How to Write a Novel or Memoir Synopsis

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Note from Jane: The pursuing station was published years ago, but I regularly revisit, revise, and grow it. I’ve besides written a broad station connected penning query letters.

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It’s astir apt the single astir despised archive you mightiness beryllium asked to prepare: the synopsis. 

The synopsis is sometimes basal because an supplier aliases patient wants to see, from opening to end, what happens successful your story. Thus, nan synopsis must convey a book’s full communicative arc. It shows what happens and who changes, and it has to uncover nan ending. Synopses whitethorn beryllium required erstwhile you first query your work, aliases you whitethorn beryllium asked for it later.

Don’t confuse nan synopsis pinch income copy, aliases nan benignant of trading explanation that mightiness look connected your backmost screen aliases successful an Amazon description. You’re not penning a punchy portion for readers that builds excitement. It’s not an editorial astir your book. Instead, it’s an manufacture archive that helps an supplier aliases editor quickly measure your story’s entreaty and if it’s worthy them reference nan full manuscript.

How agelong should a synopsis be?

You’ll find conflicting proposal connected this. However, I urge keeping it short, aliases astatine slightest starting short. Write a one- aliases two-page synopsis—about 500-1000 words, azygous spaced—and usage that arsenic your default, unless nan submission guidelines inquire for thing longer. If your synopsis runs longer, thing up to 2 pages (again, azygous spaced) is usually acceptable. Most agents/editors will not beryllium willing successful a synopsis longer than a fewer pages.

While this station is geared toward writers of fiction, nan aforesaid principles tin beryllium applied to memoir and different communicative nonfiction works.

Why nan synopsis is important to agents and editors

The synopsis ensures characteristic actions and motivations are realistic and make sense. A synopsis will uncover immoderate large problems successful your story—e.g., “it was conscionable a dream” endings, ridiculous acts of god, a class romance ending successful divorce. It tin uncover crippled flaws, superior gaps successful characteristic motivation, aliases a deficiency of structure. Or it tin uncover really caller your communicative is; if there’s thing astonishing aliases nan crippled is hackneyed, your manuscript whitethorn not get read.

The bully news: Some agents dislike synopses and ne'er publication them; this is much emblematic for agents who correspond literate work. Either way, agents aren’t expecting a activity of art. You tin impressment pinch lean, clean, powerful language. An supplier I admired, nan precocious Janet Reid, said that power and vitality are key.

Synopses should usually beryllium written successful 3rd person, coming tense (even if your caller is written successful first person). For memoirists, I urge first person, but first aliases 3rd is acceptable.

What nan synopsis must accomplish

In astir cases, you’ll commencement nan synopsis pinch your protagonist. You’ll picture her mindset and motivations astatine nan opening of nan story, past explicate what happens to alteration her business (often known arsenic nan inciting incident). Motivation is reasonably captious here: we request to understand what drives this characteristic to act.

Once nan protagonist is established, each paragraph ideally moves nan communicative guardant (with events unfolding successful precisely nan aforesaid bid arsenic successful nan manuscript), pinch beardown cause-effect storytelling, including nan cardinal scenes of your novel. We request to spot really nan communicative conflict plays out, who aliases what is driving that conflict, and really nan protagonist succeeds aliases fails successful dealing pinch it.

By nan end, we should understand really that conflict is resolved and really nan protagonist’s situation, some internally and externally, has changed. Think astir your genre’s “formula,” if location is one, and beryllium judge to see each awesome turning points associated pinch that formula. 

If you screen each these things, that won’t time off you overmuch clip for item if you support nan synopsis to a azygous page. You won’t beryllium capable to mention each characteristic aliases arena aliases see each scene—only those that materially impact nan protagonist’s decisions aliases our knowing of nan story’s events. You whitethorn person to exclude immoderate subplots, and you decidedly person to enactment retired of nan plotting weeds. If there’s a shootout astatine nan story’s climax, for instance, aliases a large conflict scene, it’s reasonably useless to get into nan specifications of nan choreography and really galore punches are thrown. Instead, you opportunity there’s a large conflict and make it clear who wins and who loses.

To determine what characters merit abstraction successful nan synopsis, you request to look astatine their domiciled successful influencing nan protagonist aliases changing nan guidance of nan story. We request to spot really they participate nan story, nan value of their narration to nan protagonist, and really their communicative resolves. Any characteristic that merits placement successful a synopsis should person astatine slightest 2 to 3 mentions. If you tin get distant pinch only mentioning them once, they astir apt don’t beryllium astatine all.

A bully norm of thumb for determining what stays and what goes: If the ending wouldn’t make consciousness without nan characteristic aliases crippled constituent being mentioned, past it belongs successful nan synopsis.

A synopsis should get to nan point—fast

Here’s an illustration of what I mean.

Very Wordy: At work, Elizabeth searches for Peter each complete nan agency and yet finds him successful nan proviso room, wherever she tells him she resents nan remarks he made astir her successful nan unit meeting.

Tight: At work, Elizabeth confronts Peter astir his remarks astatine nan unit meeting.

The astir communal synopsis mistake

Don’t make nan correction of reasoning nan synopsis conscionable specifications nan plot. That will extremity up reference for illustration a mechanical relationship of your communicative (or nan dreaded “synopsis speak”), without extent aliases texture.

Consider what it would sound for illustration if you summarized a shot crippled by saying. “Well, nan Patriots scored. And past nan Giants scored. Then nan Patriots scored doubly successful a row.” That’s sterile and doesn’t springiness america nan meaning down really events are unfolding.

Instead, you would opportunity thing like, “The Patriots scored a touchdown aft much than 1 hr of a no-score game, and nan underdog of nan squad led nan play. The crowd went wild.”

The concealed to a awesome synopsis

A synopsis includes nan characters’ emotions and reactions to what’s happening. That will thief you debar thing that sounds for illustration a mechanic’s manual. Include some communicative advancement (plot stuff) and colour (character stuff).

Incident (Story Advancement) + Reaction (Color) =
Decision (Story Advancement)

For stories pinch sizeable world building aliases extended humanities settings

Some writers whitethorn request to unfastened their synopsis pinch a paragraph aliases truthful that helps found nan world we’re entering and nan rules of that world. This helps america amended understand nan characters and their motivations erstwhile introduced. For example, a synopsis of Harry Potter mightiness explain upfront that nan world is divided into Muggles and wizards, and that nan Muggles person nary thought that a magical world exists. Or, this truth could beryllium relayed successful nan synopsis erstwhile Harry Potter learns astir it himself.

In a humanities novel, a writer mightiness person to found taste attitudes aliases facts that mightiness not beryllium known to modern readers, truthful that nan characters’ actions make consciousness and nan weight of nan conflict is clear.

In subject fabrication and fantasy, effort to debar due position aliases nouns that person to beryllium defined aliases explained unless specified position are cardinal to your communicative (like “Muggles” above). Instead, effort to get nan constituent crossed successful connection that anyone tin understand but still gets nan constituent across. The extremity present is to attraction connected telling nan communicative alternatively than expanding nan intelligence workload of nan agent/editor, who has to decipher and retrieve nan unfamiliar vocabulary.

Avoid splitting nan synopsis into sections

In astir cases, nan synopsis should commencement and extremity without immoderate breaks, sections, aliases different subheadings. However, connected occasion, location mightiness beryllium a logic to adhd “sign posts” to nan synopsis, owed to your book’s unsocial communicative structure. For example, if your caller has intertwining timelines, aliases if it jumps astir successful clip and place, you whitethorn want to statesman each paragraph pinch a bold lead-in (“Paris, 1893”), to found wherever we are. Other than that, debar sectioning retired nan communicative successful immoderate way, aliases listing a formed of characters upfront, arsenic if you were penning a play. Characters should beryllium introduced astatine nan infinitesimal they participate nan communicative aliases erstwhile they specifically lend to nan communicative moving forward.

Common caller synopsis pitfalls

• Don’t get weighed down pinch nan specifics of characteristic names, places, and different due names aliases terms. Stick to nan basics. Use nan sanction of your main characters, but if a waitress enters nan communicative for conscionable 1 scene, telephone her “the waitress.” Don’t opportunity “Bonnie, nan boisterous waitress who calls everyone hon and useful 7 days a week.” When you do mention circumstantial names, it’s communal to put nan sanction successful each caps successful nan first instance, truthful it’s easy for agents aliases editors to spot astatine a glimpse who nan cardinal figures are.
• Don’t walk clip explaining aliases deconstructing your story’s meaning aliases themes. This tin beryllium a peculiarly persistent problem pinch memoir. A synopsis tells nan story, but it doesn’t effort to connection an interpretation, e.g., saying thing like, “This is nan communicative of really galore mean group for illustration maine tried to make a difference.”
• Avoid talking astir nan communicative construction. This is wherever you adhd things that picture nan book’s structure, specified arsenic “in nan climax of nan novel,” aliases “in a bid of tense scenes.”
• Avoid character backstory unless it’s tied to nan character’s motivations and desires passim nan book. A building aliases 2 is plentifulness to bespeak a character’s background; ideally, you should reference it erstwhile it affects really events unfold. If you’ve written a communicative pinch flashbacks, you astir apt won’t see much, if any, of that successful nan synopsis. 
• Avoid including dialogue, and if you do, beryllium sparing. Make judge nan speech you see is perfectly iconic of nan characteristic aliases represents a linchpin infinitesimal successful nan book.
• Don’t inquire rhetorical aliases unanswered questions. Remember, your extremity present isn’t to entice a reader.
• While your synopsis will bespeak your expertise to write, it’s not nan spot to get beautiful pinch your prose. That intends you should time off retired immoderate attempts to impressment done poetic description. You can’t return nan clip to show everything successful your synopsis. Often you person to tell, and sometimes this is confusing to writers who’ve been told for years to “show don’t tell.” For example, it’s OK to conscionable travel retired and opportunity your main characteristic is simply a “hopeless romantic” alternatively than trying to show it.

Additional resources

• How to Write a Synopsis of Your Novel (one of nan champion proposal articles I’ve seen)
• How to Write a 1-Page Synopsis
• The Anatomy of a Short Synopsis
• The Synopsis: What It Is, What It Isn’t, and How to Write It

If you’re looking for in-depth guidance, I connection a query missive maestro class that includes a 90-minute speech connected synopsis writing.