[stylist] synopsis

Mon Oct 18 18:49:52 UTC 2010

Hi Donna, Let me answer your point about publishers and first time authors. 
This publisher has already published several very successful books from 
first time authors.  That's why I approached him.  As for there being a 
problem with the synopsis, I already decided to take it back to the drawing 
board.  If you have any notes on a synopsis, please feel free to send them 
over.  Thanks, Judith
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: [stylist] synopsis


> Hi Judith,
> I agree with Chris's post on the unclear sentences. I wouldn't expect a 
> publisher to answer your question on length personally, though they may 
> have submission guidelines on their site. The question of how to construct 
> a query letter with summary is addressed in "Getting Your Book Published 
> for Dummies" which NLS has in audio/digital download format. I recently re 
> borrowed it because I haven't been able to locate the notes I took on it 
> years ago. I would suggest that, whatever the length, that a summary of 
> the book such as what you would read on the cover be your first paragraph.
>
> My other thought has to do with your contacting the publisher directly. 
> Perhaps it's a mumpsumus on my part, but I thought this was your first 
> novel. In general, publishers don't work with first-time novelists except 
> through literary agents.
>
> HTH,
> Donna
>
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>
> On 10/17/2010 6:16 PM, Judith Bron wrote:
>> 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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