[stylist] synopsis

Mon Oct 18 18:46:39 UTC 2010

Joe, I'll take it back to the drawing board.  Like I said in the original 
post, I haven't written a synopsis since elementary school.  A book?  No 
problem!  A synopsis?  A what?  Thanks for your feedback, Judith
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com>
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: [stylist] synopsis


> Judith,
>
> I'm afraid the synopsis was a complete turn-off.  It's complicated and
> rambling.  Although I do not agree that the synopsis is written in the 
> same
> way as a book jacket summary, I do believe it should possess some of the
> same elements of intrigue.  Some of this is achieved at the very end of 
> the
> synopsis, but by that point I'm too overwhelmed to appreciate it.  There 
> is
> no cohesion, something I feel would be dramatically improved by putting 
> the
> course of events into a better chronological account.  I had no trouble
> following the names in the original excerpt, but this synopsis is a
> confusing maze that does nothing to tell me whether the story is about
> Sheila, Pessi, Chavy, Jennifer, and what's that lawyer's role again?
> Forgive the blunt review, but if your goal is to sell a manuscript, I'm
> afraid this does nothing to motivate me to read the entire novel.
>
> Regards,
>
> Joe
>
> "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
> some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Judith Bron
> Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 10:15 AM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] synopsis
>
> Danny, You make good points.  I emailed the publisher and asked
> what length
> I should make the synopsis, but he never answered.  I agree that the
> synopsis, in my mind at least, should be like the back cover
> burb on a book
> jacket.  Like I said in the email I haven't written a synopsis
> since Jr.
> High and I'm way beyond high school!  Thanks, Judith
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Danielle Montour" <hypoplexer at gmail.com>
> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 12:09 AM
> Subject: Re: [stylist] synopsis
>
>
>> Hi,
>> Hmmm ...  just a thought, the synopsis tells me a lot about
> the story,
>> almost too much, like the mystery isn't so much a mystery
> anymore, for
>> example,
>> when Pessy's mom dies.  I would just suggest editing the middle and
>> shortening it down a little bit.
>>
>> HTH
>>
>> Danni
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Barbara Hammel" <poetlori8 at msn.com
>> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org
>> Date sent: Sun, 17 Oct 2010 22:15:46 -0500
>> Subject: Re: [stylist] synopsis
>>
>> I know nothing about writing synopses except the blurbs I
> read in Braille
>> Book Review so am wondering if this is too long.
>> I sure know that I'd like to read this story.
>> Barbara
>>
>> ...
>> Yesterday is
>> A path well-trod,
>> A familiar lane
>> Through sacred sod,
>> A road we travel
>> Too often, I fear,
>> For there are the good times
>> When things are hard here,
>> ...
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------
>> From: "Judith Bron" <jbron at optonline.net
>> Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2010 5:16 PM
>> To: "Stylist" <stylist at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: [stylist] synopsis
>>
>> Hi, The publisher I want to send information about my book to is
>> requesting a synopsis.  I haven't written a synopsis since
> writing a book
>> report in Jr.  High.  How does this sound?  Thanks, Judith
>>
>> Judith Bron 72 North Cole Avenue Spring Valley, NY 10977
>>
>> Phone: 845-426-3177 Email: jbron at optonline.net
>>
>> Synopsis The Letter By Judith Bron
>>
>> Jennifer's best friend Randy, captain of their high school
> football team,
>> had been with her since the accident that morning.  After the
> car struck
>> her on a street a few blocks from her home in Curtis Cove,
> New York she
>> experienced herself being transported to a corridor where her long
>> deceased mother talks to her.  Now Randy sat beside her bed
> asking what it
>> would take for her to go out with him.
>>
>> As Randy long suspected, her question about her identity that only was
>> used by bigoted classmates to identify her as a Jew was the
> basis Jennifer
>> couldn't become emotionally involved with anyone.  She needed
> to find out
>> who she was and what this Jewish thing meant.
>>
>> Her foster mother Sheila, having just left Jennifer thought about the
>> small package she had in her possession and the day it was
> brought to her.
>> A man identifying himself as a lawyer for a family who perished in the
>> holocaust asked her to give the packet to Jennifer on her seventeenth
>> birthday.  After accepting the packet Sheila had run to the window to
>> watch him drive away but saw no car on the driveway or
> street.  She saw no
>> man walking away from her house.  Spooked by the incident she put the
>> small packet in her drawer and waited for Jennifer's birthday
> to get it
>> out of her possession.
>>
>> Pessi Goldberg's mother has terminal cancer.  During her
> illness for the
>> past five years Pessi withdrew from any girls her age and
> devoted herself
>> exclusively to her mother and family.  Her once rich family
> has fallen on
>> hard times.  In spite of the fact that her mother is dying, Pessi
>> continues to treat her like a mother and argue about seemingly little
>> things that all girls disagree with their mother on.
>>
>> In Jenna, New York on the day of Jennifer's accident, reclusive Pessi
>> decides to go to a lecture at the school on a Shabbos or Sabbath
>> afternoon.  Her classmate Chavy Levy, a pretty but a bit
> overweight teen
>> with a great sense of humor, sees Pessi in the back of the room and
>> approaches her.  Eventually Chavy is successful in cajoling Pessi away
>> from the back of the room convincing her to sit with other classmates.
>>
>> That day changes a lot in Pessi's and Jennifer's lives.
> Jennifer recovers
>> from the accident that led her to a near death experience and
> Pessi slowly
>> becomes involved with classmates.
>>
>> Eventually Mrs.  Goldberg passes away leaving her daughter
> with mountains
>> of guilt to overcome and questions about her religious Jewish
> identity.
>>
>> In Curtis Cove Jennifer, the high school junior continues to
> try to find
>> out just what her Jewish identity means while coping with the
> almost daily
>> anti-Semitic remarks of classmates.  On her seventeenth
> birthday Sheila
>> hands her the book with the inserted paper but, as Sheila suspected,
>> Jennifer can't read the foreign language on both the book and paper.
>>
>> Pessi manages to overcome the death of her mother and take
> her place as a
>> class leader.  However, she continues to suffer from an inferiority
>> complex.
>>
>> On her seventeenth birthday Sheila presents Jennifer with the packet
>> delivered by the lawyer.  This is the only thing Jennifer has from her
>> parents killed in a fire when she was two.  Until the second
> part of the
>> story when Jennifer reveals the packet, she uses these objects to
>> communicate with her long dead parents.
>>
>> Jennifer's search for her identity eventually leads her to the library
>> where she finds a book that explains her religion.  Her foster mother
>> encourages her to enroll in an observant Jewish summer camp
> hoping they
>> will teach her something there that will help this girl
> define herself.
>>
>> Camp changes Jennifer's life forever.  She leaves camp and
> tells Sheila
>> that she wants to continue living as an observant Jew.  A
> family in Jenna
>> agrees to take Jennifer in.  Before Jennifer leaves Jenna
> Sheila tells her
>> the truth about the messenger who delivered the packet.
>>
>> But that family doesn't work out.  Chavy's father, Rabbi
> Levy, consents to
>> take her in and the lives of Pessi, Chavy and Jennifer become
> intertwined.
>>
>> Before the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashannah, The high school principal,
>> Mrs.  Newman asks Jennifer if she has a Hebrew name.
> Jennifer has learned
>> enough Hebrew to learn from the paper she carries in her back
> pack that
>> her Hebrew name is Breindle.  From that moment on the letter
> takes on new
>> importance in our story.
>>
>> Jennifer is kidnapped.  The letter contains a financial
> section and she is
>> really an heiress that stands to inherit a large fortune from her
>> grandfather.  But there is more to Jennifer than her identity
> of being an
>> orphan from Curtis Cove.  Pessi's family is also changing.  But the
>> mystery surrounding the letter is the centerpiece of the story.
>>
>> Identity questions, questions about religion and growth of
> two girls in a
>> tumultuous world define The Letter.  The mystery thread keeps
> the reader
>> riveted throughout the novel.  Many of the conflicts captured in the
>> Letter are universal.  Teenagers everywhere will identify
> with the pain
>> experienced by the teenage characters in the novel.
>> _______________________________________________
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