The Synopsis Treasury by Christopher Sirmons Haviland

Author:Christopher Sirmons Haviland [Haviland, Christopher Sirmons]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Reference, Writing; Research & Publishing Guides, Publishing & Books, Authorship
Publisher: WordFire Press
Published: 2015-01-15T05:00:00+00:00

February 8, 1995

Dear Merrilee:

Well, here it is, finally, a couple of weeks later than I thought it would appear, but I’m satisfied that I’ve got the entire thing worked through. I’m happy with it on a couple of counts. First, I like it: I like the atmosphere, the characters, the pace, etc. There’s plenty of room for me in the book, so to speak—something I was a little worried about, since I was determined to have a higher regard for my audience in this one and for the notions of my editors. Anyway, I’m fired up, and have sixty pages of scenes and ideas piled on the desk. Writing this proposal, even as short as it is, required thinking the book through far more thoroughly than I’ve ever thought one through before. Second, I think this one doesn’t make the single biggest mistake I made in Night Relics, which was making the developing plot and the resolution too internal. And yet there’s some stuff in here that I think will be nicely artistic and intelligent, but without sacrificing the action and pace and suspense of the story. How do you like that?

Bold statement #1: This would make a good movie, I think, and wouldn’t require an eccentric director to see the potential in it. Is that something we worry about when the book is written, or do we try to palm it off as a treatment or something right now?

Bold statement #2: As you know, Susan and Lou chatted me up at the ABA and over the phone a couple of times since then about my career, specifically about this being a Putnam’s hardcover and a Berkley paperback etc. All this makes me very happy, and I’m exceedingly willing to promise more of this type of book, if Susan and Lou want some consistency for the sake of sales, etc., and if we can move my career up another big rung. I’ll admit, though, that I’m really fond of All the Bells on Earth, and I’m convinced it’s a good book in ways that this one won’t be. And I don’t mean this one won’t be a good book; I mean that in Bells I affected to be Charles Dickens, and I can’t do that here. You know what I’m talking about. Now, if the money were purely even, I’d opt to write the eccentric book far more often than the straightforward suspense book—I’d write to please myself and take a chance on pleasing anybody else, which is what I did for ten years. What that boils down to is the bold statement that, this time, the money can’t be even. To stay even I’d need 30 thousand, since I took 25 nearly four years ago, and given inflation and all … But I can’t afford to stay even. I’m taking Lou and Susan seriously.

So, how much do I want? I don’t know. I’m not going to be a nut about it, but I’m perfectly willing to turn down an offer and walk, especially if the alternative is to stand still.

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