I was tired of editing so I took a stab at the dreaded synopsis. There’s at least 2 types: brief, and long. Brief ones go a few pages, and the long one about 1 page per 35 pages of manuscript. So I sat down to write the brief synopsis, the most requested these days, and it turned into a long synopsis with still more to write. I got tired of that and made a stab a generic query letter–and it turned into my brief synopsis.
You know, it’s funny. I started writing the query and it was horrible. Then I wrote at the top, “To whoever the F* you are” and the words started flowing. The real line is missing that polite little asterisk.
No, I’d never send it out that way, but the absurdity of the opening took all the pressure off. Because let’s face it, this is my foot in the door we’re talking about here: THE QUERY. Look at all those capital letters. Scary.
So there’s a tip for you from Mr. Unpublished: write your query like you’d never send it out. The second part of that tip should be: then go back and fix it. I just haven’t gotten there yet.
John L. Monk 