Writing a synopsis is THE most important thing next to writing your masterpiece. A synopsis is your entire novel condensed into one or two pages. You'd be hard pressed to find a writer who enjoys doing them.
Personally - I can't stand them!
If you take short cuts on your synopsis you're pretty much history with your entire submission parcel. They need to be worked, reworked, polished, and repolished until they sparkle as much as your story.
So, how do we write a good one?
Think about picking up a novel from the shelf of your local bookstore. You read the back and you either think, 'Wow! That sounds great! Let me buy it!' or you think, 'Hmm, dreary, next one please'. It's the do or die selling point. When you write your synopsis try to keep this back of the book blurb in your mind.
Step One:
Break your manuscript down into chapters with a brief description of what happens in each. These will be your reference. Yes...you wrote the manuscript but even you, the author, can forget what went where and why. You can forget subtle nuances.
Step Two:
Choose the most important parts of the plot. Feature only the most important characters. Cut it down into the sections and opt for the major points that keep the story moving, unravelling, and grabbing your reader’s attention. True, you may have a great line spoken by a character that features only once on page 243, but that won't sell your submission to a publisher or agent. If your manuscript were human you're stripping away the flesh and revealing the skeleton. The foundation, what gives it the strength to stand on its own two feet, the backbone to everything. ALWAYS write your synopsis in the third person and NEVER in the first or second. Always write in the present tense and NEVER in the past. The first time you introduce your character - which should be at the beginning - do it capital letters. This alerts to publisher or agent to a main character. I also do this with main supporting characters introduced second to the main.
Step Three:
Go back to thinking about that do or die blurb on the book you picked up from the shelf. Some publishers like only a one page synopsis, others are more generous and stretch it to two. At this stage you want to basically write your own blurb with one very important difference. On a jacket blurb you don't give away the ending. On a synopsis you do. Leaving a publisher or agent hanging at the end of a synopsis does nothing but annoy them and send your submission to the slush pile. It shouts amateur.
Step Four:
What makes your main character/s someone another person wants to read about? What makes him or her unique? Why is their story an imperative one to tell? What inspires him or her to do the things he or she does? What leads him or her into taking the paths he or she takes? What makes the plot something another person wants to devote hours reading about? A synopsis is the place to reveal all these things in a concise and enthusiastic way.
Step Five:
You've done your best to condense the story but you've still got a four page synopsis? Now what? Sorry, you have to strip it down some more. Publishers and agents will not bend on submission guidelines. You've got one or two pages but you really want to grab attention fast and then hang on for dear life! Think snappy! Think wow! Think sell, sell, sell! You want someone to read that synopsis and HAVE to read the entire manuscript. Sometimes a synopsis can take days of blood, sweat, and tears - it can also take weeks. Don't rush this. If by chance you stumble on a publisher or agent who'll accept a longer synopsis, by all means write the extra pages if you can keep it gripping the entire way through. Keep in mind - the more pages you write, the more room there is for someone to zone off in 'ho hum' land.
Step Six:
Now it's down to that one or two pages! Time to review with an unbiased eye. If you read it as a blurb would you purchase your book? Answer this honestly. If the answer is no or maybe - it's not good enough to send with a submission. Rework it.
Step Seven:
It's completed and you're happy with it. No, not 'happy', over the moon with it! If you have someone you trust to read it for you and offer their opinion, do this. Only when you're 100% satisfied is it ready to part with.
NOTE: Be careful to make sure it's formatted to the submission guidelines. If you've slaved over a one page synopsis with single line spacing, and then you realise the guidelines state one page with double line spacing - oops!
TIPS: There are lots of good sites available if you Google 'How to write a synopsis'. You'll find 90% will describe a 'how to' in very similar ways because the rules on writing them are fairly strict. Some won't. Personally, I don't think a synopsis from a new writer is the place to push the boundaries. Stick with the tried and true methods - Publishing and Literary Agencies have been in the business for a long, long time. They know what they want and they also know there are thousands of new writers out there vying for their attention.
LASTLY: A brilliant synopsis does not guarantee you'll be asked to send your entire manuscript for consideration. Nor does a brilliant manuscript guarantee publication. It's a dog eat dog world out there and the best you can do is never to give up. If you get one rejection, or fifty, keep submitting. Perseverance is your best bet.
Source: http://www.ArticlePros.com/author.php?Zachary Sexton
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