The rain falls - writing a synopsis

I wake up to see the rain falling. It's been another title night but I'm still with The Sauly Bird. So many things happen in this Papua New Guinea story but Aulani can't help thinking about where the dead go and the bird focuses these thoughts.

I spent three hours last night writing the synopsis for The Sauly Bird. It's not easy to condense a whole novel into a page and make it read well. I think I've condensed it OK. I've used the format we got in the workshop last Friday.

para 1 - Main character & status quo
para 2 - Protagonist's goal & initiating incident
3,4,5 - main crises
para 6 - All might be lost
para 7 - Overcome obstacles
para 8 - Resolution & new reality (what character has learned)

I was surprised to find that the format worked. I haven't got 8 paras because one or two were combined but I've got all the points. What is missing is a nice 'feel' to this writing. It's a fairly dense, brusque summary. Must need some more work....

The next thing will be the query letter.... a different thing altogether.

Last night I reread a previous query letter I'd sent and cringed with embarrassment.

Have to start my day, see people, do things but tonight I'll be back in one of these other worlds.

What are you doing wherever you are? Will you write to me one day? Tell me about the stories that you are writing. Or reading..... take care.