Monday, April 18, 2016

Synopsis 49

This synopsis came with the query for Alcoholic Angel (Face-Lift 1311). The author may have been under the mistaken impression that including a synopsis eliminated the need to summarize the plot in the query letter. Unfortunately, this also does't summarize the plot, and doesn't meet the definition of a synopsis.


SYNOPSIS:

Once or twice upon a time, a book offers sane  solutions for life-threatening ailments.  “Alcoholic Angel and how to find your very own miracle”  draws  from  Asian  wisdom, common sense,   western science,  and miracles to produce  healing outcomes.   Funny quotes are in the m/s because   humor   helps healing.  However the world is seriously  sick, and it’s no laughing matter that  millions of us   are dying  too soon.    Even  presidents and prime ministers don’t   confront   the  horrifying consequences  of  over-eating, alcoholism,  drug addictions.   In terms of  leadership, Pope Francis stands above all.  Broken folks  get  hope from this Pope.
   Tia Crowe, half  an American Indian and  my  “Alcoholic Angel”,   died  at a Portland  OR teaching hospital on 8-30-12   of cirrhosis of the  liver. Death visited  on her  32nd birthday.  Happy birthday, baby.
****************
                                                            CONTENTS
                            PICK-UP GAMES AT PIRATE CITY       12   
                                                            SEIZURE                 39
                                                      BALL GAME BLUES     44
                                              FOREVER TOGETHER        51
                                                                     Butt Out           57
                                                           Flight of an Angel      61
                                                                  The TEACHER    69
                                                         LIFE AFTER  LIFE      75
                                                         I’M AN ALCOHOLIC     77
                                                   “Evil” Drugs – the Pope     93   
                                                               Mork from Ork       100       
                                             POT HEADS  PREVAIL       113 
                                                HEROIN EPIDEMIC    122
                                            INTIMATE ENEMIES         124
                                                 Alcohol related rape     133
                                           WHY COUPLES  FIGHT     139
                                                               EXERCISE     144
                                                  SITTING DISEASE      154
                                                   Body by Hannah         159
                                                        Dancing Queen        165
                                      SEX QUESTIONS ANSWERED   171
                                                   GIFT OF Balance         1
                                                      ART OF EATING        191
                                                   KEFIR – Gutsy Food     205
                        SUGAR & ARTIFICIAL  sweeteners           210
                                                                SPLENDA           212
                                                 WHY HEARTS ATTACK   228
                                      CANCER Alfredo       231
                                      COFFEE &  TEA       236
                              SALT  &  STROKES         240                                      
                    HEALING A PRESIDENT          258
                                  LOSE WEIGHT          266          
                                             MEDITATION     304                                                                                                                 
                                       DENTAL GONE MENTAL   310
                                      THE  POWER OF CHI      323
                                                   Tai Chi                  333
                                                    Chakras               337            
                                             DRUG STORY           340 
                 DEATH  DOWN MEXICO WAY             350
                MIRACLE GIRLS FROM G-D                 364                           
                            THESE DOCTORS ARE IN        367
                 FINDING  YOUR very Own MIRACLE   379 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Girlfriend:    “Shane, I am grieving with you. I should have called and talked to her, or been around more. I can spend all day regretting things I shouldn't have done and things I should have.   I will  always have her in my memories. She exuded an energy that was beautiful and contagious. It is a sad thing to see, but with death sometimes your card just comes up when you think it wouldn't,  and sometimes your card doesn't come up when you wish it would.   But there is a reason for everything. I don't understand it;  no one does. I don't want to understand. That's the mystery of life.  Death is a continuation of  the mystery.    – Casey Pitt, Bradenton\

 THE TEACHER: “This caught me by terrible surprise. With the karate, the care and concern for her kids, and reading about her problem, Tia  seemed to be on a healthy road to recovery and healing.  I am heartbroken. My old boss and  friend  from years ago and another life, told me the wisest (and most helpful) words when dealing with my own loss:  "Let no one dictate to you how or how long  you grieve.    Your story is a  loving tribute to the life of a wonderful and beautiful friend and partner;  someone of  tremendously kind, generous, and uplifting energy who departed much too soon.  Words are not worthy when it comes to grief, but two quotes have always stood out to me  as wise and helpful.”
 “Though lovers be lost, love shall not; and death shall have no dominion.”  - Dylan 
  “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal.  Love leaves a memory no one can steal.”   - tombstone in Ireland.

            Only a sick society would continue to allow the most  destructive drug of them all to remain legal.     Not just legal but pushed on society at all levels to essentially all ages  via  sponsoring  sports events everywhere.  And this government and this society  sit  back and  do nothing as the carnage of destroyed lives is everywhere.         
                                                     --  Wes Bagby,  Morgantown WV
      
 THE THERAPIST:    “When I heard about Tia, I felt sad. Alcoholism is alcoholism is alcoholism.   Insidious. Was more help available? Of course, but Shane, alcoholics know what help is available and they know what they're ready to accept or reject. Tia apparently needed your love before she needed to be free of alcohol. Sorry about that,  but for all I know she may have been the wisest of the wise.  For isn't love the greatest gift?   That you loved her the way SHE needed  to be loved was the only Rx that made sense to her.  Apparently, in giving her that, you gave her life.   Tia’s drinking was horrifying, but her life also was wonderful and complex, challenging and joyful.”


 “GONE FROM MY SIGHT”

I am standing upon the seashore.
A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning
breeze and starts for the blue ocean.
She is an object of beauty and strength,
and I stand and watch until at last she hangs
like a speck of white cloud
just where the sea and sky come down to mingle
with each other. Then someone at my side says,
"There, she is gone."
Gone where?
Gone from my sight . . . that is all.

She is just as large in mast and hull
as she was when she left my side
and just as able to bear her load of living freight
to the place of destination.
Her   diminished size is in me, not in her.
And just at the moment
when someone at my side says,
 ‘there she is gone!’
There are other eyes  watching her coming . . .
and other voices ready to take up the glad shout . . .
"Here she comes!"        
And that is dying.           -Henry Van Dyke


Notes

A synopsis summarizes the plot. How long it should be depends on the guidelines of whoever has been foolish enough to request it. 

If the book is straight nonfiction, the contents might be included, though the chapter titles would have to be more informative than most of these are to make that useful. In any case, as the query states that this book includes a love story and would make a great movie, it apparently isn't the type of book whose table of contents we need to see.

No idea why you include a poem, especially one by someone other than yourself.

If those quotations are from actual people who wrote to you, rather than fictional characters, they aren't telling us anything about your writing ability.

In fact, pretty much none of this belongs in a synopsis. It's a lot of writing (of which very little may be by the book's author) from which I take away only that your book was inspired by the death of a woman due to alcoholism. You need to tell the story. In your own words.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is this book fiction or nonfiction? If it's a memoir, it's nonfiction pitched like fiction, so look at how to write queries for fiction.

If it's fiction or memoir, you need a summary of the narrative plot. It should have a beginning, middle, and end. Some significant change should occur, a problem should be solved, or understanding of a situation should be expounded in a new and relevant way. It usually should be about one or more characters (people).

If this is nonfiction, you need a platform. This mean credentials as to why other people would buy this book to get advice from you. You need samples of your writing. You basically need a sales pitch as to both how and why this book is going to be useful/successful. (It kind of looks like you're attempting to do this, but you aren't succeeding well enough for me to be certain)

You need permission to use material under copyright in your book. For the most part, this means any material not written by you produced in the past 70+ years. You will be responsible for obtaining those permissions and you will be the one sued if you don't. This is true even if you go the self-publishing route, although in that case you're unlikely to be sued unless you're successful.

If you wrote this as therapy or a tribute to someone you know/knew, congratulations on finishing. I hope it helped. Unfortunately, it takes more than completion to be commercially viable (meaning someone wants to help you sell it) or successful (meaning more than a few people want to buy it).

Sit down and think through your goals for this project. Once you know what you're trying to accomplish, ask if you have questions. We may be able to help.

AlaskaRavenclaw said...

Dear querier: I'm very sorry you lost your friend to cirrhosis of the liver.

I agree that Pope Francis seems like a great guy.


Anonymous said...

I still think this is a hoax...
author, apologises if it isn’t, but listen to EE and Anon
give us a plot, a main character and a reason to read your book

CavalierdeNuit said...

Huh? Makes no sense.