I attended the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) conference in Perth on February 17th, and got the answer straight from the horse’s mouth.

Julie Romeis, editor at Chronicle Books in her workshop “From Manuscript to Publication”, gave us some insight into her world wehn she was asked: “How do you choose a manuscript?”.

The question arose in response to Julie outlining how intensively she works with an author to get their manuscript to publication standard. And this is before a contract is sighned.

We were all staggered by the number of rewrites and length of time taken in this part of the publication process. Don’t we, as writers, have to have our work up to a high standard before we send it to a publisher? If a manuscript requires so much more work after a preliminary acceptance, how does Julie know that the manuscript in her hand will be a winner?

Julie’s response was simple to her, but mystical to us as writers. “It’s the essence of the story,” she said.

What is “the essence”?

It’s the voice; the quality we all strive for and which cannot be taught. But for Julie - and probably other editors - it’s the vital element in plucking a manuscript from the slush pile.

In saying this, though, Julie did confess that she chose one book because of its title - “Chicks and Salsa” - and her love of Mexican food.

So what’s the answer? How do we find “the essence”?

Perseverance and luck. Oh, and perhaps some homework on the likes and dislikes of editors so that the picture book about fabulous felines doesn’t get pitched to a cat hater!

‘Not a synopsis! No please, not that! Anything but that!’

Why is there such a strong protest to a task that surely is much simpler than writing a novel?

The answer from the exhausted writer who has just typed ‘The End’ is simple.

‘How can I possibly sum up my 50,000 word novel into 500 words, or less?’

But is it really that difficult? And what are some of the blocks to getting that synopsis down?

Um….exactly what is a synopsis?

This is the sticking point. Many writers aren’t really sure what a synopsis is, and what it isn’t.

Here’s a handy tip. A synopsis is not a blurb.

A blurb is the enticing paragraph or two on the back of a book that makes you want to buy it. It throws out hooks and keeps you guessing. It never tells you what happens in the end. If it did, you wouldn’t buy it!

A synopsis does tell you how the book ends.

Remember, a synopsis is for the editor’s eye, not the reader’s, so you’re not giving away your story to prospective buyers.

Okay, so what’s in a Synopsis?

The point of a synopsis is to show the editor assessing your manuscript

• that you can write;
• the tone of the story;
• that you have a strong plot; and
• that your ending is satisfying.

Let’s look at these points in more detail.

Showing the editor that you can write

The beauty of the synopsis is that it demonstrates your talent as a writer. You’ve summed up your often lengthy story in just a few paragraphs. It forces you to write tightly, to use strong verbs and active sentences.

Showing the tone of the story

Reading the synopsis is like reading your book. It’s written in the same tone. So if you’ve written a humorous story, write the synopsis in the same vein. It gives the editor a feel for your work.

And if it’s a story for younger readers, don’t use long sentences or language that is outside this age group. Remember, this is a sample of the writing in your book.

Showing the editor you have a strong plot

A plot consists of the obstacles a main character has to overcome to reach his/her goal. In books for younger readers, you’d have only one plot. In books for older readers, you could have a sub-plot.

What you need to include in your synopsis is the obstacles your main character is tackkling, how the stakes keep geting raised - which might affect your main character’s goals - and what the final biggest challenge is for your hero or heroin. By doing this, you’ve demonstrated that your story is page-turning.

Showing the editor that your ending is satisfying

Don’t you hate it when you get to the end of a gripping book and it just fizzles out, or the conclusion is based on coincidence?

Unlike a blurb, the synopsis must tell the editor how your story ends. No-one wants a weak ending!

The Guts of a Synopsis is…

How does a synopsis look? Let’s sum it up in a few points:

• start by introducing your main character - who is she/he, what is the point of conflict, why is it important, what does she/he want to do about it, and how? (This would be your first paragraph.)
• your plot - who or what gets in her/his way and how does this affect goals and actions? (This is the bulk of your synopsis.)
• what is the final challenge? and
• the ending - what does your main character do and how is the situation resolved?

One More Thing

Write your synopsis in the present tense. It’s much more effective. The reader is standing alongside your hero or heroin as the plot unfolds.

And The Best Bit

Okay, confession time, so I groaned when I had to write a synopsis of my young adult novel. But boy am I glad I’ve done it!

By summarising my approximately 50,000 word novel, (I haven’t finished it yet), I’ve given myself a quick check summary of the plot that I can refer to whenever I want.

It also helped me to firm up my plot, which was really exciting. Of course, I’d done a working synopsis when I started writing, but a proper synopsis - one that will hopefully catch an editor’s eye - forces you to really polish up your story structure and ideas.

So don’t shy away from the task of getting your synopsis down. See it as a writing exercise with many benefits.

But that’s only the beginning of the long and arduous process.

Days, weeks, months, or even years later, you have your first draft of a short story or novel. You sit back in your chair, elated and relieved at reaching the finishing line. And then you hit “print”. It’s time to immerse yourself in the story of your dreams.

Help! It’s All So Boring And Dull!

You’ve ploughed through your first reading. But there’s no neatly stacked manuscript on the desk. Instead, sheets of paper litter the floor.

Did I write that? That’s not how I meant it to sound.

Now deflated and frustrated, all you want to do is chuck the whole idea of being a writer in the bin. where did your award-winning story go? Who were you kidding when you started pursuing your dream of becoming the next J.K.?

Don’t despair. You are a writer. And you’ve gone further than many others because you’ve succeeded by doing the hard yards - getting it all down.

Now comes the best bit. You can play with your words and sentences, bring them to life, make them leap off the pages.

Five Useful Tips For Resuscitating Your Writing

When I edit my work, I do the following:

• Kick out the passive voice

How? Rework all the sentences containing “was”, “is”, “am”, “are” and “were”.

Here’s an example.

Passive - “The cricket bat was snatched from Jess’s hand by a furious Mr Appleton”.

Active - “A furious Mr Appleton snatched the cricket bat from Jess’s hand”.

Another clue to look for is the word “by” when it follows a verb: this is a sign of passive voice.

Here’s an example:

Passive - “The roof was blown high in the sky by the force of the explosion”.

Active - “The force of the explosion blew the roof high into the sky”.

• Recruit the strong verb army

Every time you see verbs like “walked”, “moved”, “turned” or “sat”, find another verbe, a stronger one, that will spice up your writing.

How about “marched” instead of “walked”, “sidled” instead of “moved”, “spun round” instead of “turned” and “slumped” instead of “sat”. Se how it gives the reader more of a feeling for the character and the emotions?

• Lose the words that tell rather than show

I got this from Australian Young Adult Fiction on Squidoo Common phrases we habitually use that send us headlong into the trap of telling the story, rather than showing what is happening, are “I felt”, “saw” and “looked”.

Don’t beat yourself up if you still find yourself writing these words; just be aware and vigilent.

• Hunt out the overused actions

I’ve just finished reading a young adult novel that both irked and satisfied me. It told the story of four teenage girls who set out on separate emotional journeys. I only persisted to the end because the author did a good job of getting into each character and her particular struggle.

But the rest of the writing was pretty mediocre. If the author hadn’t identified who was speaking, the reader would be in the dark because they all sounded the same. And none of the charactres had distinctive gestures or habits that gave them their own personalities.

The most annoying thing for me was the overuse of “nodded” as an action/gesture. In one scene, Lena listened to her mother retelling a painful event in her life. Throughout the story-telling, the author had Lena nodding. So every few lines, we get, “Lena nodded”, “Lena nodded again”, and “Lena nodded”. There was no use of internal dialogue to show us Lena’s thoughts and feelings. And there was no atempt to vary her reactions. We could have had Lena closing her eyes, gazing out the window, or studying her mother’s face.

• Chop up sentences

Vary the length of your sentences to change the pace, create tension, or just keep the reader’s interest. Reading your work out loud helps you get a feel for a lot of things, one being whether a sentence is too long. If you have to take a breath while you’re reading a sentence, then maybe you’re rambling!

Short sentences amp up the tension and the pace. They keep the reader on the edge of his/her seat.

Another way to pick a sentence that might benefit from a chop in half is to look for the tell-tale “and”. It’s easy to fall into the trap of just sticking in an “and” here and there, especially when you’re getting tired. But when you read that sentence aloud, it can sound lazy and dull. Try writing it as two sentences and analyse the difference.

Think Of Writing As An Art

I love editing. That’s the time when I can take my writing to another level. It’s amazing how a paragraph you’ve been struggling with one day can suddenly zing to life when your creative juices are flowing and your editor’s eye is on the alert.

These are just a few tips to help you bring your writing to another level. Add them to your writer’s kit and put them to work.

Good writers never stop polishing their work. Just think, one day your lump of clay can be a beautiful marble sculpture.

One of my short stories had been accepted by a magazine for school kids, which had me doing cartwheels and bouncing off the walls. But then the editor wanted some changes, and they weren’t just minor.

“Welcome to the world of professional writing,” one of my writing colleagues told me. She qualified this by saying that censorship in the education market is particularly rife. In fact, the do’s and don’ts are so numerous, that a lot of writers stay away from this field.

Now I know why.

As I mentioned in my last post, I adhered to the first request to “water down” my story. I made a couple of changes, removing the “violence” (the normal argy bargy between brothers and sisters), and made my burglar get caught by the police. I wasn’t too upset by the changes - the tone hadn’t altered at all, and the story was still funny.

But if I thought that would be the end of it, I was very wrong.

A follow-up request arrived from the magazine editor. This time, the list of changes and the attitudes that backed up the need for the changes staggered me.

I wasn’t allowed to let the brother call his sister by a name he’d made up as, heaven help us, what parent in their right mind would allow such a thing! (Note to reader: niether parent appears in the story.) They were still unhappy about the brother’s treatment of his sister, but weren’t at all concerned that the sister was a pretty rough character and gave as good as she got. Oh, and my gripping opening had to be changed completely: goodness me, you couldn’t expose children to a brother giving his sister’s doll a haircut, now could you?

I sat back and had a good long hard think about what I was being asked to do - after I’d ranted and raved at the computer screen. If I went ahead with the requested alterations, my story would lose so much. It wouldn’t be funny anymore, there’d be no engaging interaction between brother and sister, and the tone would be lost. In fact, there would be no story.

I imagined any kid sitting and reading my story in the magazine. What would he or she say at the end of it? “Boring…”

And how would I feel about my name being printed on such a boring story?

That was it, the answer. I replied to the editor, explaining how ridiculous these changes were - in a very nice way, of course.

The result is that the story has been withdrawn.

Immediately, I felt enormous relief. As a writer, I like to write gripping and interesting stories for kids. I want to find a different angle, something that stands out. And I want to show real life situations, like brothers and sisters arguing with one another.

This experience has made me wiser. Perhaps writing fiction for the education market isn’t for me.