I recently wrote about the novel-length work I've been slogging through for the last year-and-a-half, The Letter From William Waiklin.
My wife had two points of criticism: she felt I had "given too much of the storyline away" and she didn't think my picture should appear on the back cover of the proposed artwork.
I scratched my forehead and gave her a confused look, both habits that bother her to no end. Why? Because they have each been linked separately to hair loss, I asked inside my head.
But I was genuinely unsure how other authors--and, in fact, whether authors themselves were the party responsible for the task--slapping together the short synopses on the backs of their books. I studied titles I had in my collection and found the examples to vary somewhat in how far they went to bait the reader into buying into the story.
Some synopses went the minimalistic route. Romances, in particular--not that I personally have a large selection of romances--seemed to give few details about the story. I'm guessing that is because the storylines share many similarities with other romances. The specifics tend not to be a buying factor. Again, I'm guessing, not being an expert.
Other titles' synopses went much further. I looked for a common reason why the authors (or whomever) found it necessary to put in so dangerously many details. Like my wife, weren't they afraid they'd be giving away the perfect storyline that they alone could have invented? And what reason would a reader have to purchase the book if the whole story was laid out for them?
Regarding the idea of another author lifting the storyline for their own purposes, I am not concerned. The fine specifics of how the story unfolds could really only be told by me. And I don't say that in a vain way. It's simply that I believe, as with painting or web design, both of which I've had a hand in, even if you set out to copy a work wholesale, the result will inevitably have marks, and not typically small marks, of the copier's style. You just can't hide it. In fiction, the opportunity for individual style avails itself at every moment. So for another author to "steal" my story, I believe, is an impossibility. Even if I were to sit down with him and give every twist and turn, each nuanced character trait I had spent months aligning to achieve the best story I could create, by the end of the test, I would have the book I am writing and he would have a different work. I believe I could defend myself as the original creator in the end.
Regarding giving away the farm to the reader, I decided that my synopses were not like a movie trailer, where not only do you get a more or less chronological run-through of the story, you get fed one visual take on the story. For me, this is the real reason a book synopses can afford to describe in more detail the essence of a story. So much is left to the reader's imagination.
As a reader reads, he is bringing to the experience everything he has seen in his life. The brown, antique table with scroll details that he sees is not the same table I envisioned when I keyed the passage. Again, the opportunity for a reader to bring his own flavor to the story avails itself in every line of the story.
So on both of the synopses-related counts, I've considered my wife's apprehensions and will leave it unchanged for the time being.
Whether or not I should have placed my mug on the back cover, I am undecided. I've seen author pics on some books and not on others and I'm not sure if there are good reasons going one way or the other. Some attractive authors choose to leave themselves off, while some do not. The same holds true for the less fortunate authors. I'm guessing it's a matter of personal preference.
Whether or not I will leave my picture off the back cover is a matter of debate. Email me with your opinions on that matter as well, but I tend to trust the woman whom I've lived with, who has had to live with my mug beside her every day for the last nearly 19 years when she says don't go with the picture.
