I’d rather have a root canal

By Joe Moore

The dreaded synopsis. It’s the nasty part of writing fiction that everyone hates. After all, if someone wants to know what your book is about, just read it. Right? The synopsis is right up there with getting a root canal. It’s painful and taxing. But it’s also a fact of life that you’re going to have to produce one sooner or later. Especially if you’re a first-time author. Most writers feel that creating a synopsis is harder than actually writing the book. I agree.

Clare touched on it with her July post. Here’s another look at the task we love to hate.

dentist So what is a synopsis?

It’s taking your book’s 80,000 to 120,000 words and condensing them down to a few pages—a brief description of what your book is about. Imagine draining 99.9% of a human body away and still convey the person’s looks, thoughts and personality. A daunting task at best.

How do you get the job done? First, start by accepting the fact that you have to do it. In order to successfully market your new book, you must be able to tell the story in just a few paragraphs or pages. Barring any unusual submission requirements for a particular agent or publisher, a formal synopsis usually runs a page or two. A great time to write your synopsis is as you do your final read-through before declaring mission accomplished—that the book is done. As you finish reading each chapter, write a paragraph or two describing what happened in that chapter—what was the essence of the chapter as it relates to character, motivation and plot. Keep it short such as: Bob and Mary met for the first time. She thought he was a bore. He thought she was self-centered. They had no choice but to work together.

Also be aware of any emotional threads running through the chapter; love, hate, revenge, etc. and make note of them. But always keep it short.

Once you’ve finished the read-through of your manuscript and making subsequent notes for your synopsis, you will have created a chapter-by-chapter outline. (Don’t you wish you had had it before you began writing your book?) So what you’ve done is condense your manuscript into a manageable overview that hits on all the important points dealing with character development and plot. And it contains the emotional threads that make up the human aspect of your story.

Next step: read your chapter-by-chapter outline and determine the most important elements in your story. If you’ve correctly noted what each chapter contains regarding character, plot, and emotions (motivations), it shouldn’t take too many reads to determine the items that were critical in moving the story forward. Again, keep this new set of notes short and simple.

Even after you’ve completed this task, your fledgling synopsis is probably too long and a bit disjointed. So what you have to do next is blend all the key points together into a short narrative. Here’s one way to do it. Imagine that it’s your job to write the cover blurb that goes on the back of your book. You need it to contain enough information that anyone reading it will become interested in reading the whole book. Begin with your main character and the crisis that she faces. Explain why your character behaves as she does. Touch on the main elements that moved the story forward by referring to your chapter-by-chapter list of events. Always make clear what’s at stake—reveal the “story question”. Remember that you have to tell the whole story in the synopsis. Unlike a real cover blurb where there are no spoilers, the synopsis is going to an agent or editor. You must tell them how the story ends. This is no time to be coy. Tell it all.

A synopsis is a selling tool. It must tell your story in a very short amount of words and still get across the essence of the tale. But even more important, it must show that you can write—it is an example of your skill and craftsmanship. It confirms that you know what your story is about and can express emotion. That you understand plot and character development and human motivation.

What a synopsis is not is the classic elevator pitch or the TV Guide one-sentence description. Instead, it’s the distilled, condensed soul of your book in a few paragraphs.

So, you writers out there—do you enjoy writing a synopsis? Any additional tips on getting through the task without slitting your wrists? Once you’ve been published, does your publisher still require a synopsis before they issue a contract on your next book? If so, do you stick to the synopsis or does the end product differ from the original?

17 thoughts on “I’d rather have a root canal

  1. Thanks for this. You do synopses almost exactly the way I do, except I have the chapter outline before I write the book. I condense those down to a sentence each, then pick from four to six pivotal events in the story as fence posts on which to hang the rest of the synopsis. Everything else can be left out; all I’m looking for is what’s absolutely necessary to get from one fencepost to the next. It’s hard to leave out some of the more entertaining character relationships and subplots, but if I only have a page or two, they have to go.

  2. Good advice, Joe. I call a synopsis “back cover copy on steroids.” I have an Appendix in Plot & Structure that guides in the writing of back cover copy, which can then be slightly expanded. The old advertising maxim “Sell the sizzle, not the steak” applies to synopses.

    I advocate going from logline to back cover, at the very least, up front, before writing. Otherwise, there is just too much chance the structure will be weak. I do more outlining than that, using the index card system. After you finish the novel, you can tweak the synopsis as needed.

    I spoke to a long time bestselling writer recently who said he knocks out a couple of chapters and a short synopsis, sends it to his publisher, gets the green light, then throws out the synopsis and writes whatever he wants.

  3. I too model my synopsis as an expanded back cover copy. I had to do a synopsis before every book, but sometimes I veered away from them quite a bit. I think they’re a way for a publisher to get a general sense of the the story you’re trying to write, and raise any major objections early, if needed.

  4. I’d love to do my synopsis after the book is done, but my publisher wants to see a synopsis for the next book before I even start it. I think doing it that way is exponentially harder, but many times it’s necessary to sell your next project.

  5. Wow, thanks for this post! I’ve been covering this same topic on my writer’s blog for the past week and it’s nice to see others struggle with the same things.

    I don’t have a surefire way to write a synop, I just sit down and try to summarize my book by mentioning all the highlights. I’ve yet to complete a successful one.

    But this helps!

  6. Thanks for the comments. Writing a synopsis is not one of the most exciting parts of our jobs, but I’ve found that among other things, going through the exercise will definitely help solidify your story, even to the point of helping you make needed revisions.

  7. I quite like doing the synopsis in some ways as it helps focus my mind on what the book will actually look like. That being said, inevitably, as soon as I start writing it, I veer off like a deranged driver.

  8. There’s one publisher I’ve submitted to that asks for a chapter by chapter synopsis. I find that’s really helped me write better general synopses too.

  9. Hi Joe, I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve shared your advice on a couple of sites I frequent. I felt that your insight was really great and it may help others who aren’t a follower of your blog.

    You can see what I posted here:

    Zoetrope

    and here:

    WEbook

  10. Ugh…did someone say synopsis?

    Helpful post! VERY helpful! Thanks for posting about this. Also thnaks James for reminding me you have a section on it in your book.

  11. Good post, Joe. While I’m not exactly enamored with writing a synopsis, I don’t dread it, either. It really is just an expanded back-cover blurb. Even the overheated back-cover adjectives can be used in the synopsis’ wrapup sentence.

    My first novel is being published next year by a small traditional press, and while I had a two-page synopsis ready to go, the publisher only wanted a paragraph or two. So I painted the story with a broad brush, speaking mostly in generalities, while peppering it with specific character names and a couple of the novel’s major events.

  12. I actually have a question. When you’re writing a novel that is based on time travel and the story is taking place in multiple time periods, how do you craft the synopsis?

    If you do a chapter by chapter summary, you’re going to be bouncing back and forth between those different eras.

    How would you do this?

  13. Dawn, good question. Even though time travel can make any story more complex, I would still approach it the same by simply describing what happens. Assuming that the publisher is Science Fiction, they are accustomed to time travel and all it plotting issues.

  14. Thanks Joe for your advice. After receiving some feedback on the format of my novel, I went back and divided it into three parts. Part one – ancient times, part two – more modern times and part three – present.

    It reads easier to me, but presents a problem if an agent asks for the first three chapters. They are only getting a small part of the story.

    So the synopsis would allow me to remedy that. To tell the whole story without bouncing back and forth. Maybe.

    Thanks again!

  15. “It reads easier to me, but presents a problem if an agent asks for the first three chapters.”

    Remember that an agent usually requests 2-3 sample chapters (1) to see if you can write, (2) to see if the book has a grab, (3) or they simply don’t have time to read more unless the first to points are positive. Also remember that if an agent would be confused in the first 2-3 chapters, so would a reader. Good luck.

Comments are closed.