Sail, from your lips to the Publishing Gods' ears.

The damned story just about killed me, with bloody Louise turning out sympathetic instead of being the bitch I wanted her to be. But yeah, it does its job - synchs up to the Kinkaids, shows where Patrick gets his loyalty issues from and why he admires it when used what he defines as properly. This is why he let Bree off the hook in Rock and Roll Never Forgets, when he had her cold on premeditated collusion.

It also shows why he can't sit still for too long. Always running from the memory of Louise, always caught in the loss of his partner Pete, and always running toward anything that might get him one more shot at taking down Terry Goff.

And I'm getting to that point in the long synopsis for London Calling. I seriously would rather have a root canal while listening to George Bush talks about Iraq than deal with this damned thing. But it's about 2/3 written. Soon, soon, soon...

Knowing nothing about the publishing world, I always assumed that someone at the publishing house wrote the synopsis. Especially since that often seem to have so little to do with what the book is really like.

The synopsis used for selling the book, or for in-house stuff, isn't the same as the cover copy on the back or the jacket of the book, sj. It's just an outline an editor can use to give the art department, for instance. And I meant to add that cover copy is often written by freelancers (I do a lot of it), who get either the book or part of it with a synopsis. It can be fun, when it's not your book. (Also when you don't have to cover every plot point.)

And I'm getting to that point in the long synopsis for London Calling. I seriously would rather have a root canal while listening to George Bush talks about Iraq than deal with this damned thing.

I'll look at the whole thing tomorrow, if you want. I bet I could write it for you, if you wanted me to...although I suppose I should have offered to do that sooner. It's often easier for someone else to do it.

The synopsis used for selling the book, or for in-house stuff, isn't the same as the cover copy on the back or the jacket of the book, sj. It's just an outline an editor can use to give the art department, for instance.

This makes more sense, than what I was thinking. I remember reading that in one of my writing books now that you mentioned it, but I thought it was only for first time authors. I figured someone like you or Deb wouldn't have to do that anymore.

So, I've got this drabble stuck in my head. Only I can't type it up on this computer; I'm on my old desktop and it freezes up if I try to open Word. My laptop is in delayed luggage hell (again--second time in less than a week!) I rely on Word to give me a word count, it's just too damn time consuming to keep revising when you have to actually count and recount the words yourself. So, there it is, in my brain, churning around with nowhere to go. Very frustrating.

sj, unless your editor is Ruth Cavin, you apparently have to do it no matter who you are. Ruth prefers short blurby ones to long form - she really does read everything, so all she wants is a teasing little precis.

Most editors want long form. And I HATE writing them. Meh.

The cover copy - that's different. I get to write my own, although for Cruel Sister, I was distracted and working on London Calling and my angelic Laura Anne Gilman offered to write it for me. My editor loved it, so that worked out nicely. And Laura Anne wanted to do it, because her entire WIP group was out of town and she had one day to have some input on the ms of her new series book (Bring It On), and I took a day off writing and did the ms for her. So it all worked.

Amy, I've got the thing so far up in my livejournal. Basic friendslock. I'm desperate for some feedback. This fucking synopsis is kicking my ass.

Well, here it is anyway.

Horizons

The view outside the window, what I could see of it through the nine by twelve inch piece of plexiglass, was a dreamscape of fantasy and illusion. The clouds in the sky were pink and silver wisps of spun cotton candy, so close I felt like I could reach out and pull the gossamer strands away from the fluffy masses. White puffs stretched out in endless peaks and valleys until my gaze got lost at the edge of the horizon. The sudden veil of gray that obscured my vision as we passed into a mountainous mass of moisture made me blink and I landed in my seat, waiting for the pilot to announce our descent into Madison.

Oh, NICE one!

Thanks, Deb. I've never been so frustrated with that one. I started composing it on the plane and I wanted to write some of it down only I didn't have a pen! Man, just one of those days, ya know?

Oh, hell yes, I know.