A. Victoria Mixon, Editor
Editing    Lab    Video    Book Clubs    Advice Column    About    Contact    Copyright

Sponsor

  • You’ve got a query letter. You know what to put in your author bio. You’ve even looked up how many pages of your manuscript this particular agent you’re querying wants to see with your query.

    What’s missing?

    That’s right.

    Laura Mosko, Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market Editor, has outlined the basics of writing a synopsis from literary agent Marshall Evans’ The Marshall Plan for Getting Your Novel Published on Fiction Addiction.

    eHow, of course, has instructions on formatting a synopsis.

    Fiction Writer’s Connection of Albuquerque has a useful synopsis checklist.

    Writing World’s Marg Gilks wrote a nice, chatty piece on writing a synopsis back in 2001.

    Pearl Luke offers a good, succinct synopsis for her novel Madame Zee.

    The Absolute Write forum thrashes over contradictory synopsis advice.

    And I have to include this one not because it is helpful in any way, but because the answer A: made me laugh: WikiAnswers.

    Subscribe:

    Comments Off



"Opinionated, rumbunctious, sharp and always entertaining."
—Roz Morris, Nail Your Novel

"A gift to writers. . .an indispensible resource. . .Highly recommended."
—Larry Brooks, Story Engineering


"The freshest and most relevant advice you’ll find."
—Helen Gallagher
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Buy it. I recommend it."
—Dave Kuzminski
Preditors & Editors

Clients’ Successes

Scott Warrender
Short story author Scott Warrender is a Mentoring Program client. I have done full Copy, Line, & Developmental Editing on a number of short stories for him, the first of which was his poignant fictional memoir of Africa, ''The Boy With the Newsprint Kite,'' now published in the Foundling Review.

Clients’ Books


Bhaichand Patel is the author of two nonfiction books: Chasing the Good Life (Penguin Books India, October, 2006), and Happy Hours (Penguin Books India, October, 2009). I edited Patel's debut novel, When the Streets Were Cold and Dark.


I've edited a number of nonfiction essays for my friend Lucia Orth. (Many years ago, my contribution to Baby Jesus Pawn Shop was simply a peer critique and participation in a standing ovation.)


The poet Chris Ryan is the author of The Bible of Animal Feet (Farfalla Press, 2007). He has recent stories in Pank, Anemone Sidecar, and A Cappella Zoo. I edited Ryan's novel The Ishmael Blade and worked with him on his debut novel Heliophobia and WIP Pogue.