Finally, I remembered to check my new gmail account and found three items: a note from a guy who dated my college sophomore roommate (this isn’t My Face, hello!), a query letter about addiction, and a bonafide question from a man we’ll call L.

L. asks if I would consider “fiction proposals from works in progress”? In a word: no. I’m not even exactly sure what the term “fiction proposal” means, hence the obnoxious use of quotations. I take it to mean synopses of incomplete work. There is no way to judge fiction except by reading it. You could send a partial novel with a synopsis, but if you are an unpublished writer, this would be a mistake (unless you are famous, if Toni Morrison recommends you, if you have a story in The New Yorker — mitigating circumstances along these lines).

As a sidebar is the whole question of including a synopsis at all. About this question there has been much debate and talmudic scholars are not in agreement. Personally, I hate them. Describing plot is like describing your dreams. Maybe, maybe, your lover will be interested but that’s about it. I really can’t bear to read them. I prefer a succinct few lines in the cover letter and then I want to read the work itself. It speaks for itself.

L., I hope that answers your question. Thanks for writing and good luck with expanding the stories.

Filed under: Writing |