I have done the best job I could to edit my own book. I think in an ideal world where money wasn’t an issue, and if I had an editor I trusted, I would have had my book professionally edited. But I haven’t which has meant I have read my book, listened to my book, and edited my book more times than I care to think about. I’m not planning to self publish every book I write, my next one I’m going to submit in the hope of going down the traditional publishing route (again in an ideal world!).

I’ve learnt some brilliant lessons in the editing crash course I’ve put myself on over the last few months.  I thought I’d share with you some of ‘wot I learnt’.

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Writer by Anna Bell - Green With Envy

I’m generally a nice person. I direct debit each month to Oxfam, I smile and say good morning/afternoon to elderly people and I always dispose of my litter responsibly. As a nice person, I am of course happy for my writing friends when they get a big break. But at the same time, just a little bit of me is bitter and twisted and wondering why it didn’t happen to me.

When Cesca (one of the novelicious team) wrote a tongue in cheek comment on my column from last week about being ‘green with envy’ about me getting on to the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme, it made me really glad to realise that I wasn’t alone in my green eyed monster.

Now, I love the internet, and I love knowing that there are loads of other writers out there struggling like I am to get their book into a pretty cover, and on to the shelves of many a book shop. Although it scares me quite how many aspiring chick lit authors there are out there, it is a comforting feeling knowing you can go on twitter and find someone there going through what you are. I love getting to know people through their tweets, and I’m generally very supportive of people’s efforts as they usually are with mine. There is nothing better than reaching a writing milestone or having some good writing news and then getting a giant pat on the back from your twitter followers.

Yet, despite this lovely twitter support, I can’t help but have a bit of an Oscars moment when I find out that one of my new found writer friends has got a big break. I am (of course) happy for them. I do the congratulations message and the smiles for the cameras. But in the privacy of my own home I can’t help but think – why them?  Why did they get the break and not me?

I guess when there are so few openings for agents and debut publishing deals out there, you can’t help getting a bit jealous when a fellow aspirant gets a break. It doesn’t matter whether you have even subbed to that agent, or entered that competition, as there is just that little bit of you that wishes you’d got there instead of them. Yes I know, I sound evil.

Now I know that the publishing industry, like any competitive industry, is a bit dog eat dog and only the strongest will survive. I sometimes forget that a lot of the lovely people I interact with on twitter are my competition. So I guess it is only natural that I feel a bit jealous of people sometimes, right?  Or am I just trying to make myself feel better?!

I am happy for other people and their successes, as after all, I know how hard they probably had to work to get them. And this green eyed monster is just a little monster, that is usually keep in check; I tell myself, 'if they can be successful then so can I!', replacing the jealousy with hope. And that way I can, hopefully, keep my rep as a nice person!

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Writer by Anna Bell - Beating the January Blues

I’m one of those odd people who doesn’t get the January blues. Ok, so usually I plan a little holiday in January, but even still, I love the prospect of a new year. I always think it is like starting a blank canvas, and I love the idea of planning out a year when anything is a possibility. And this year I’m more excited than ever.

This time in 2011, I was wondering what the new year had in store for me, and boy was it a good year. On a personal level I moved house, adopted a dog and got married.  And in the writing world, I may not have become a published author, but I had a pretty good year. I managed to meet a couple of authors whose books I love (in some swanky locations), I reviewed around 15 books and I managed to write about 100,000 words (60,000 words being in one novel). So instead of beating myself up about not being published, I’ve managed to start the new year feeling hopeful that I’m getting somewhere on my journey.

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell - Name That Book!

I have to be honest, the last thing on my mind when writing or trying to write a novel is creating a title for the book. I’m too busy trying to craft the plot and actually write 80,000 words. I guess I just hope that my working title will magically morph into a clever catchy title by itself. But when it doesn’t – what do you do? Well in my case, you appeal for help from the lovely readers of Novelicious.

I wrote a little while ago that I’m turning my podcast novel into a Kindle e-book, and I’ve been working away editing, reediting and getting it ready for print. It was only when I started to design my cover title that I realised I’d never really moved away from a working title for the novel.

When it was a podcast it was called An American Wedding. Sure it tells you that the novel is going to be set at, yep you’ve guessed it, an American Wedding, but other than that it doesn’t give you any clues really to the genre or the story.

I shelved it in my mind and ploughed on trying to design the cover, the title could still come later. But could it? What if I called it The British Bridesmaid the cover would need to have probably a Bridesmaid on the front and the British flag incorporated. If I called it Millie and the American Wedding then the cover would definitely need to feature someone that we could associate to be Millie.

So how do you title a book? What would you need to convey in a title? I started thinking about books I’d read recently. Something from Tiffany’s (Melissa Hill) , The Secret of a Happy Ever After (Lucy Dillion) and Miracle on Regent Street (Ali Harris). Even if you haven’t seen the covers you can imagine that each one has a magical and romantic tale inside. For my book, I wanted to convey romance, despair, emotion and a teeny bit sparkle as it is set in New York. Easy peasy right?

Well I still can’t decide. So I’m asking for your help, think of it as a little market research. I’ll give you the synopsis and the five possible titles then please could you comment and let me know which one you like the best!

Millie accidentally accepts an invitation to be a bridesmaid at an American Wedding in New York. It's Millie’s worst nightmare. Not only has she slept with the groom, but her ex boyfriend (the one that got away) is the best man and he’s married. As her friend, Kristen, gets ready for the best day of her life, Millie gears up for the worst week of hers.

And here are the possible titles:

An American Wedding

Millie and the American Wedding

Fear and Loathing in a Bridesmaid Dress

The British Bridesmaid

Surviving the American Wedding

Or do you have a suggestion for me?!

Thanks :)

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell - All In The Name of Research

  You can listen to Anna’s podcasted novel over on her websitewww.annabellwrites.com and follow her on twitter @annabell_writes

Now if I was a famous published author and I was able to set my books in tropical locations and claim my research trips back as tax deductible expenses then I would absolutely love doing research. But for me as a non published author I find the research side of things the most difficult.

 I see it as difficult to not get sucked into writing novels. I’ve thought in the past that it is better for me to be writing a novel that I can submit to agents rather than spending hours and hours researching a character who may only see the inside of my hard drive. I’ve tended to play it safe with novels I’ve worked on previously, writing characters that do generic jobs (which I barely mention) and set in locations I know well. But with my latest work in progress my main character goes on a business trip, and (unfortunately for me) something work related goes wrong on that trip...

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell - Quantity Vs Quality

 

  You can listen to Anna’s podcasted novel over on her websitewww.annabellwrites.com and follow her on twitter @annabell_writes

Literary agent, Kate Nash tweeted last week, ‘NaNoWriMo places too much emphasis on quantity over quality’ and I was nodding my head in agreement as I was inclined to agree. But then it suddenly dawned on me that although I don't do NaNo (let's just say I'm a tad over competitive and it brings out my worst side), my entire writing style is reminiscent of NaNo. I plan the novel out, and then I write it. And I write it furiously. 

I remember tweeting one Saturday that I was hoping to bang out 6,000 words and someone asked me whether I meant in one go. Now I know 6,000 words sounds ambitious, but because of my novel structure my chapters are only 2,000 words each which meant that I was only going to write 3 chapters. And because I’ve planned my novel in detail, chapter by chapter, I already knew the start middle and end to the chapter. Which means when it comes to writing I could write each chapter fairly quickly. I’ve written just 50,000 words of my novel which I started mid September – 7 weeks ago. I’m hoping that I’ll finish the 30,000 words needed to complete it before January. Which would be about three and half months, not bad going when you consider I work full time! 

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell - Living the Champagne Lifestyle

You can listen to Anna’s podcasted novel over on her websitewww.annabellwrites.com and follow her on twitter @annabell_writes

Have you ever read a chick lit novel and rolled your eyes as the “ordinary” protagonist gets wined and dined in somewhere like the Ritz, or a gets invited into a private member's club where they have to have a special key to gain entrance? Well I have. On a number of occasions I have rolled my eyes and shouted, ‘as if’ across the page. Ordinary people do not get invited to these places unless they have a voucher from Red Letter Days. End of.

I’ve had to eat my hat, because in the past month I have had a champagne afternoon tea at Claridges and champagne and canapés in the private members club ‘The Club', at the Ivy’. 

Don’t worry, you haven’t missed anything, I haven’t become an overnight publishing sensation, I’ve just been lucky enough to have been attending book launches. Not only have they been brilliant opportunities to get star struck and meet the authors Jane Fallon and Melissa Hill, but they’ve been brilliant from the perspective of being an aspiring author. 

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell - The Twenty Thousand Word Curse

You can listen to Anna’s podcasted novel over on her websitewww.annabellwrites.com and follow her on twitter @annabell_writes

Tucked away on my hard drive, in my metaphorical drawer, is a load of manuscripts hovering around the 20K mark. It’s like a graveyard of ideas, half introduced characters and a lot of seemingly wasted hours. It is my writing nemesis. 

I’m not counting my podcast novel in that, as I had people waiting eagerly to listen to each chapter so I was forced to get over the 20k hump or I’d look a bit an idiot. But with every other book I’ve tried to write since my first novel, I’ve struggled to get over it.

In the last year I’ve started three new novels, as well as a major rewrite of my first novel (magically I stopped that around, yep you’ve guessed it 23,000). The first idea I worked on wasn’t really translating into a book, it was like I’d written two different stories in one, so I separated them out, and then didn’t continue either. The second one I decided to write as I wanted to write more a humorous character driven chick lit, like a Sophie Kinsella or Carmen Reid type book. But it just felt like I was trying to hard to be like someone else. 

I decided to then rewrite my first novel because after all that was finished, but it just needed a touch of sparkle. But I soon got bored of that one...

 

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell - By Hook or by Crook I Will Publish This Book!

You can listen to Anna’s podcasted novel over on her website www.annabellwrites.com and follow her on twitter @annabell_writes

For far too long I’ve been making excuses when friends have enquired about my writing and how it is going with publishers. I’ve come out with a list of excuses longer than my arm, ‘its the wedding’ or ‘work's been too busy’. But to be honest I haven’t put in any ground work for ages. An agent or publisher isn’t just going to pluck me out of the internet and magically give me a contract – no matter how many times I’ve wished it would ala Noel Edmond’s cosmic ordering.

The Secret Dreamworld of an Aspiring Author by Anna Bell - Dutch Courage

You can visit Anna on her website www.annabellwrites.com and follow her on twitter @annabell_writes

There are three things that get me in the writing frame of mind, (although not necessarily at the same time) chocolate, coffee and alcohol. The chocolate, I understand – it is after all nice to reward myself after 500 words (*clears throat* ok maybe 100 words). The coffee I also get, it gives me the mental stimulation. But what is it about a nice glass of wine, or an ice cold beer that get my fingers tapping away on the keys?

My days of drinking are as over as my twenties, I’m very much a one or two glasses of wine type of a gal now. It isn’t like I’m getting hammered whilst writing. I guess that like a lot of people I like to drink a glass of wine in the evening to relax, it just happens to coincide that that’s when I do my writing too.