The Synopsis Treasury (24 page)

Sara Douglass

(photo by A. Jennings)

Sara Douglass was born in Penola in South Australia, and moved to Adelaide when she was seven. She spent her early working life as a nurse before completing three degrees at the University of Adelaide. After receiving a PhD in early modern English history, Sara worked as Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at La Trobe University in Bendigo. Her debut novel,
BattleAxe
, was published at this time, which became a finalist in the Australian-based Aurealis Awards and launching her career as an internationally successful fantasy author. She left the university in 2000. She passed away in 2011.

The following letters and synopses represent my first successful attempt to get published within the fantasy genre in 1994, and my most recent sale of a series in 2001. There’s not a great deal of difference between them, save that by 2001 I had a word processing programme with a spell check on it!

In 1994 I was determined to give publishing one final go. I’d been sending fiction manuscripts off to publishers for about 12 years by this stage, with no success (I’d had non-fiction published, but not fiction). Then, in 1994, I started to write a fantasy book I called
BattleAxe
(this has been published as
The Wayfarer Redemption
in the USA); this became Book I of a series called The Prophecy of the Destroyer (later changed to The Axis Trilogy). After so many rejections, I decided to give
BattleAxe
the best possible chance I could. So I submitted it to a literary agent, Jenny Darling, who then ran the Melbourne office of Australian Literary Management. Jenny had been really kind in responding to several letters (alluded to in the letters included in this treasury), so I was fairly hopeful that she might take on this book.

You’ll note from the synopsis that I had envisioned four books in this series. In the end, HarperCollins Publishers, who picked up the series, only wanted three of them, so the fourth was never written (the six books in the USA are a combination of this original trilogy and a later one). I was very conscious with this synopsis (which ALM eventually sent on to the publisher) that I needed to keep it brief, and that the last thing I needed to do was to bore everyone to tears by trying to give a blow by blow account of the storyline. What I wanted was to try to get the synopsis on one page only. Both agents and editors only have limited amounts of time to devote to every new proposal that passes across their desks. I’m actually amazed that this synopsis actually fits quite well the books as they were eventually written—maybe that’s because I kept it so vague.

In 2001 I’d left Australian Literary Management and was representing myself within Australia. By this time I’d formed a very close relationship with HarperCollins Publishers and sent my latest project directly to Linda Funnell, the senior commissioning editor for fiction. Again I kept the letter fairly brief, but the synopsis itself had grown to about nine pages. By this time I had enough of a reputation with HarperCollins Publishers to think I could hold their attention for that long. I had devised a new series based on the history of London called
The Troy Game
about which I was very excited. This synopsis bears very little relation to how the series has actually turned out. Unlike with The Axis Trilogy, which I was halfway through before I tried to sell it, I hadn’t actually started to write the books of The Troy Game before I sold the series. To be honest, I have no idea if Linda ever read the synopsis; a few months after we’d signed the contract I’d decided to shift the dates of a couple of the books (from Gothic London to Anglo-Saxon London, from nineteenth-century London to London of World War II) and asked Linda over a glass of wine whether or not she minded. She just laughed, took another sip of wine, and said she really didn’t care at all!

I was very proud of the opening section of the synopsis, and HarperCollins Publishers liked it also, later using it word for word in their promotional flyers on the series.

I always find synopses tough to write, particularly if I haven’t actually started to write the series. But my philosophy has always been that for a new publisher with whom I have yet to build a relationship, I keep the synopsis brief. I give them an idea of style and of content, and that’s it. For a publisher with whom I have worked for a while, and who I know will bother to read past page one, I can be a bit more expansive. Similarly covering letters. I keep them brief. I know what it is like sitting on the other side of the desk and having to wade through pages and pages of letters promising the earth. I try not to make promises. I try to be to the point.

And I try to make sure I have a word processing programme with a spell checker!

—Sara Douglass

29 April 1994

Dear Ms Darling,

I wrote to Australian Literary Management about a year ago when I was thinking of trying to sell some Mills & Boon style romances and you wrote me a helpful letter regarding your services. I did try Mills & Boon with one of the manuscripts and while they thought the manuscript was quite fluently written, they felt the plot was a little complicated for their purposes. Nothing daunted I decided to follow the maxim that you should ‘always write the book that you would like to read but cannot find on the bookshelves’ and have just completed another novel (the first of a series of three) called
BattleAxe
. I have attached a synopsis, but have discussed the book more thematically rather than try to give a blow by blow account of the plot which would take too long.

I have moved completely away from light romance and have combined two genres that have always fascinated me—historical adventure and fantasy. It is basically a medieval adventure set in another world, more Mary Stewart and Marion Zimmer Bradley than Tolkien. I wonder if you would care to read it with a view to representing me; I believe from your previous letter that you provide a service without commenting on the manuscript for about $20 (although I should warn you that the manuscript is currently some 780 pages long—double spaced).

I currently have a publishing contract with E.J. Brill in Leiden which requires me to give them first refusal on my next book (I have a book on the Grand Tour coming out with them about September), but seeing as Brill are scholarly publishers I doubt they would want to see this (would they?). I have sundry articles published or about to be published on aspects of travel in medieval and early modern Europe but as yet have to publish any fiction. Hopefully,
BattleAxe
might break the drought.

I do hope you would like to read the book,

Yours sincerely,

Dr Sara Warneke

9 May 1994

Dear Ms Darling,

Thank you for replying so promptly to my letter. Enclosed is the manuscript of
BattleAxe
, which includes maps and a glossary. Although I have proof read the manuscript four times I am sure that some typographical errors remain, so I apologize in advance for any inconsistencies in expression or understanding (please let me know if any pages are missing). Enclosed also is a cheque for $20.

I have to admit that I’m surprised that even one Australian publisher would be interested in this sort of manuscript, I thought it would have more chance of success with one of the British or American publishers who tend to specialize in this type of writing.

Thank you for agreeing to read the manuscript, I sincerely hope you like it.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Sara Warneke

The Prophecy of the Destroyer

The Prophecy of the Destroyer will take four books to unfold: 1)
BattleAxe
; 2)
Enchanter
; 3)
StarMan
4)
WolfStar
. This is a synopsis of the events of Book I:
BattleAxe
. A copy of The Prophecy itself is attached.

In Book 2,
Enchanter
, Axis is trained by his father to become an Icarii Enchanter, the most powerful that has ever existed. Achar itself will be riven by civil war between the armies of Axis and Borneheld as Axis tries to unite the Acharites, Icarii and Avar under one command to drive Sathanas back. The book will end with the defeat of Borneheld’s forces and the death of Borneheld himself (now King of Achar after he poisons Priam). Axis now controls both the Acharite and the Icarii peoples and has declared the ancient land of Tencendor, but the Avar remain very reluctant to join him. After two long years Faraday and Axis finally meet, but their reunion propels Timozel into his dreadful alliance with Sathanas.

This book will also see the emergence of the character of the Enchantress, the woman who will come between Axis and Faraday.

Book 3,
StarMan
, tells of the further development of Axis from
Enchanter
into
StarMan
(the Icarii religion centres on worship of the stars), the growth of Faraday from the human woman she once was into a strange being who can bring the Avar and the forest itself behind Axis in order to cement the alliance needed to defeat Sathanas. Finally, after Timozel’s treachery bears its dreadful fruit,
StarMan
will tell of the final encounter between the armies of Axis and Sathanas and the two brothers themselves. Although Axis will eventually defeat Sathanas, it will be at a dreadful cost, as the
Prophecy of the Destroyer
implies.

Book 4,
WolfStar
, tells of the reason behind the Prophecy. WolfStar is one of the ancient Enchanter-Talons who has come back through the Star Gate; i.e. come back from death. He tells of a dreadful threat that is coming across the universe, travelling towards the Star Gate itself. WolfStar is ancient, and is the one who originally wrote the Prophecy of the Destroyer. The purpose of the Prophecy was to find himself a champion powerful enough to help him counter the threat that is travelling across the stars towards Tencendor. This book tells of the final battle to save Tencendor from a threat even more dreadful than Sathanas.

Sunday, 11 March 2001

Dear Linda,

Enclosed is the synopsis of my proposed quartet, The Troy Game, together with a brief history of the Game. Although the four books stretch over three thousand years, they are tied together by the use of the same small group of characters, so enmeshed in the Game they are reincarnated age after age in order to play the Game through to its conclusion. I hope you like it—I’ve been jumping up and down in enthusiasm ever since I came across some cryptic references to the Troy Game a couple of weeks ago. Since then I’ve done an initial investigation … and realized that while all the information about the Troy Game in London’s history is there no one has yet put it all together in a coherent fashion. Of course, I can’t resist the challenge.

I intend the quartet to be a historical fantasy, but a historical fantasy where it will be all but impossible for the reader to determine where the fact ends and the fantasy starts (unlike
The Crucible
, where the fantasy is clearly distinguishable). The Troy Game should appeal to readers of fantasy, of historical fiction, and to the readers of New Age material, wanting to discover an alternative to otherwise mundane explanations of history.

I hope you’re as excited about this project as I am,

Best wishes,

Sara Warneke

P.S. The four books are as yet unnamed

The Troy Game Synopsis
© Sara Douglass Enterprises 2001

Every day millions of children worldwide play hopscotch. Every morning and evening hundreds of thousands of commuters use London’s railway and road systems. Deep in the highlands of Wales isolated shepherds cut strange symbols into the turf in order to protect their flocks.

These otherwise totally unrelated groups are all unwitting participants in the same activity.

They are playing the Troy Game.

1100 BC: For decades Trojan refugees have scattered across the Mediterranean lands, fleeing the aftermath of the destruction of Troy. Now Brutus, great grandson of Aeneas, is gathering together groups of refugees in order to lead them to a new land, and to establish a new Troy. He means to sail his fleet westwards, beyond the Pillars of Hercules, to the almost mythical island of giants: Albion.

With him, Brutus carries the Troy Game, a combination of religious mystery and military strategy that had been used to defend Troy (see the separate section on the history of the Troy Game). Brutus intends to use the Game’s power to establish the foundations of a new Troy—Troia Nova—the city we now know as London.

What Brutus does unwittingly is to unleash the full, horrific power of the Troy Game. The four books of The Troy Game follow the path of the Game for almost three thousand years from its establishment on the northern banks of the Thames in 1100 BC to the final play of the Game in Victorian London. It follows the fortunes of a small group of characters—the monstrous Asterion (the Minotaur), the Trojan leader Brutus, his wife Imogene, his lover Adriene (half-sister to Asterion), his captain Corineus, and several Celtic Druids—as they become so enmeshed in the Game that they are forcibly reincarnated through successive ages in order to play it through to its conclusion.