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Authors: Chuck Sambuchino
[Note: The 2005 film
A History of Violence
was adapted from a graphic novel. This synopsis reflects the movie’s exact plot, not the original source material.]
TOM STALL owns a diner in a small Midwestern town. He lives a simple life with his lovely wife, EDIE, and two children. His idyllic world is shattered one evening when two killers pass through town and decide to rob Tom’s restaurant and rape one of the customers. During the robbery, Tom skillfully kills both criminals, and his bravery makes him a hero to the local community.
Tom is soon visited by a dangerous gangster named FOGARTY, who claims that Tom’s real name is Joey Cusack, and that the two of them used to run together in the Philadelphia Irish Mob twenty years ago. Tom denies these accusations, but Fogarty continues to harass Tom and his whole family. Emotionally shaken because of Fogarty’s stalking as well as his own newfound fame, Tom’s relationships with Edie and his teenage son, JACK, become strained. Edie is unsure of what to think of Fogarty’s (somewhat convincing) claims, and Jack, who has been bullied in high school, now decides to use violence against his student tormentors. Tom chastises his son for said violence, but Jack accuses him of hypocrisy and runs out of the house.
Fogarty arrives at Tom’s house with Jack as a hostage, demanding that “Joey” return with him and his men to Philadelphia. Tom kills Fogarty and his men with the same precision he used against the robbers. While recovering from minor injuries at the hospital, Tom admits to his wife that he is Joey Cusack and that he left Philadelphia around the age of twenty-one to abandon his criminal past and start a new violence-free life. This furthers the tensions in their marriage, and Tom starts sleeping on the couch.
Not long after Fogarty’s death, Tom gets a phone call from RICHIE CUSACK, his real-life older brother. Richie is the head of the Philly Irish Mob and demands that “Joey” travel to Philadelphia immediately or violence will befall the Stall family. Tom drives to Philadelphia, meets Richie at his mansion, and offers to make peace. Richie seems happy to see his long-lost little brother again but claims he has no choice in what comes next. He orders his men to kill Tom. Tom defends himself and kills both Richie and his guards.
Tom returns home to Indiana, but his family greets him with only tense silence. At dinner, the family quietly hints that they accept Tom back by passing him food.
RANDY “THE RAM” ROBINSON is a professional wrestler who gained celebrity in the 1980s. Now twenty years past his prime, he wrestles at independent matches in the New Jersey area for meager paydays. After a show, a promoter proposes an anniversary rematch of his most notable wrestling showdown, which sold out Madison Square Garden twenty years ago. Randy agrees.
Randy goes home and is locked out of his trailer for not paying the rent. His daily routine involves steroid usage, tanning, and loading boxes at a supermarket for extra cash. He also frequents a strip club, where he has befriended a faded stripper named PAM. Following a wrestling match against a brutal “hardcore” opponent, Randy suffers a heart attack and collapses. He receives a coronary artery bypass and is warned that his weakened heart cannot stand the stresses of steroids or wrestling. Randy cancels his upcoming matches and starts to make changes in his life.
He begins working as a deli counter operator to make more money. He tells Pam about his heart attack and tries to woo her while out for a drink. She declines his advances but offers Randy advice on reconnecting with his estranged daughter, STEPHANIE. His first visit to Stephanie’s house goes poorly, and she curses him out. Randy later returns with a gift and apologizes for being a bad father. The two reconnect during a walk on an abandoned boardwalk and make plans to meet again.
After Pam rejects his advances once more, Randy attends a wrestling match as a spectator and receives attention from his fans. After the match, Randy gets intoxicated on drugs and alcohol—accidentally sleeping the entire next day and missing his dinner date with Stephanie. He tries to apologize, but Stephanie instructs him to leave her sight and never return. At work, after a fan recognizes him and causes a scene, Randy purposely cuts himself on the deli meat slicer and quits. He recommits to the canceled anniversary match and sets out for the venue, despite his doctor’s warnings.
Moments before the match starts, Pam unexpectedly arrives, having quit the strip club to see him. She apologizes for being cold and tells him that he is no longer alone. This time, Randy rebuffs her; he says that the fans are his true family and the only place he belongs is in the ring. Randy enters the arena to applause and gives an emotional speech to the large crowd before the fight begins. As the match progresses, his chest pain worsens. Randy painfully ascends the ropes to deliver his signature move as the crowd cheers. With tears in his eyes, he salutes his fans and jumps off the ropes with the last of his strength, leaving his fate uncertain.
TRAFFIC involves three storylines featuring characters involved in the War on Drugs. The storylines sometimes interconnect.
A synopsis can use an establishing paragraph. I rarely write one, but I did here to explain that this is a complicated story, focusing on one central theme: the War on Drugs.
In Mexico: Police officer JAVIER RODRIGUEZ pulls over a truck transporting narcotics and arrests the drivers. The arrest is cut short by a powerful Mexican GENERAL who hires the resourceful Javier to wipe out the deadly Tijuana drug cartel.
I called the general “General” because I did not want readers to get confused later between the names Javier and Salazar. This simplifies things. Also, you can see here that I immediately decided to cut out mentions of Javier’s partner and the hit man Francisco Flores. When dealing with stuff like this, just ask yourself: “Does it really matter?” For example, the General hires Javier to take down the Tijuana cartel—that’s what matters the most. The fact that Javier’s first duty is to track down a hit man so the hit man can give up information and that the hit man only does this through torture, which upsets Javier—that stuff does not matter. Stick to big-picture happenings.
In Ohio: ROBERT WAKEFIELD, a conservative state judge, takes a position with the President’s Office of National Drug Control, earning the title of Drug Czar. In DC, the outgoing Drug Czar warns Robert that the War on Drugs is a battle with no victory. Unbeknownst to Robert, his teenage daughter, CAROLINE, an honors student, has been experimenting with narcotics and develops a drug addiction.
You see that I am telling the story prefaced by the location: “In Ohio.” Because the story takes place in many different locations, doing this makes it clear that we’re dealing with another place with another set of characters. I took out the character Seth because, like Javier’s partner, you can explain the main plot without him.
In San Diego: An undercover DEA investigation led by MONTEL GORDON culminates with the arrest of a powerful drug lord. The drug lord’s wife, HELENA, only now discovers her husband’s real occupation. Her days go from fundraisers and fine wine to talking to her husband through phones in a prison.
There were actually two cops in the DEA investigation, but since they’re a team, just mentioning one (Montel) is as good as both. Also, to avoid using another proper name, I simply call Carlos Ayala the “drug lord.” Helena’s story, which has an arc, is much more important to focus on than his.
In Mexico: With Javier’s help, numerous members of the Tijuana Drug Cartel are arrested, and the organization is crippled. But Javier soon discovers that Mexico’s anti-drug efforts are fraudulent, as the General is destroying one cartel because he has pledged loyalty to a second cartel for profit. This deeply disturbs Javier, who, as a rare honest cop in Mexico, has virtually no one to trust.
In Ohio: Robert learns Caroline is abusing drugs. Robert tries to fix his family life while dealing with his intense new position in the government. He attempts to have Caroline rehabilitated, but his efforts fail and she runs away. In the city, Caroline steals for money and prostitutes herself to procure drugs.
A lot gets left on the cutting-room floor in a synopsis. In this section of the story, Robert heads to Mexico and meets with General Salazar. It’s one of the cool points where the storylines cross and Robert’s job gets fleshed out, but there’s just not enough time to talk about it here. The objective of a synopsis is not to show the cool writing or nifty story ideas but rather to lay out your structure.
In San Diego: Helena quickly comes to grips with her new situation and what it demands. She hires a hit man to kill the key witness against her husband, but the attempt fails and Montel’s partner is killed instead.
In Mexico: Javier can no longer stand his work with the corrupt General. He informs the American DEA of the General’s treachery and cuts himself a deal. Javier’s information leads to the General’s arrest. Javier enjoys a children’s baseball game in a park at night. His desired payment for his testimony was the electricity necessary to run the field lights, as sports are a way to keep kids out of trouble with gangs.
Javier and the baseball game is actually the final event of the film, but to stick to the flow I’ve set up, I have to put it here. Ultimately, when an agent reads a novel, she will not be upset if a few events are out of order in the synopsis.
In Ohio: Robert’s search for his missing daughter takes him to the ghetto, and he is nearly killed by a drug dealer. His resolve strengthens, and he rescues his semiconscious daughter in a seedy hotel. Robert flies back to DC to present his important press conference on a “Ten-Point Plan” that will help America win the War on Drugs. During the speech, he hesitates, and then he tells everyone that a War on Drugs is actually a war against our own families, which he does not support. Robert quits his position. He and his wife go to a Narcotics Anonymous gathering with Caroline to support her as well as other recovering addicts.
In San Diego: Thanks to Helena, a second attempt to kill the key witness succeeds, and the charges against her drug lord husband are dropped. Montel visits Helena’s home and starts a fight as a ruse to plant a surveillance bug in her house. Montel is now optimistic about eventually putting the drug lord behind bars for good.
Notice how after the establishing paragraph there were nine paragraphs: three for each storyline, representing the three acts of each story. Each final paragraph shows the climax and the resolution. You’ll see that when you cut the number of main characters down to six, writing a complicated synopsis becomes a lot easier.
If you’re writing a work of fiction or memoir, the first all-important step is to simply
finish
the work. The entire book must be written and polished, because agents and editors will consider it for publication based primarily on how good the writing is. On the other hand, when you have a nonfiction project of any kind, you do
not
need to finish the book to sell it. In fact, even if you’re feeling ambitious and you knock out the entire text, finishing the book will not help you sell it, because all an editor really needs to see are several sample chapters that adequately portray what the rest of the book will be like. These chapters, coupled with your book proposal, are what you’ll use to sell the book.
A
book proposal
is a business plan that explains all the details of a nonfiction book. Since a nonfiction book project is not complete during the pitching stages, the proposal acts as a blueprint and diagram for what the finished product will look like. It also explains exactly how you will promote the book when the publisher releases it to the marketplace—authors are much more critical in promoting nonfiction books than they are in promoting novels. The proposal must prove to an agent that your book idea is a means to generate revenue—that customers will buy your worthwhile and unique product and that you have the means to draw in those customers.
“There are several factors that can help a book proposal’s ultimate prospects: great writing, great platform, or great information, and ideally all three,” says Ted Weinstein, founder of Ted Weinstein Literary Management. “For narrative works, the writing should be gorgeous, not just functional. For practical works, the information should be insightful, comprehensive, and preferably new. And for any work of nonfiction, of course, the author’s platform is enormously important.” We’ll tackle platform in the next chapter. But first, the ever-crucial proposal.
A book proposal is made up of several key sections that explain the book’s content, identify its markets, and give relevant information about the author. All of these important sections seek to answer one of the three main questions that every proposal must answer:
“Concerning how to write a compelling nonfiction book proposal: (1) Spill the beans. Don’t try to tantalize and hold back the juice. (2) No BS! We agents learn to see right through BS, or we fail rapidly. (3) Get published small. Local papers, literary journals, websites, anything. Why does everyone want to pole-vault from being an unpublished author to having a big book contract? It makes no sense. The more credits you have, the better. And list them all (although not to the point of absurdity) in your query.”
—Gary Heidt (Signature Literary Agency)
Every book proposal has several sections that allow the author to explain more about his book. Though you can sometimes vary the order of the sections, here are the major elements and suggested order.