brust@hyper.UUCP (Steven Brust) (07/17/85)
I've been asked to supply information about what a plot outline consists of, as in, what one might send the editor of a publisher. It has been suggested that I do so on the net rather than by mail. Okay. I've never done an outline in this form. I have seen one or two that have gone to editors, and seen the resulting books. In general, there is little or no relationship between the outline and the book that I have seen. The outline is usually in the form of one paragraph per chapter, and describes the basic action of that chapter. As in, "Chapter One: Zwiggle, an adolescent of the dominant race of planet Juju IV, discovers a strange being, actually a young, adolecsent Earthgirl from an exploratary vessel. He immediatly falls in lover with her, kills her, and eats her for dinner. Chapter Two: Zwiggle begins to wonder if he should have eaten her. His best friend, Zwaggle, convinces him to try to find the rest of the aliens and they set off to..." That kind of thing. Insofar as I've been able to determine, the outline exists so that the editor, who has already decided to buy the book becuase he likes your intense, Hemmingway-esque style (especially during the cannible-procreation scenes) can have something to wave at the publishing comittee so they will do what he wants them to (either agree to publish it, give the author more money for it, make it a lead title, whatever). My experience is EXTREMELY limited, so don't take any of this as gospel. There may well be publishers who pay attention to the plot outline, or use it to decide whether or not to buy the book, etc. For more information, I would suggest asking David Dyer-Bennet (whereever on the net he is) to please as his lovely and talented wife, Pamela Dean, to tell us about her experiences. That's the best I can do. Hope its some help. -- SKZB