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Writing the Synopsis
Copyright
© 1988 - 1999 Mary Watson (aka Lynn Turner)
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The synopsis is your #1 selling tool. For unpublished writers, a polished,
professionally written synopsis is at least as important as the manuscript
itself. Many editors (though certainly not all) read the synopsis first to find
out if the submission would be appropriate for their house or line. If the
synopsis is sloppy, incomplete, confusing or amateurishly written, chances are
the editor will decide not to bother reading the sample chapters.
The primary purpose of a synopsis is to tell the story. The synopsis
is the book, in condensed form. The writing style should be simple and
straightforward. Avoid flowery, overblown language and don't let yourself get
carried away describing the characters' motivations/reactions/emotions so that
you end up going off on a tangent. Use present tense, narrative form, and
present the events in chronological order. The synopsis should be written in
contemporary standard English, even if the story is set in some other time
period (historical, futuristic, sci-fi/fantasy, time travel). The focus should
be on communicating: what happens to whom, why, how, and the
consequences or results.
When writing a synopsis, keep in mind what an editor will be looking for when
she reads it -- the things she wants and needs to know:
1) What is the story about? (Basic story premise)
2) Is there a plot? Is it interesting? Well
developed? Plausible? Appropriate for her house or line? Does it rely on
contrived situations or too-convenient circumstance(s)?
3) Are the characters interesting? Well-developed? Realistic? Sympathetic? Cliched
stereotypes?
4) Is the central conflict plausible? Is it contrived? Is it internal or
external? Most romance editors still believe that internal is best for the
central conflict of a romance novel, but the best books have a good balance of
both internal and external conflicts. Ideally, the external conflict(s) should
complement the internal conflict(s).
5) Are all the various elements (conflicts, subplots) resolved before the end of
the book? (No loose ends.)
The synopsis you submit, with or without sample chapters, should be written
after the book is completed. You may have worked from an outline (not the
same thing as a synopsis), but chances are that by the time you finish writing
the ms, the story and/or characters will have changed to one degree or
another. Your original outline will no longer accurately reflect the tone, the
characters and/or the plot, so you have to start from scratch and describe the
finished product.
If you have trouble getting started, try this. Imagine that you've just read
this book and loved it. You have 10-15 minutes (1 minute = 1 page of
double-spaced synopsis) to tell a friend about it and make her want to read it,
too. Obviously, you don't have time to describe all the fascinating but minor
details. You must limit yourself to telling the story in a clean, clear,
economical way.
BRIEF character sketches are okay, though some editors consider them an
unnecessary waste of time (and I agree with those editors). If you use them,
don't give detailed physical descriptions of the characters. Editors take
it on faith that the hero and heroine of a romance novel will be reasonably
attractive people. Describing the heroine's lush breasts, long, silky blonde
hair, scarlet nail polish and designer wardrobe is not only a waste of time
(yours and the editor's), it also labels you an amateur. Ditto the hero's
rippling muscles, raven black hair and icy blue eyes.
If you decide to include character sketches, use them to provide info about
who the characters are, rather than what they look like: emotional problems/hangups,
motivations, etc. Only provide as much background as is necessary. If the fact
that the hero attended Yale doesn't contribute to the story or in some way help
define his personality, don't include it.
For the short (2-5 page) synopsis you submit with a query letter, take that
10-15 page synopsis you just created, cut the character sketches (if you used
them), and condense the rest. Focus on the romantic relationship and the story
(the plot) -- how does the one affect/propel the other?
One of the things editors and agents don't want to see in synopses is a plot
that relies on mechanical contrivance and/or convenient
coincidence. Contrivances can take many forms, but in general you should avoid
including any element or situation that seems wildly improbable. Of course we
all know that books with wildly improbable plots are published every month, but
those books require a level of writing skill great enough to make the reader
suspend her disbelief. An author with several successful books under her belt
can get away with things that are a big gamble for someone trying to make
that first sale.
Some examples of contrived and/or too-convenient plot elements:
Guest Stars -- Secondary characters who would not reasonably be expected
to suddenly appear on the scene. Usually they pop in for a page or two to
effect a solution, present information, and/or create a new problem/conflict,
and then they disappear, never to be seen or heard from again. The only reason
they showed up at all was because the author didn't bother to think things
through, from beginning to end, before she began to write the book.
Hidden Doors and Secret Passages -- Anything you included because you
discovered that you'd written yourself into a corner and couldn't think of any
other way out. This is also a result of poor advance planning.
Any Situation or Event that Defies the Laws of Physics or Nature, or that
contradicts a previously established fact. (Hurricanes in winter, a door that
was locked on the previous page suddenly standing open, etc.)
After you've completed the synopsis, analyze it. Read it carefully, from
beginning to end, and look for flaws and inconsistencies. Ask yourself about
things like coherence, flow, plausibility, motivations. Can the plot be
followed from beginning to end, without causing a migraine? Are the characters'
actions and reactions believable, or do they seem like neurotic idiots? Have
you followed through on all the things you promised or hinted at? When you've
finished reading, do you have a list of unanswered and unanswerable
questions? If you do, so will an editor.
A few basic rules for writing a synopsis:
#1 Never withhold important information. Don't make an editor play
guessing games about what you mean or what's happening. It's frustrating and
annoying. A synopsis is not a puzzle or a mystery to be solved. If you don't
provide the necessary information, at the appropriate time, an editor may not
finish reading the synopsis, much less move on to the sample chapters.
#2 Try not to put anything between the editor and the story. This includes:
irrelevant information and/or details; flowery, overblown purple prose; and,
usually, excerpts from the manuscript. (An exception to this would be if you're
submitting the first 3 chapters of a sensual romance, but those 3 chapters don't
include a sensual scene. It's probably a good idea to add a brief
sensual scene from later in the book at the end of the first 3 chapters, to show
the editor how you handle this type of scene.)
#3 Use the narrative form. Don't write from the characters'
viewpoints... and don't slip in lines of dialogue; it's
distracting. Keep events in chronological order to avoid confusion caused by
jumping back and forth between times/places.
Note about flashbacks: If the book includes flashbacks, don't slip into past
tense to describe them. Just say that at this point in the story the heroine
experiences a flashback to the time when....
#4 Don't include a paragraph of cover copy, or a "blurb," as it's
commonly known. This isn't the author's job, and some editors and agents
consider it amateurish. A brief "pitch" type paragraph at the beginning to
describe the story premise is fine, but this super-condensed thumbnail sketch
should not be written as a cover blurb.
Mary Watson aka Lynn
Turner has published with Harlequin and Pinnacle Books. Her book
A RACE AGAINST TIME was a Rita finalist.
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