Craft Chat An interesting take on prologues and some synopsis tips

LJ Beck · Wednesday at 10:22 PM

I just did a workshop put on by Jane Friedman, taught by Jessica Strawser on synopsis. In it, Jessica said that one of the reasons a lot of agents don't like prologues is because they’ve read the query and the synopsis, which prompts them to read the pages. Then when they read the opening, it's a prologue that doesn't give them what they were promised or what they expected. (Assuming the prologue is not about the MC.) I never thought about that before. But I would imagine that's true? @AgentPete ? What do you think?

Some other interesting points on synopsis from the workshop...

Don’t make us work to find the MC's goal.
Flaw in plot can sometimes be excused, but flaw in plausibility is death for your synopsis. Explain the why. Avoid coincidences and unexplained out-of-char behavior.
If the ending makes sense without a plot point or a supporting char, leave it out.
If you only mention a supporting char twice, maybe don’t need them in the synopsis.
Don’t start with hypothetical questions.
Start the synopsis the way the story starts. Think of the synergy between all the marketing material. Does it all work together? One-liner, pitch, blurb, synopsis, and opening pages/chapter should all flow together. (This is where she talked about prologues)
Don't mute your voice. Give a subtle flavor of what to expect from the ms. Don't be overly flowery but do include emotion.

Some resources shared in the webinar:

For memoirs: Tough Categories: Five Top Book Editors on Publishing Memoir and Essay Collections @Vagabond Heart
Supplemental Resources – The Business of Being a Writer - loads of examples of published queries, and some synopsis and other resources.
How to Write a Novel or Memoir Synopsis | Jane Friedman - A basic guide from Jane.

and of course, speaking of synopsis, there's this! The Joy of Synopses – Litopia

James Charles · Wednesday at 10:35 PM

I hope you can join the book club discussion for The Bookseller of Inverness. There is a lengthy Introductory (historical) Note then a long Prologue. Of course this is historical fiction, but ....

With my WIP, on the advice of an agent, I have gone back in and added my Historical note (it's only 3/4 of a page long) but sets it up. I also have a one paragraph preface as a tease that is important to the epilogue. This agent said both of these are necessay for my WIP.

LJ Beck · Thursday at 11:31 AM

James Charles said:
I hope you can join the book club discussion for The Bookseller of Inverness. There is a lengthy Introductory (historical) Note then a long Prologue. Of course this is historical fiction, but ....

With my WIP, on the advice of an agent, I have gone back in and added my Historical note (it's only 3/4 of a page long) but sets it up. I also have a one paragraph preface as a tease that is important to the epilogue. This agent said both of these are necessay for my WIP.

I've read some prologues I love. And I think for historical, which I know nothing about, I can see it's important.

I was interested in the idea that if you have a prologue, then maybe it should be included in your synopsis. Because then when you submit to an agent, it isn't off-putting that they're not getting the story they expected in the pages from the marketing material. That's what Jennifer was saying. I just thought it was a good point to consider. That said, 3/4 page doesn't seem to be that intrusive, so perhaps it's only important for longer prologues.

PS I'm taking a book club break but hope to be back next year!

Hannah Faoileán · Thursday at 4:41 PM

James Charles said:
I hope you can join the book club discussion for The Bookseller of Inverness. There is a lengthy Introductory (historical) Note then a long Prologue. Of course this is historical fiction, but ....

With my WIP, on the advice of an agent, I have gone back in and added my Historical note (it's only 3/4 of a page long) but sets it up. I also have a one paragraph preface as a tease that is important to the epilogue. This agent said both of these are necessay for my WIP.

I like historical notes at the beginning of both historical novels and historical film/drama

Hannah Faoileán · Thursday at 4:56 PM

Pieces of advice I've been given for prologues (YA readership, but probably applies to more):

1) 50% or your readers will skip the prologue, so if you have one, it must give those who read it an extra gem rather than be necessary for understanding the start of the story (or indeed necessary at all!)

2) When an agent/publisher asks for your first 3 chapters + synopsis, they want chapters 1 to 3, not prologue plus . . . (which brings us back to point 1.)

There's also a great youtube video by someone called @AgentPete about the perils of prologues!

Great info about synopses, Lys

I've also heard that the reason the agent/publisher reads your synopsis most often is because they get hooked by the query, love the voice and pace and character in your opening pages, so now they want to see if this writer can give them a good narrative arc with high stakes, cause and effect action, satisfactory resolution and an appealing internal journey for the MC. That's all (!!) you need to show in your synopsis. Stick to the spine of your story and leave out subplots.

LJ Beck · Thursday at 9:36 PM

Hannah Faoileán said:
Pieces of advice I've been given for prologues (YA readership, but probably applies to more):

1) 50% or your readers will skip the prologue, so if you have one, it must give those who read it an extra gem rather than be necessary for understanding the start of the story (or indeed necessary at all!)

2) When an agent/publisher asks for your first 3 chapters + synopsis, they want chapters 1 to 3, not prologue plus . . . (which brings us back to point 1.)

There's also a great youtube video by someone called @AgentPete about the perils of prologues!

Great info about synopses, Lys I've also heard that the reason the agent/publisher reads your synopsis most often is because they get hooked by the query, love the voice and pace and character in your opening pages, so now they want to see if this writer can give them a good narrative arc with high stakes, cause and effect action, satisfactory resolution and an appealing internal journey for the MC. That's all (!!) you need to show in your synopsis. Stick to the spine of your story and leave out subplots.

Great tips for prologues. Maybe they're not popular because they don't often give enough of that extra gem?

This is exactly what Jennifer said re why someone reads a synopsis! And it makes sense. So yeah, best to give them what they want.

I've been struggling with how to include a duo time line email thread that meets up with the timeline of the main story in my marketing material. It's critical to the 3rd act, and affects the ending, so I don't know if I can leave it out. The first "chapter" (although it's just one page) is one of these emails. Guess I'll try to see if I can leave it out, and then like you say, just not include this first email chapter in my submission. That's a really good tip which I hadn't thought of. So thanks!

Aethalope · Thursday at 11:06 PM

I've got some real world data to back up @Hannah Faoileán. My RR experiment saw only 50% of readers clicking on the 800 words titled 'Prologue'. The remaining 50% went straight from the main fiction page to Chapter 1.

Since a key character defining event happened in the prologue, that was not going to work. So I renamed it Chapter 1 and added an teaser-like chapter title. Hooray! 100% of readers now went there.

Going forward,, all my first chapters are likely to be short teaser chapters so readers can decide if they want to invest. Definitely not a prologue. Nope. No siree. Absolutely not. Move along, no prologue to see here...

Craft Chat An interesting take on prologues and some synopsis tips

LJ Beck

James Charles

A quantum entangled quark.

LJ Beck

Hannah Faoileán

Hannah Faoileán

LJ Beck

Aethalope

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