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The Synopsis -- An Editors View

by Laurie_Sanders

Imagine for a moment that you have just been hired as an
acquisitions editor a small publishing company that publishes
romance. Your task is to find a romantic suspense novel to fill a
gaping hole in the publisher�s schedule. You are excited,
thinking you have just landed your dream job. After all, you�ll
get to read all day, something you love to do anyway, and you�ll
get paid!

You�re shown to your office and logged onto your computer
system. You open your email and are pleased to find several
submissions already waiting for you. Books you get to read and
don�t have to pay for! Does it get any better than this?

You open the first email submission and click on the single
attachment to open the file. The file that opens has the author�s
name address and phone number, but there is no letter and no
synopsis. You think this is a bit odd, but figure that you were
hired to read manuscripts so you settle into your chair and begin
to read. The story opens strongly and you are drawn into the
world of the heroine who is being chased down a dark alley.
You�re on the edge of your seat, hanging on every word, wondering
what will happen to the heroine. Will she escape the man who is
chasing her? You turn pages, faster and faster, remembering that
you�re supposed to be finding a romantic suspense novel. Now you
are on page 60 and though the story has kept you on the edge of
your seat and turning pages, there is no hero in sight and your
heroine is still running for her life. You begin to wonder where
the hero is, and when he�ll show up. You begin to wonder whether
this book is a romantic suspense at all. Maybe it�s a straight
suspense, there was no synopsis to tell you. You decide to read a
few more pages to see if the hero turns up. A few more pages down
the road there is still no hero in sight, and you decide that
this manuscript really doesn�t work as a romantic suspense so you
draft the rejection letter informing the author that the piece
doesn�t work as a romantic suspense because it lacks a hero and a
romantic element.

You�re now on to submission number two. Your boss has stuck her
head in the door twice to see how you�re doing and to inquire
whether you�ve found any promising candidates to fill that
looming spot in the schedule.

You open submission number two and are pleased to find that this
submission has a cover letter and a synopsis. The cover letter
gushes that you�ll love the surprise ending the author has
crafted for her heroine. You read through the synopsis and find
that the hero and heroine meet early in the story, they have both
a strong attraction and a strong conflict which keeps them at
loggerheads through most of the story. You are just about to jump
for joy thinking maybe you�ve found the piece to plug the hole in
the publishing schedule when you read that the hero gets shot and
the heroine goes off with the bad guy in the end. So much for
loving the surprise ending! You open Word and craft your letter
to the author telling her that though you loved the first part of
the story as she�d described it, you weren�t blown away by the
ending. You suggest that the heroine ending up with the hero at
the end might be a better ending for the story and suggest that
she resubmit if she decides to revise.

Well, it hasn�t been a grand day. This acquisitions stuff is
harder than it looks. Your boss is getting jumpy now. She�s stuck
her head in the door twice and keeps casting meaningful looks at
the publishing schedule thumb tacked to your cubicle wall. You
know you have to find a piece, and find it fast.

You open up submission #3, scan it quickly. It�s another
submission that jumps straight into chapter one. You�d love to
read it, but you wonder if it�ll be like the other one, start off
great but not really work for you. You decide that you don�t
really have time to read it right now. You need to find a
romantic suspense to fill the spot in your schedule before your
boss comes back. You close submission #3 and move on, looking for
something that looks promising.

You open submission #4 and scan it quickly, mentally checking
off the aspects of the story that you think will work for your
readers. The hero and heroine meet early in the story, they have
a strong reason to be together and an even stronger one to want
to be apart. You cheer mentally thinking that the conflict will
certainly be strong. The villain is a strong character in his own
right with a good reason to want the hero and heroine out of the
picture. More cheering. The author has led you to a scene where
the hero and heroine have just jumped off a cliff and are
plunging into the icy river below. At this point the synopsis
ends with the words, I hope you enjoy my novel.

Far from enjoying the novel, you want to strangle this author.
You now have no way of knowing whether the story ends happily
ever after or whether the hero dies and the heroine goes off with
the villain in a surprise ending. You really don�t have time to
find out right now, so you push the manuscript aside, into the
growing file of ones you�ll read when you have more time.

Time passes, the day is growing more and more hectic and you are
feeling despair wondering whether you will ever find the perfect
romantic suspense manuscript to fill the spot in the publishing
schedule.

Finally, you open submission number #9. Silently blessing the
author who has been kind enough to include a synopsis. You scan
the synopsis looking for the elements that make a strong romantic
suspense novel. The hero and heroine meet early on in the story.
They are instantly both attracted and at odds with each other.
The villain is strong and well motivated. As you read through the
sub- mission you can see that the characters internal and
external conflicts work together to propel the story. You can
follow the path the characters take, you can see the situation
getting worse and worse for them as both their relationship and
their physical safety are put at risk.

You begin to feel hopeful as you approach that portion of the
synopsis where the hero and heroine are facing their final
showdown with the villain. You breathe a sigh of relief when the
villain is captured, noting that the author has so far hit every
mark for a romantic suspense. You keep reading, fingers crossed,
hoping that this author delivers the happily ever after ending
required by the sub- genre. When the hero and heroine melt
happily into each others arms you sigh, feeling that just maybe
you�ve found the romantic suspense novel to fill the open spot in
the publishing schedule. You will still have to read the novel to
be sure the writing is up to par, but at least you know that the
plot works.

Laurie Sanders is Editor and CEO at Black Velvet Seductions. The
company publishes romance, erotic romance, and romantic suspense.
The company offers a free newsletter for authors of romance and
gives away free books each Friday. Visit <a
href="http://www.blackvelvetseductions.com">Black Velvet
Seductions</a> to check it out.

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