A Lesson in Terminology...

Here's the thing.  I am trying to learn several bits of my craft at once.  I am trying to learn how to write my story, what language to use, what speech tags to use and when, how to avoid cliches and all the while just tell my story - which I really do think has legs.


And then there are all these RULES to learn. How to present a manuscript, how to write a query letter etc.


One question has puzzled me - really puzzled me - how to get across to the reader or a prospective agent or publisher what the story is all about without having to cram in loads into the first three chapters. I have pondered over this, asked questions on Twitter and looked at the back covers of many many hundreds of books for the synopsis.


Except this isn't the synopsis - is it?  All you writery types out there will be shaking your heads and tutting 'schoolgirl error', and all of you non writers will be scratching your heads and muttering 'eh H? what ARE you on about now?'  Let me explain.


I made a very basic error. I, who have managed multi million pound  complex projects, and in that arena research EVERYTHING and ask EVERY question to the point of being extremely annoying, made an assumption based on something I had read on the internet.  I ASSUMED that the synopsis was the jacket blurb on the back of the book that tells you a bit about the story and makes you put your hand in your pocket to buy it.  In other words, a teaser, something to make you want to read more.


Well of course it's not!


A synopsis is a precis of the story, introducing all of the plot twists and turns, the characters and answering all of the questions.  In other words, it's the answer to the question I have been asking for the past two weeks.  Unfortunately I discovered this on the day after I send my darling out for review with a short paragraph with the word 'SYNOPSIS' at the top.  I do hope my young reviewers won't be too harsh about this.  But it DOES make me wish that I had followed my instinct and made the chapters shorter - what I have put into three chapters should, I feel, be five or six shorter chapters. Never mind - it is all a learning curve and hopefully the story will stand alone and be enjoyable.


But that's not the thing, THE THING, that shouldn't happen to a writer - I suspect, embarrassing as that is, it is the sort of thing that has happened to many a new writer.  No, here is THE THING...


In order to tell you this THING, I have to give a little away about my protagonist, young Lexi.  When she was a little girl her favourite rhyme was 'Little Rabbit Foo Foo' you know the one? If not, look it up, it's very funny.  Anyway, because she loved it so much her Dad used to call her 'Little Rabbit Foo Foo.'  Which evolved through the years into 'Foof' and is a subject of gentle teasing between Lexi and her Dad.  Well, last night, I received my first bit of feedback on the story...


'Foof' in our house, refers to, ahem, a girl's, ahem, you know...


Of all the feedback I might have been expecting, I have to say that this is not something I considered! I mean, How was I to know THAT? Note to self, check character terminology and slang against general slang. 


I feel another re-write coming on. Whether or not the nickname remains, I've learned that following your gut instinct is usually write and that there is an answer to every question, and if you don't know the answer, well, you're just not looking hard enough. As with everything, it's knowing WHERE to look.