So I just finished the synopsis for Four Shards of Heaven. It’s only 1000 words long, but I have to say it was a difficult 1000 words to write. How do I distill everything that happens in this book, with all the different points of view, into less than one percent of the words it took for those events to play themselves out?
I’m wondering now if this is the sort of thing best accomplished before one writes the novel. I don’t know that the way I write would allow that — I profoundly enjoy the surprises my characters often have in store for me — but it’s a good theory.
At any rate, having the synopsis done gets me one step closer to seeking representation. Other than hearing from the readers who have the novel at the moment, the only things left on my to-do list are (1) writing a basic outline for the sequel (and perhaps beyond?) and (2) composing a basic query letter.