Novel synopsis for my website

[Forlorn Radiance]

My website is going live in a couple of weeks for a novel I have been working on. The front page will have a synopsis of my work on it. Right now it is rather short. Any advice on writing style, content, etc would be appreciated, so that it looks professional on my front page.


Set in the near future, a new online game, Eden, has hit the market. Mind Soft Corporation promises their new project to be a true utopia and refuge for mankind; where our dreams and ambitions can become reality.

What starts as virtual reality takes root and becomes something more-a parallel universe. With a parasitic hold on the real world, these two separate planes of existence collide in a struggle of addiction and autonomy as the real world falls into poverty due to an undermanned workforce. Degenerates from around the globe shape Eden in their own image, creating strife in the conflicting ideas of social structure, sexuality, religion, and politics.

[who_cares973]

sounds like something i want to read

[Forlorn Radiance]

Thanks for the support who_cares973. I've been working hard on this for a while now.

[who_cares973]

have an eta or is a couple weeks all you can say?

[Forlorn Radiance]

Depends when my webmaster gets a new harddrive to put the site up live. I'll give updates when it happens, but everything is at a standstill for the moment.

[Cavernio]

I like the synopsis a lot. As to whether I'd like the novel, well, I'll just have to see.

Question: Why are you posting it to a website? Are you actually publishing to the website such that you're going to get money or anything? Why not publish it the old-fashioned way, and you could seel e-versions of it?

[zolaric]

A story of that magnitude deserves a novel of comparable length. Too short a book will lack the necessary character and world development to make this an excellent book. Otherwise, really cool story you are working on. I'll definitely read it if it's long.

[PlayTrumpet]

Originally Posted by zolaric

A story of that magnitude deserves a novel of comparable length. Too short a book will lack the necessary character and world development to make this an excellent book. Otherwise, really cool story you are working on. I'll definitely read it if it's long.

This.

I would be amazed and proud (despite not knowing you) if you truly made this into a full length, well-written, revised and published novel - the synopsis appeals well to a good demographic. I don't know your background, so I may be overreaching, but I do look forward to whatever it is you're going to post.

[Cavernio]

Well now nothing to do with the OP now, but why does something have to be a full-lenghth novel to work out? The synopsis is just the setting...we have no idea who the characters are or what they are doing, or why this would need to be 'long'. Have you never read a good short story before? What about a novel that's only 20 000 words long? Some of the classics, like Catcher in the Rye for instance, is hardly novel length by todays standards.
Something that seems comparable to his setting, like Farenheit 451 (or whatever the number is) is based on a dystopic future, is well written (well I like it and the critics like it), but is quite short.

[sakura080789]

this seems awesome i want to read it

[Treia]

Originally Posted by Forlorn Radiance

What starts as virtual reality takes root and becomes something more-a parallel universe. With a parasitic hold on the real world, these two separate planes of existence collide in a struggle of addiction and autonomy as the real world falls into poverty due to an undermanned workforce. Degenerates from around the globe shape Eden in their own image, creating strife in the conflicting ideas of social structure, sexuality, religion, and politics.

You had me at "Hello,"

Well, not really, but still

[robertsona]

U Die In The Game.....U Die In Real Life....

[Treia]

I agree with zolaric. Considering the variety settings and scope of subject matter to be covered, it's hard to imagine this one without the length to contain meaningful character/world development, and character arcs.

But I also agree with Cavernio. There's no need for this to be a full length novel for it to be a rewarding read. All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Old Man and the Sea were relatively short novels that were fantastic, and I wouldn't wish for them to be any longer. Why? Because it all comes down to storytelling. How a story is told. Effective story telling is more important than format because effective storytelling in either format is needed for it to be enjoying, and gives us the sense of a journey when finished. So really, we just have to wait and see what Forlorn Radiance has in mind for the format, and see if his way of telling the story create the experience we're eager for.

[Cavernio]

Well now we're putting too much pressure on him...his novel just has to be awesome!

[zolaric]

Okay, I admit that I simply prefer really long books. I can become attached to the characters. Cavernio's right, of course; this would also make an interesting short story (but it would be short...).