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“Bravo! Pam McCutcheon has decoded the synopsis!
Writing the Fiction Synopsis is packed with useful information helpful to both
the professional and novice writer. I wish I’d had this informative book years
ago. Writing the Fiction Synopsis is a must-have tool for all writers.
Pam McCutcheon has given writers a cure for the synopsis headache.”
— Maggie Osborne, Award-winning author of more than 40 novels.
“Writing the Fiction Synopsis is destined to be a
classic!”
— Karen Fox, RITA-nominated romance author
“Pam McCutcheon takes the ‘scary’ out of writing a
synopsis.
She walks you through the process and gives you the tools to create a clear, professional
summary of your work. It will help you the rest of your career.”
— Debra Dixon, author of Goal, Motivation, and Conflict
“This is by far the best book I've ever seen on writing a synopsis!! And
like many others, I've gone nuts trying to get my synopsis to say what it needs to say in
an interesting and concise way without making it a yawner. I’m also one of
those authors who writes a rough synopsis as a road map after I’ve written about
three chapters of a book to keep me on track. This book makes it so easy. I
have all three of the books at Gryphon along with a whole shelf full of reference books
and I tell you, the Gryphon books blow the others away. If you buy one book on
writing a synopsis, buy this one.”
— Lisa Mondello
“I bought your book Writing the Fiction Synopsis a while
back, and it has been so *very* helpful! It is one of the best books I've read on
writing synopses—clear, concise and wonderfully straightforward. I've referred to it
often and suspect I always will. A damn good book!”
— Edna Sheedy aka Carole Dean
“Pam’s clear, logical style helped me fashion a winning contest
entry with my very first, book-length manuscript. Not only does she teach how to
write a winning synopsis, but her insights into plotting and characterization are a
winning combination.”
— Carol Umberger, Golden Heart Winner, Author
“Though I am published in
poetry, I have never written anything ‘book length’ because the prospect was
just too daunting. Pam’s class on ‘How to Write a Synopsis’ broke
down the elements of plot and character into manageable chunks. Her teaching style
was fun, clear, and well thought out. I left the class inspired to
write!”
— Wendy Grace Wolf
“After several years of classes and lectures
on synopses, I was totally confused. When Pam McCutcheon taught her method of
writing the dreaded synopsis, it all came together and I hit the ‘aha’ response.
Ms. McCutcheon makes synopsis writing easy! Every writer will benefit from
this book.
— Kathleen Wells, Ph.D.
“Every writer needs to know how to write a synopsis that
sells.
This book is a definite must-have.”
— D.C. Arnold
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Trivia
(from the introduction):
The first indication I had that writers were looking
for a book like this is when a beginning writer approached me during a local conference.
She was frustrated because a contest judge had told her she'd written a nonfiction
outline instead of a fiction synopsis. Naturally, she wanted to know where she could
learn how to write the appropriate type of synopsis for her novel.
I was stumped—I couldn't think of a single book that
explained how. Since I learned by using other writers' synopses as examples, I did
the only thing I could and gave her one of mine. It didn't seem enough, though, so I
looked around to see what else was written on the subject. I didn't find much, and
those books that did mention it seemed to do so only briefly.
It seemed that everywhere I turned after that, people were
grumbling about writing synopses. And the contests I judged verified my suspicion
that many beginning writers simply didn't know where to start writing one.
So, I decided to analyze my own method. I'd like to claim
it's wildly innovative and unique, but the truth is, all I did was take the techniques
developed by other well-known writes and synthesize them into an approach that worked for
me. Once I analyzed that approach, I developed a step-by-step method for teaching
others how to do the same.
Top Reviews Excerpt
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