“What’s your book about?”
“Well, there’s a guy and a girl and they shouldn’t be together, but they can’t help but love each other, and there’s stuff in the way, but they eventually work their way through it and find their happily-ever-after.”
Not the most exciting recap of what happens in my first novel, Starstruck, but it’s basically true.
What doesn’t it say? It doesn’t tell you anything about what makes these two people worth knowing; worth reading about. A book, any book, requires an investment of the reader’s time. In my synopsis I have to tell the reader, or in this case a publisher, why my book is a must-read (or a must-publish).
There are, quite literally, thousands of love stories out there for public consumption. What makes mine unique? Personally, I think it is my characterization. To me, Sam and Val are complex and real. But how do you convey that in a synopsis? Beats me. Is there a way?
I’m open to suggestions. Meanwhile.
“This is the story behind ‘you had me at hello.'”