Tag Archives: synopsis

Thanks, first readers!

Posted on by Sherri
6

The feedback I received on the long synopsis may be the best ever. Many of the reader’s comments overlapped, giving me specific areas to focus on, and I have every intention of emailing this tomorrow, just like I’d planned. So raise your glass, or mug, or whatever, and join me in toasting Sarah, Matthew, Vanessa, Dane, Ian and Tony for a job well done. Kristy had offered to help, but life got in the way (this is me officially letting her off the hook). She still gets the brownie points, because it means a lot that she was interested in the first place. So to all my critters, thank you so much! If this thing lands me a deal, you will have had a direct hand in getting me there.

On a technical note, did you know you can register on my website? I didn’t either, until I did some snooping around my WordPress dashboard. If you have an avatar which shows up on every other site but this one, registering as a user might fix it. I’m not sure how it works, so if anybody tries it out, could you tell me about your experience? The link is in the upper right-hand corner of the header.

Drina: Defender of Mankind

Posted on by Sherri
10

Looks like it’ll be a rainy day here in Blossomland. Just before the kids got on the bus a black wall cloud rolled over us, and now it’s raining pretty hard. Doesn’t look like it’ll be severe, just dark, warm, windy and wet. My favorite kind of day. It will make it extra hard to concentrate, though, especially since I stayed up too late last night talking to my brother on the phone.

A couple more readers got back to me with notes on my synopsis, so that makes four, which is a good number to start my rewrite. The response has been mostly positive, but there are a few places that all four readers pegged, so that’s where I’ll start. I love how each reader brings his/her own personality to the critique–like, the mysterious M., language dude extraordinaire, told me the meanings of some of the names I’d chosen for my characters, and the meanings sort of fit the characters’ roles. To answer his question, the fit of the names is accidental–except for the name of the main character, Drina, which in Spanish is short for Alexandrina and means “defender of mankind,” I assume because of Alexander the Great. “Defender of Mankind” is a good title for Drina Ramirez.

I was right, it’s hard to concentrate. I think I’ll have to take my work in small sips today, and that work is: to continue where I left off editing yesterday; start rewriting the synopsis; housework; pay bills; other miscellaneous things I can fit in here and there. I have a feeling the housework will be the easiest of those tasks; I don’t have to think to load the dishwasher.

So here’s a question for you: Do you do anything special to pick names for your characters? Do the names come immediately, or do you have to study and research and pick just the right one?

Weekend happenings

Posted on by Sherri
8

My mind is sort of a blank this morning, but I feel like connecting with the world so I’m posting anyway. I apologize in advance for any inanity which may follow.

Over the weekend a couple of my first readers got back to me with comments on my long synopsis. Their advice was right on and exactly what I needed, pointing out things I am too close to see. Really invaluable. I’m sure the rest of my readers will have just as much insight. I’ll do an in-depth report once it’s a done deal, probably by the end of the week.

While I’m waiting to finish my synopsis, I have my editing job to do. Last week I received my next two assignments from Eternal Press. To my surprise, they are both classified as erotica. Now, I’ve never edited erotica before, although I did go through a time when I thought I might be able to write some. (Not.) By the way, the link goes to my old blog because the comments somehow didn’t get imported over here on my older posts. The comments are funny.

So anyway, yeah, I’m editing erotica. So far it’s been very–ahem–interesting. It’s smashing my preconceived notions of erotic literature and bringing to light some personal attitudes which have always operated unseen. Eye-opening, in a number of ways.

On the health front, I found out toothpaste irritates my skin and is probably why my tongue always feels burny. On the other hand, the knuckle on my broken finger popped and I regained some range of motion. I hope this bodes well for having a full recovery.

I pulled all my WIP files to one location and started organizing them. Cuts, backstory, notes, different chunks of chapters, the working doc, 3 different synopses, etc. I’m a very sloppy saver, so my file names are not nearly descriptive enough to immediately know what they are, and also they are saved to two different computers and a backup hard drive. I have the same file name 10 times on 4 different documents. It’s atrocious. If anybody has any thoughts on a better way to organize and evaluate what to save and what to delete, please let me know. If nobody has a better idea, I’ll import all the files into Page Four, see how that works.

Have a great week.

I survived and then some

Posted on by Sherri
10

The 1st day of school was a success, as I thought it would. Little Bubba joked as we got ready for school, “You should have a welcome home party for us.” I laughed along with him, and he forgot about it. So that afternoon I went to the dollar store and got some balloons, party favors, and candy bars. I stuck a bow to my shirt, held a squawker in one hand and a balloon in the other, and went out to wait for the bus. Of course the bus was late so I’d have to stand out there as the maximum number of people drove by. I like to think they knew what I was doing. And the look on Little Bubba’s face when the bus pulled up was way worth it. ‘Course, later in the evening I was sure wishing I hadn’t given them the squawkers…or the balloons…or the candy…

The writing also went well. I finished my long synopsis–final page count: 15 pages. The plot is basically the same, but I did change some key elements that had given me doubts. I think finishing this project is a pretty good way to start my full-time writing career. (Is it a career if you haven’t made any money yet?) It’s a good sign. I can officially say that I’m out of the hole which had swallowed me up for so long. The writing feels good; having a real, reachable goal feels good; and going easy on myself feels good. I’m loose. But not in a slutty way. Anymore. As far as you know.

Anyhoo, now’s the time when I call upon my peeps to read what I wrote and tell me what I got wrong. I know I have at least two readers on board already, so if y’all are too busy, I do have some help. Seriously, it’s all right. Lord knows I’ve been too busy/downtrodden to read at times. Still, the more the merrier, so if you have a passing curiosity and time to read 15 pages double spaced, shoot me an email and I’ll put you on the list.

eek!