The Spoken Synopsis

Novelists invariably have to write a synopsis. It is true that many great writers probably never wrote one, but I can assure that agents and publishers always want to see one.

Many who have chosen the world of the pen as their journey, sometimes find it difficult to understand what a synopsis is, why it is the way it is, why it's even needed. Other writers wouldn't write home without it.

You could say that it's the literary equivalent of a business plan. And it is true that the map is not the territory, the synopsis is not the book.

Here are some questions:

1. How do you write a synopsis?
2. How long should it be?
3. When do you write it?
4. What makes a good synopsis?
5. What makes a bad one?

I say forget these questions.

Think of it like this: have you seen or read the Robin Hood story. Well, tell me the story. Go on, say it out loud, write it down. Guess what, the telling is very quick. Now when you were narrating the story, did you describe the colour of Robin Hood's tights or the look in Maid Marion's eyes when she was flustered by him? No, of course not, because those are the details that aren't really the big pulsing themes of the story. And that's what a synopsis is: it's a gist. The easiest way for me to do a synopsis therefore is to tell someone else the story. That's it. Tell it to yourself, your cat, your dog, your spouse, your best friend, your mum. Anyone who'll listen and not quarrel too much with you.

And guess what: we do this sort of storytelling all the time when we're relaying information about movies, television series, soaps. We don't tell everything - we stick to the main points and that's it.

So if you think you've got a story, get a stopwatch and time yourself and describe it in 60 seconds. Your tale might go something like this:

The story's about a guy called Noah Jenkins and he wants to be an astronaut, but he's claustrophobic - it's a comedy. Anyway, he works in a dead end job in London that's slowly been sapping his life juice away - then one day the wife he's neglected leaves him for his boss. In a fit of helplessness and rage he signs up for a...

Is that so hard to do?

And once you've laid down the foundation that make up your synopsis you can edit and rewrite to your heart's content until it sings true. Of course, it still means you have to write the book...

ZHZ. 

What Published Writers MUST do

If you are a published writer then there is something I strongly recommend you do that could absolutely alter - for the better - your experience of the writing life.

I believe it's a sad world we live in when those who create entire worlds for others are paid a pittance, but such is our reality. For those of us who are writers we must do what we can to get by comfortably so that we can continue creating new worlds of words.

Firstly, join The Society of Authors. I cannot recommend that enough. They help provide legal guidance, access to databases of agents and so many other things, too many to mention here, but they are all listed on their web site.

Secondly, join the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society. If you join the Society of Authors then your membership of ALCS is free. ALCS collects the royalties from your published work.

Each time your book, essay or photo is reprinted, photocopied, borrowed from a library it generates income. That tally of income is what the ALCS calculates and collects and repatriates to the writer...as long as they are registered.

The creative impulse which produced the work now in print accrues value. Writers rarely have a good business sense, although some do, and the advice they receive is lacking.

I know poets and authors who despite having been published many time have never registered with any society such as the two above. If you are amongst those who believe that you don't need to register with anyone, you're right: you don't have to.

But why not?

What do you lose?

For a few pounds each year you easily recoup the cost of membership and you can access excellent professional advice. Don't waste any more time: go and visit those web sites and decide for yourself whether you should join. I simply believe that you should continue to be rewarded for what you created which has now become become part of the world's inheritance.

ZHZ. 

A Writer's Life: 29th Feb 2008

A quick rundown of some stats on the running of my website www.zahidhussain.co.uk - as of today, I'm getting visits from 41 countries around the world which is absolutely amazing.

I have no idea how people from Iran, Japan and Washington State in the U.S. are hearing about my work. I am agog.

ZHZ. 

A Writer's Life: 28th Feb 2008

I write every day. I don't write from nine till five, simply because I can't - I work full-time and the little time that remains is all I have to offer my muse.

I wanted to share some of my world with you...few writers are willing to open the door and let would-be writers into their abode.

As I've said many times before, before I became a writer I was a reader. I want to see new writers emerge, like a leviathan from the deep, water spraying the air in all directions, passion and enlightenment, horror and discovery in its rippling serpentine flesh, the leviathan's teeth flashing without pity and gouging a mark into the fabric of our...

So, here I am, keyboard keys at fingertips, clackety clack, clackety clack.

This is how the storyscape looks today. I'm in the middle of the synopsisdraft of the next instalment of The Curry Mile. It's obsorbing work. I call it synopsisdraft, because it's both a synopsis and a draft. It's evolving. I'm discovering the layers of the story, identifying gaps, weaknesses. I'm meeting characters. I've established the story's "voice". The draft, currently named "T.S." has a distinctive tone...I've set a deadline for the completion of the draft. It's a challenge, but once I've got the synopsisdraft out of the way, then I'll really be writing!

I'm going to be out till quite late tonight, but I have a daily "numberofwords" target that I have to meet before I hit the sack. The number is very low. It's ONE. That's right. ONE word. The truth is, as soon as I start writing, I usually far exceed the target. It's all about getting the pen to touch the paper, my fingertips to touch the keyboard keys. That's it.

Rampant writing,

ZHZ. 

The Biggest Secret of Writing

I'm going to reveal a big secret, perhaps the biggest of all. It's as sharp and tingly as a slap in the face, it's simply this:

Writing is not writing.

"Eh?" You gasp, "Zahid's lost it this time. He's joined the Circus of the Lunatics".

Let me explain.

Writing is not about taking a pen in your hand and writing.
Writing is not about sitting in front of a PC and typing.
Writing is not about sitting with a Dictaphone and speaking out your thoughts.

Writing is the process by which you fling your imagination into the real world.
In fact, some of my friends would argue that it isn't even that - it's just your imagination codified. And some of my friends would argue that it isn't even the imagination - it's simply channeling what you see, hear, feel, think and touch.

A few days ago I was delivering a creative writing workshop to some young women. I told them to absorb what was around them. I asked to them to look and to keep looking. I asked them to seek patterns and ask questions and to never stop.

When you realise that writing is not simply the physical act of writing, but the fusion of imagination, observation and downright curiosity it's amazing what happens to you. When struggling to describe a scene, sit back and let yourself sink into the scene in your head and describe it. Voila, it writes itself.

Writing is simply daydreaming onto paper.

ZHZ.