Tag Archives: Gillian Holmes

Gillian Holmes, (aka The Editor) Responded to Frost’s Request for Help Writing a Synopsis

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Synopsis: A brief summary of the plot of a novel, motion picture, play etc. by Gillian Holmes

Meet Gillian Holmes – literary editor By Margaret Graham1

 

A very talented friend of mine sent me the synopsis of the novel she was writing for her Creative Writing MA. Her tutor had sent her away with a flea in her ear, and she came to me with no real idea of what she’d done wrong.
As a veteran of synopses of nearly twenty years standing, I saw immediately that she had made a very common error. Namely, she’d forgotten what a synopsis is. She thought she needed to show her thinking behind the book, and give the reader a flavour of what was to come. Consequently, she had managed to give far too much information, while also giving too little.

How is that possible?

 

  1. She wrote a lot about her main character, while neglecting the plot.
  2. She had included lines from the book, but with no context, they were irrelevant.
  3. She had tried to illustrated the themes in the book, but neglected the plot.
  4. She had tried to illustrate the humour in the book by describing the occasional amusing scene. But she’d neglected the plot…

 

Do you see where I’m going here? So when you sit down to write your synopsis, always remember that  this is not a creative work, so don’t try to be too clever. Clarity is everything.

 

So what do agents and editors want from a synopsis?

 

  1. They want 1500 words or fewer.
  2. They want an elevator pitch – a couple of lines that outlines the concept. The concept is a very strong consideration for all agents and editors, so make it snappy and memorable. For example, let’s take a recent bestseller – The Husband’s Secret. A happily married woman with three children discovers that her husband murdered a young girl when he was a teenager.
  3. A brief summary of the plot, key moments, key events, and main characters so they can see the arc of the story and judge whether the structure seems sound – leave out complicated sub plots, it will only bog you down in unnecessary detail.
  4. The end – and that means the end. Don’t hold anything back, this is not a cover blurb.

 

And that’s it. Easy peasy.
If you’re wondering about my friend, I sent her back to rewrite her synopsis several times. But it was worth it. She got an A for it in the end.

Gillian has been an editor for mainstream publishers for twenty years. Now she runs her own editorial agency.
To contact Gillian:  gilliansholmes@hotmail.com

 

 

Meet Gillian Holmes – Literary Editor

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Meet Gillian Holmes – literary editor By Margaret Graham1

Gillian Holmes

 

Frost is delighted that Gillian Holmes of the editing house, The Editor, will, over the next few weeks, advise Frost’s readers on writing successful first chapters, and that tricky beast the synopsis.

 

The timing is particularly apt because the charity Words for the Wounded (sponsored by Frost Magazine) has launched its 2016 Independent Author Book Award  for self published books – fiction or non fiction/e-book or physical.  which is due to close on 6th March. Last year’s competition was won by Jane Cable, who as a result is now represented by Felicity Trew of the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency.

Meet Gillian Holmes – literary editor By Margaret Grahamfelicitydrew2 Felicity Trew

 

It is Felicity who is judging the Words for the Wounded competition this year, so flex those fingers, sharpen your imaginations and let Frost, and Gillian, help you along the way.

 

Gillian Holmes  has been working in publishing for nearly twenty years. She started out at Quarto, working on craft books – applique and decoupage was very popular at the time and she’s endeavoured to forget everything she learned about those skills over the years.

 

She quickly moved on from that nightmare to work at Simon & Schuster where she worked with authors such as Jackie Collins, Ben Elton and Sean Hughes. As well as doing quite a lot of football, the X Files and books about UFOs.

 

Then on to Carlton, working on illustrated non-fiction and TV tie-in novelisations – the Coronation Street novel is a particularly proud moment. The entire 40 years in a novel.

 

But with three children, life in-house became difficult, so she worked as a freelance editor, copy editor and proofreader for various clients, before moving back in-house to Arrow Books six years ago, where she edited many bestselling authors, such as Katie Flynn, Dorothy Koomson, Amy Silver (aka Paula Hawkins), Cathy Woodman, Lisa Lynch and Margaret Graham, and many others.
Gillian is really looking forward, over the next few weeks, to helping those of you who are working on a novel, or perhaps to inspire those who are not, to do so.

For more information about the Words for the Wounded Independent Author Book Award, and the charity which raises funds to help in the recovery of wounded service personnel, go to www.wordsforthewounded.co.uk

Gillian has now set up her own concern, The Editor: gilliansholmes@hotmail.com