Writing a literary synopsis -- the short road to a long tale

 In my previous post about writing literary query letters, I teased the possibility of one of their complements, a story synopsis. At last, I'm willing to discuss synopsis writing. In fact, I just wrote one myself.

But not entirely by myself. Because once again I climbed on the shoulders of other, better writers of this form. As with the previous post, I urge actually reading the complete words of wisdom from writers Caro Clarke (The synopsis: what it is, what it isn't, and how to write it) and Susan Dennard (How to write a 1-page synopsis).

Are there whimpers of panic at the mention of one page?

Unless our agent insists on a single page, synopses can run a bit longer, maybe one to two pages. But remember, as with agent gripes about too-lengthy query letters, their patience can run short on the overly-long.

First, a little housekeeping. As previously mentioned, the query letter itself should be written in third person to avoid confusion about which words are the author's and which are the character's. The synopsis, however, is strictly first person. The only words it contains are those of the author (although giving glimpses of a main character's voice may be OK).

Image by Melanie from Pixabay

Did I neglect to state what a synopsis is? It's an outline of the story, although without Roman numerals and all that stuff we may have learned in high school English class. It's not the novel's themes, relevance, or even comparison titles. Just the facts, ma'am. What actually happened, all the way to the end. Spoilers included.

So, we've got a several-hundred-word novel to boil down to one (maybe two) pages. How is that even possible?

For this, I particularly love Dennard's outline, imagined as a movie:

1. Opening image -- setting the stage for the story
2. Protagonist intro -- a few words about the main character and what they want
3. Inciting incident -- what prompts the main character to take action
4. Plot point 1 -- the first action/decision that changes the story's direction
5. Conflicts & character encounters -- new life, new people, plus antagonist/villain
6. Midpoint -- the 180 degree change from which there is no turning back
7. Winning seems imminent, but. . . -- the main character thinks they'll win but oh no!
8. Black moment -- the main character must find the guts to get through this nadir
9. Climax -- the final struggle between the main character and the antagonist
10. Resolution -- happy ever after (or not), plus typing up loose ends
11. Final image -- has the main character succumbed or built a new life?

Sounds a lot like the Hero's Journey we probably took a class about, yes?

Dennard's outline is based on her favorite movie, Star Wars (A New Hope). But not every story needs to feature do-or-die stakes or light saber-flashing action. To steal another example from the book How to Tell a Story, courtesy of public radio's Moth narrative experts, what the main character wants can be as simple as "I'll get these pretzels out of this (expletive deleted) vending machine, even if I have to break the glass!"

Finally, a few more housekeeping issues. Avoid subplots unless there's a half-page of blank space (as if!) at the end of your first page. Ditto, limit named characters to the protagonist, possibly a side kick or love interest, and the antagonist (Evil Vending Machine?).

If any other characters must be mentioned, use only their titles/descriptors (alien princess, repair person, etc.). Some writers (agents, editors, etc.) want the first mention of characters' names to be ALL CAPS/BOLD FACE. When in doubt, check the agent's/editor's website for specifics.

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Still to come -- comparison titles. I blogged about agent Amy Collins' takes on these in my March 3, 2023, post, "From manuscript to published book: Part 2," but other agents have suggestions as well.   

8 easy steps to overcome the fear of query writing

 A friend asked me for help writing a query to a literary agent for her manuscript. And I froze. How could I, who have blogged so many times about query letters, explain I, personally, was months late replying to an agent who had requested pages from me? The reason seemed so silly. I dreaded writing the covering query letter. 

I do know something about query writing, if only from listening year after year to the Query Gong Show at the Dallas-area DFW Writing Conference. This gong show is the chance for literary agents to comment on--and "gong out" anonymous queries from conference attendees. (See this blog's October 8, 2024, post: "DFWCon word limit cautions -- plus, the Gong Show" for samples of agent peeves.)

Between that and workshops whose main topic seemed to be dissing silly writers who dare waste agents' time with their horrible queries, I'm tempted to coin a new abbreviation: FOQ--fear of querying.

Still, my friend needed help. And fortunately, there was a higher power to call on. It's one of my favorite resources, "Eight Ways to Boost Your Query Letter," by book editor for the late, lamented #RevPit contests, Elizabeth Buege. 

Read the whole thing. Really. It's only a few pages, although for the impatient, here's my summary of Buege's eight essentials:

1. Prove you have a compelling premise. She offers a number of suggestions, but for my money, the best is ". . . think about why you find this story special and why it's near and dear to your heart as a writer."
2. Show how genre expectations are met. If I didn't mention it in my October 8, 2024, post, more than once agents said "the query says the genre is X, but not why it's X. And it doesn't sound like X from the information in the query."
3. Let your character's personality shine through. By this, Buege doesn't mean writing the letter in first person. That's a big no-no, basically because it confuses the agent about whether they're hearing the character's actual words or the writer's. Instead, Buege suggests writers ask what the POV character would see as their goals and obstacles, and the kind of language they would use to describe the main conflict.

4. 

   Image from Pixabay

   Address multiple main characters in terms of their shared story. Assuming the story has multiple POV characters, Buege suggests giving each (preferably not more than two) MCs a paragraph for their context, goals and states, and using the following paragraphs to show how tensions rise in the central conflict their both part of.
5. Don't spend too much time on setup. This is another issue that arises more than once in query Gong Shows. Buege's remedy: concentrate on the conflict and goals the character(s) face for the bulk of the story, giving the setup--no matter how fascinating--only a brief mention. I'll add that limiting the setup will help keep the query's length to a single-ish page. Think in the neighborhood of 300 words.
   
6. Identify the inciting incident. This is the moment that rips the main character from their normal life--that "setup--to the conflict that takes them through the rest of the story. And don't wait too long for it--generally, it should happen in the story's first act.
7. Save those plot details for the synopsis. How many times during Gong Shows did agents say about queries, "this sounds like a synopsis"? Way too many! And it's a primary reason for another agent peeve, that the query letter is way too long! Among Buege's suggestions is writing the synopsis (plot summary) first, making it easier to identify the key elements for the query letter. (And no, don't tell the ending in the query. Save that for the synopsis if requested.)
8. Avoid leaving key information too vague. Sure, we writers hate spoilers but still need to explain what the states are and what inciting incident creates the situation. From Buege: ". . . be honest and direct about the inciting incident, main goal of the MC, and stakes."

After looking again at Buege's post, I'm struck once more with fear that I may have overlooked something(s) essential as I finally hit "send" on my query. to which Buege adds these consoling words: ". . .put on a revision mindset for this process. It might take multiple drafts. . . and that's OK."

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Well, that's longer than my usual posts. But who spotted what got left out? What else we dread--maybe dread most about query letters? Dare I say, comparison titles? But while I spent several months last year not blogging, I was still busy listening and learning, including more suggestions about those dreaded comps. 

And the writing of the possibly still more dreaded synopsis. Stay tuned.