They Say Three's the Charm, So Is Four the Winner?

Ah..the saga of "Over the Hill" (it's also going through a name change as we speak...for now, I'll call it "Sisterhood") continues. I wrote Sisterhood three times and it wasn't until the fourth time did I "get it." It read smoother, cut out a bunch of irrelevant information and "tightened it" so to speak. It was a killer, but I think it's good to go to this last agent that has requested the partial. So nervous.

And just when my nerves had settled down, I went into my synopsis (which I need to send to her along with the first three chapters) and I went, "Oh no!" The synopsis wasn't even finished. In fact, there were three files with three different synopsis' and I gotta tell you, it was like saying eenie, meenie, miney, moe as to which one was the one I had intended on going with. So, I picked up the third one and finished it. Only, I just wasn't comfortable with it. I wanted it in first person being as the book is in first person, but it just didn't have that zing for me.

I read where your synopsis is what the potential agent/editor/publisher/whatever uses to decide whether there is potential there. Your three chapters will tell what kind of a writing style you have, but that darn synopsis is the bait. Did my synopsis have a minnow on the end of its hook or was there a big ol' whale dangling there to gobble the big ol' agent/editor/publisher up in one gulp if she didn't accept it?

It wasn't even a minnow. I looked down and there was no bait at all.

I fretted about this all last night and into the morning. I've written this synopsis three times and you would think that three would be the charm, wouldn't you?

Think again.

I had my head in my hands and my eyes caught a piece of scrap paper on my desk that had the beginnings of a fantastic fourth synopsis. Only, it would have to be written in third person to make this stand out. Gotta be there.

I hemmed and hawwed and I thought, what is it about these couple of sentences that are grabbing me when the one I had finished didn't?

It had pizzazz. It read like the back cover of a book. It had excitement and might be the ticket.

Wait. Didn't I read that last night that someone had suggested doing just that?

Okay, I've got these two sentences and I'm raring to go. Third person it will have to be. They win. I go with the flow and hope the fourth one is the winner. Wish me luck. This is getting so old and a lot of work!