Another attempt at posting "quizzing"

( What tarot card are you? )

Or do you prefer Japanese names? As I recall, I did first and middle name, and first and last name--but of course didn't make a note as to which is which....

( My japanese name is... )

I really don't think I was either Hitler or Leonardo da Vinci in a previous life, so we'll pass on that one.... However, if I change only the favorite color, I was either Jim Morrison or Katsushika Hokusai. Interesting generator.

The elusive selling synopsis....

I've been reading (and doing the exercises, thank you very much) a book called WRITING THE FICTION SYNOPSIS: A step by step approach by Pam McCutcheon. I feel I've always had competent synopses--indeed, I even wrote an article once on a smart, five page synopsis style--but between illness and overwork, I haven't been trusting my instincts lately.

Especially, could I change the focus of a synopsis, to try and sell it to another market--without doing a rewrite of the book? If the book needs anything, it needs 1% tweaking. But first, I want to know if anyone wants to buy it. So I must present it to a new market.

So I need to look AT the book in a new way. I heard that Pam's book was a good one, so I thought I'd try her system.

The fascinating thing is, this **is** how I write a synopsis--a working synopsis. Almost topic sentences for scenes, etc. But I've never tried to do this and then pare it down to a selling synopsis.

So I'm halfway through re-reading and writing up topic sentences/paragraphs for each scene. And I've gotten so much out of the book so far, that even if I do not come up with a synopsis I like--I've learned so much about my own thought processes in creation, I think I'll lay out books with her technique before writing them, just to see if it shortens the "fumbling around until the note is true" portion of starting a book.

I'll let you know if I like the synopsis.

A sterling explanation of why we read High Fantasy

Someone else will have to talk about fantasy in general--in fact, perhaps I can find a talk I gave on the subject once--but papersky has come up with a moving definition/explanation of high fantasy's appeal. Enjoy--

http://www.livejournal.com/users/papersky/194396.html