Synopsis or Death: Update

So here’s how I tackled the synopsis from Xibalba today.

First, I jotted all my misc. notes onto the index cards.  I also read each of the previous synopses and wrote down the key phrases I wanted to keep onto cards.  I had two really shitty drafts completed, and one partial.  Each one I’ve really struggled with, and they’re definitely not fit to send out. 

Even if I ended up with duplicate information, I went ahead and wrote the best pieces down, trying to keep each idea short and sweet so it fit on the card.  With this pass, I ended up with 51 cards in no particular order.

For the second pass, I started going through the cards to consolidate or eliminate as I went.  They naturally began to fall into a semblance of order.  I rewrote the ideas card by card, tossing each attempt until it read almost exactly how I’d want the synopsis to read.  I concentrated on the opening first, and ended up with about 10 cards.  Then I tackled the next chunk and smoothed, revised, etc. until I had about 20 cards.  Repeat.  Until I finally had 52 cards in order.  As I went, the three story threads began weaving together, just as they did in the main story.

Yeah, I added cards at this point, but I decided not to stress about it.  I just wanted a complete and cohesive picture of all three story threads, start to finish, with all the necessary emotion and motivations I wanted to convey.

For the third pass, I concentrated more on elimination and streamlining.  I rewrote most of the cards, fine tuning and working to get down to 42 cards.  That’s still way more than I expected to have, but I felt that each card was pretty important.  I had to open the second pack of index cards because I’d tossed so many.

Finally, about 9:30 PM (after the monsters went to bed) I began typing up all my notes.  It ended up complete at 2,151 words.  Is it just another shitty synopsis that I’ll have to throw out?  Lord, I hope not.  My fingers and hands are KILLING me from all this hand writing and then frantic typing!

But I’m finally done.  At least for now.