:: Queries to Summary to Description? Not so fast!

These past few days, I was faced with a task as enjoyable as it was difficult: composing a description for the back cover of my novel, Frostworks. Enjoyable, because it's just fun to take a complete work of fiction (that you have written, ahem!) and write the kind of fascinating plot teaser that—hopefully—will make browsers want to know more.

And what could be easier, since I had already done all that! After all, summing up the plot of a novel in a query letter is no different from those summaries you always see on the back of books. Right?

Wrong!

I tried to use the summary from my Frostworks query. After all, it was a good one and had at least tickled the interest of several agents. But somehow, as a back cover description, it didn't work. While the query summary was a crisp and concise representation of Frostwork's hooks, it didn't have the same oomph you want on that book cover. Also, it gave some plot points away! Now, for an agent, that's not only okay but required (a cliffhanger like "You'll never guess what happens next..." is a great way to ensure that your query lands in the circular file) but obviously, the last thing prospective readers want is a spoiler.

Back to the drawing board.

It wasn't as hard as the original summary, but still difficult. Some aspects of characterization and plot absolutely had to make it into the query, but could and had to be discarded for the back cover. Then of course I had several versions of a number of things, and picking the right one made my brain hurt (they all appeared equally brilliant or, one minute later, equally clumsy). Then I remembered good old script writing 101. Oh, yes, that works for summaries of novels, too. The Call to Action! When in doubt, I picked the version of a given paragraph that implied another one of those, even if it didn't sound as polished as a more cerebral version. After all, as someone once said, stories are about people doing stuff.

And last of all, sometimes you just have to let go. I'm sure once I see the description on the back of my book, I'll still find things that could be tweaked. But while the possibilities may be endless, the time you can spend tinkering is not. And so I'll close quoting Morrissey, who offers this wonderful piece of advice in one of his songs: "Just do your best, and don't worry."

P.S.: Only, do make sure it absolutely, positively is your best. If not, you'll have to go on worrying.