Synopsis & Influencers

I was not able to add an entry yesterday because my youngest child was admitted to the hospital last Saturday night due to a severe asthma attack.

I don't have much sleep lately. I also thought of skipping today but I thought of writing even a bit.

I want to share a little of what I've learned from my mentor. This one is all about making a synopsis that hooks readers to read your novel.

This is what he said:

A hook synopsis is one that draws from the essence of the story to set an atmosphere that resonates with the readership, it tells them the tone they can expect and whets their pallets before they even start reading.

ie, it pulls the strongest elements of your story and is crafted to match that tone.

A suspense thriller invokes suspense and thrill in the synopsis, a Romance invokes the essence of love, etc.

First, you identify the core tone and the core elements of your piece, then you invoke them with the best word choice you can.

A synopsis boiled down doesn't reinvent any wheels, and instead demonstrates the potential power of your writing.

The better crafted your synopsis is in invoking your core elements for a blind reader, the more likely they are going to have confidence in you as a writer living up to what you're, essentially, selling to them.

That's for the authors.

I also want to share something for the readers but not from my mentor's point of view.

These are friendly and loving reminders.

We read novels because we enjoy reading. It brings us to another world, dimension, experience, and other more. It makes you a superstar, and anything else you're not, and experience the character in your mind as if it was you.

But, be careful with what you read. Books are one of the best influencers in a person's life. It affects your way of thinking and even your own principles in life. Be watchful. Pornography and violence are common in most novels.

You will know if the books you're reading are shaping your character.

1.) If the people around you and yourself slowly realize the changes in you. Mostly, in your moral values. If the things you hate before you are accepting now, then you're influenced.

2.) If your mind is playing the sexual or violent imagery depicted from what you read, even when you're doing something or in class, then that is already wrong. You better stop reading those books for your own good.

3.) The dangerous one: if you act out what you read, that is totally serious.

My husband and I are volunteer youth counselors. We've met students who are experiencing this. So, be mindful and careful.

Have a good and fruitful day.