A Brief Outline of Ambrosia?

Ambrosia? is my most recent novel. As you can read below, it contains many of the ideas in this site. It's my third full-lenth work but so far only my articles have been accepted. It's been hard to submit work from abroad and there was an errant UK business centre that didn't even submit one of the books at all! But, computers solve the submission problems and Ambrosia? is the best thing I've written - so expect to see it soon!

The plot begins with the death of a rich London eccentric (known as The Mother) and the reading of her will. She leaves her children half a million pounds each in three months time on the condition that they can convince the housekeeper they're truly happy - if even one fails then the whole amount goes to The Camden Stray Cats' Mission. The problems immediately become apparent.

     There's only one daughter (who loves cats), the other eleven were unrelated misfits, drawn to The Mother's nurturing personality and were possibly the unhappiest people in London. Just three still live at home, the rest have drifted away, so the narrator (Dominic) and two 'daughters' set off to trace them.

     As they travel round the country, the plot develops when it's slowly revealed that Dominic's being treated for depression, but has a novel idea of how to effect a cure (which he thinks might be a panacea for universal happiness), but it doesn't quite have the expected result. He's also confused by the uanswered questions:

• What were The Mother's real motives, in adopting strangers and being so obsessed with happiness?
• How will the housekeeper define 'happiness' and what was the true relationship to her employer?
• Why was the locked room forbidden?
• Is there a reason that photographs of their benefactor don't exist older than ten years?
• Was it Chantelle who wrote the strange book he recently found, which hypnotises him with its lyrical, though ambiguous, musings of how to find happiness, and when he finds her will she have the missing second part, will it be clearer - and can it save them all?

In the sub-plot, a leading character (Karen) is employed by Kite, Britain's largest soft drink manufacturer and competitor of Pepso, where her patronising father works. In a bid to upstage him she devises new publicity and sponsorship deals for Kite in the situation of each heir they locate, and - though each scheme eventually turns sour and returns to torment her - she finds an unforseen peace.

     The story has an unexpected ending as a comment on modern corporate sponsorship. Plus the meaning of life itself.

Well, that's the outline, I'm still sending it to people, maybe by the time you read this it'll be on the shelves. But if you're a publisher, or know someone... who might want to... you know, see it, well... feel free to... you know.

     Below is a sample marketing letter that I use to try and sell the manuscript. It;'s my fourth novel - so I really am a struggling writer!

I am writing to inquire if business name heremight consider either publish or represent here my third novel: Ambrosia? I’m enclosing a brief outline and, as you will see, it’s really about our desire for happiness - as are all novels essentially, though not quite as mine.

     Yesterday I used the on-line book company Amazon to search the key word happiness and it returned with 1475 hits. Titles included: The Art of Happiness; Absolute Happiness etc, and many were bestsellers. They were all non-fiction, but I think people buy novels in the line of what resonates with or mirrors their lives. Every life is about searching for happiness and each of us ponders questions concerning it. All people look within and without for it and everything we ever plan or do is towards that end in some way. As finding contentment concerns us all then I’m guessing the potential readership may be large.

     In certain respects Ambrosia? reminds me of two well-known books. Although my work doesn’t cover classical ideas like Sophie’s world, nor does it read as a fairytale, it does have a similar light feel and accessibility. Also Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance comes to mind, though I think my project flows easily from start to finish as the ideas/speculations are woven into the fictional plot rather than explained in-between true-life reminiscences. Ambrosia? also has a humorous side, and over the course of the story the reader watches as two very different characters reverse their personalities due to their changing perception of what happiness is, and where.

     I’m 28 and have been writing for ten years. In England, I had two offers to publish psychology/self-improvement non-fiction, but one was dropped due to (my) poor photography, the other when the list was cut. I returned to college to pass in English and photography, then shortly after left the country.

     I traveled Asia researching religion and meditation, then went to Perth where I worked for Nova, western Australia’s largest selling alternative newspaper, where I covered New Age/psychology articles to a different theme each month. I returned to Asia and completed two novels, which were difficult to submit due to distance and an errant U.K. business center.

     These problems are now solved as I work entirely on computers and handle my own correspondence. After writing Ambrosia? I spent a considerable time reading the techniques of fiction - then completely rewrote it. Now it’s the first thing I’m truly happy with - hence I need a publisher/agent

     I intend to raise interest in my work by being very accessible via the Internet. I’m currently working on a web page concerning the ideas contained in my book and also their development in the novel I am about to begin. I plan to publicize the site with reciprocal links to related pages and search engines. Because it offers the genuine benefit of practical and original ideas with links I’ll constantly update, I shall also promote it with press-releases to suitable print-publications. If any electronic publishers carry my work, I’ll obviously link to those too. Most electronic-sellers, such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble, allow authors to leave blurb about their books. I was surprised to find so few writers bothering, I certainly will. I’d like to publish my work under a pen name and include an e-mail address to correspond with readers. If it were well received, I’d possibly advertise scheduled chats via the home page.

     I’m an avid diarist and always have been. Over my travels I’ve filled them with research, but also my own ideas and discoveries - new ideas that work - concerning psychology, self-improvement, even religion in some ways - but mostly who we are and who we can be. These ideas can become fiction and non-fiction, the kind of fresh, inner-thought-provoking work that is so popular in these new and searching times.

     In June, the web page will be finished and I’ll start work on my fourth novel. Ambrosia? is in England and if you think it may be suitable it shall be dispatched as three chapters, synopsis and S.A.E. I hope you are able to consider my project and I look forward to your reply.

Other Promotional material written afterwards

Audience/readership

This is a work of fiction - with a little extra. I think the readers of Ambrosia? would be the type of people who enjoyed the originality and thought-inspiring qualities of 'Sophie's World', or the depth of 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance'.

The Author

Ambrosia? (my third novel) is 70,000 words and completed. I am a full-time writer and have spent the last six months working on my web site 'The Happiness Hike' at www.stymoi.cjb.net. It contains many of the ideas/methods pursued by the main character in the novel. These are original and unpublished elsewhere. AOL, Hotbot and The Netscape Centre have included the site in their directories and the hits so far are +4000. People keep e-mailing me to ask where they can buy the book!

     Both the site and the novel contain practical techniques of achieving moment-to-moment happiness and are gleamed from a life-long quest to banish depression. Currently I'm writing the site as a non-fiction book proposal, which may be titled 'Quantum Happiness'. Also, I intend to angle the different ideas as articles in various media to support the proposal.

     I've limped a very uneven road to find a technique of happiness that works. Now I've arrived, I'm on a kind of mission to spread the good news.

     My motto is simply: Yes!

UPDATE: Well, it was a while since I wrote this. The following is an e-mail from Michael Gutteridge with some useful advice on how this query could have been improved. He's probably right as it never did see a printing press. I'll have to use all the advice for the next query!

Dear JSL,

I came to your Happiness Hike web site, via the New Writer's Network whilst looking for potential publishers for a large, non-fiction work I've just finished writing, and after looking around it for a while, noticed your submission letter regarding your novel Ambrosia? and felt I just had to write to offer some hopefully potentially helpful opinions, in relation to that.

You sound like a very nice, kindly person, so I hope I do not upset you with my opinions, but to be frank, I don't think your submission letter as it stands is as good as it could be. If you get a copy of The Writer's And Artist's Yearbook (2003) there is a good chapter on page 237 called 'The Do's And Don'ts Of Approaching A Publisher' which gives very good advice on what exactly to include in a preliminary letter to a publisher, and also, of course, what not to include. It's well worth tracking down and reading.

My suggestions regarding your submit letter (generally in the context of the info in Writers & Artists) are:

1) Shorten it by cutting out lots of the detail, especially about yourself personally and your life story . Publishers are busy people and to them such information is not really relevant to what is essentially a business communication. If you really feel it is imporant for them to know something of your background, keep it succinct and restrain it to a single paragraph perhaps headed BIOGRAPHY.

2) One exception to the above is the details regarding your previous writing success with the Australian New Age magazine. This is the kind of information publishers DO want to hear about, it being relevant to the business they are in, and so such a success is a good card to play in your favour. Consequently, personally, I would move elements of that particular paragraph nearer to the opening of the letter as part of a general, but brief, introduction of yourself. Not the first paragraph (which stands okay as it is) but maybe the second. Remember, impressions are often made in the first few seconds of any encounter and so once you have lodged the idea in the mind of the reader that you are a professional writer, it will sway and influence their judgement as they read through the rest of the letter, making information contained in any subsequent paragraphs enhanced in its light. Similar in theory, perhaps, to your ideas about quantam happiness.

3) The information you give regarding your novel contain too much detail of the sort that publishers don't necessarily want to know about and not enough of the sort of detail they do. For example, you don't have to sell them on the saleability of books about happiness, or at least not as excessively as you have. (Most already have a clear idea of what they are looking for.) What they do want to know about however, is such things as the length of the novel (word count etc), genre, brief outline of plot etc. the market it is aimed for (this could be when you mention (briefly) about the popularity of books on happiness.) More detailed information about these matters can be included in a synopsis, yet whether such a thing should always be included with a preliminary letter when a publisher hasn't requested it, is a debatable point. The Writer's & Artist's book recommends briefly mentioning that either sample chapters, a synopsis, or the full novel, are available on request. However, some publishers prefer a synopsis to be included in the initial approach to them.

4) I think references to your web site and willingness to promote your work, is helpful and may help sway a publisher slightly; yet, as mentioned above, the stuff after it about being an avid diarist etc, is not really the kind of information a publisher wants to hear about. At the end of the day, a publisher is a businessman, and the business he is in is selling books and it's to that end that he wants the corrspondence to him to relate to. Not very idealistic, but that's the world!

Well, there is some of my ideas. I hope (and this is the motive for me sending this email) they will be useful in increasing the likelihood of your novel being published. If it already has been, then forget everything I've just said!

As for happiness! Hey JSL, unhappiness is a part of life, why not just accept that? And remember, for a perfectionist, things are always in a bad way.

The search for happiness, The seeking of happiness, The craving for happiness, That's the problem.

Best wishes,

Michael Gutteridge

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