Synopses vs Gardening: Which do I hate more?

That's a tough question. Some people don't mind writing synopses, and some people actually like gardening. I say they're crazy (and yes, Betsy, I mean you! :P ). But, as much as I despise these activities, I had to do both today.

At least with gardening, there's an easy solution: concrete. I'm seriously considering just covering the whole bloody lot up so I don't ever have to look at it again. I can't do that with synopses.

But, there is light on the horizon. My synopsis is down to about 850 words, or four pages at 12pt Courier double spaced. Unless agents specifically require their synopses to be shorter or longer, I think I can live with that. And I think it reads reasonably well.

Given that while I was heaving greenery from my weedbeds (I don't have flowerbeds, I have weedbeds) I was itching to get back to the computer, I suppose gardening tops synopses in the hate stakes.

At least I don't get attacked by ants when I write a synopsis. Usually.

Aaaargh! Synopsis!

I took a day off today to catch up with some stuff, including reading SS@S's rather excellent novel, Hinterland. I'm enjoying it a great deal.

I also took an hour or two out to do one of the things all writers, would-be or otherwise, dread. I started working on the synopsis. I did one of these bloody things for the last novel, and I can tell you, it was no fun. I hate writing synopses almost as much as I hate gardening. And that's a lot of hate.

To get the ball rolling, I sat down and summarised every plot point in sequential order from beginning to end. In essence, that's what a synopsis is, except you need to jazz it up a bit so it has some style about it. So, my sequence of events, when formatted with Courier 12pt double spaced, comes out at eight pages and 1559 words. Which is way, way, way too long. I need to get that condensed down to two or three pages,and still make it sound exciting.

I hate synopses.

On a brighter note, there have been some success stories among some of my blogging friends and acquaintances. Chris F Holm (there's a link just over to the left) has been signed with the Donald Maass Agency by Jennifer Jackson. That's pretty major. Also, one time Crapometer regular Sha'el Princess of Pixies (I think she might actually be a pixie...) has secured a publishing deal. Congratulations to them both. Stephen Parrish, who I was recently introduced to by SS@S, tells me he has also bagged agency representation. Just goes to show, for all the scary odds, it can happen. :)