I find a synopsis difficult enough but a blurb (or an elevator pitch, or a logline for a script) is torture. Distilling something complex and nuanced into a couple of sentences without misrepresenting the whole thing often seems impossible. Best of luck with the blurb for The Skilthorn Congress.
Definitely agree that it can be a challenge. In another walk of life (scientific proposals) I've faced limits of 500 or 1000 characters including spaces to get a point across, which sometimes generates all kinds of discussions such as on whether we really need that last sentence or can drop particular words without changing the meaning!
Well I look at it the other way around... Once I've got the TITLE the COVER PIC and the BLURB I consider that as half way to the finished book! I always write my own blurb and I do it before the book as an arrow pointing straight into what the book's going to be about. Okay I rewrite the blurb after it's all over - and often that's what ends up getting used.
For me your draft blurb is still a bit too much of a synopsis setting up the main plot lines but not really generating suspense or intrigue or questions that I want to read in and answer.
Countess J is still finding her feet in the royal court of Szplk, and when the fugitive Derys crawls up the thousand stairs to the Jackdaw Keep, Jerydd doesn't ask too many questions. Well, the castle brewery can always use another slave at the mashtub, especially one as pretty as Derys. Anyway, J has enough on her plate with the Grand Eisteddfod of the Sleuthian Charmsingers coming to the Jackdaw Keep, and the young Prince Qiasisatch to be kept out of mischief _ and who knows, an attractive young brew-slave might even help with that. But when the Grand Cham falls into a mysterious coma on the eve of the Sangspiel, and Qiasisatch goes missing, questions start being asked about the attractive slave girl. Questions which only J can find the answer. And as secrets emerge over Derys's origins, and atonal melismas threaten the very song traditions themselves, soon J's own life is on the line.
I find a synopsis difficult enough but a blurb (or an elevator pitch, or a logline for a script) is torture. Distilling something complex and nuanced into a couple of sentences without misrepresenting the whole thing often seems impossible. Best of luck with the blurb for The Skilthorn Congress.
Thanks. Yes, it is pretty much torture.
Definitely agree that it can be a challenge. In another walk of life (scientific proposals) I've faced limits of 500 or 1000 characters including spaces to get a point across, which sometimes generates all kinds of discussions such as on whether we really need that last sentence or can drop particular words without changing the meaning!
Well I look at it the other way around... Once I've got the TITLE the COVER PIC and the BLURB I consider that as half way to the finished book! I always write my own blurb and I do it before the book as an arrow pointing straight into what the book's going to be about. Okay I rewrite the blurb after it's all over - and often that's what ends up getting used.
For me your draft blurb is still a bit too much of a synopsis setting up the main plot lines but not really generating suspense or intrigue or questions that I want to read in and answer.
Countess J is still finding her feet in the royal court of Szplk, and when the fugitive Derys crawls up the thousand stairs to the Jackdaw Keep, Jerydd doesn't ask too many questions. Well, the castle brewery can always use another slave at the mashtub, especially one as pretty as Derys. Anyway, J has enough on her plate with the Grand Eisteddfod of the Sleuthian Charmsingers coming to the Jackdaw Keep, and the young Prince Qiasisatch to be kept out of mischief _ and who knows, an attractive young brew-slave might even help with that. But when the Grand Cham falls into a mysterious coma on the eve of the Sangspiel, and Qiasisatch goes missing, questions start being asked about the attractive slave girl. Questions which only J can find the answer. And as secrets emerge over Derys's origins, and atonal melismas threaten the very song traditions themselves, soon J's own life is on the line.
Just me having fun, sorry!