Bringing sanity to the dreaded synopsis

I post often about writing contests and conferences, sometimes mentioning, as if an afterthought, that these may require a synopsis of our work. But how long has it been since I actually posted about the writing of the synopsis itself? After attending this month’s synopsis critique session from the Dallas Mystery Writers group, I found that writers are struggling with the same problems that bedeviled me at the time of that last post – in 2013!

So, here’s an updated version of that post now, with interjections from the recent synopsis critiques.

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My personal experience was that, after attending at least numerous panels and any number of blogs in which agents all but swore on their grandmothers’ graves that synopses were a waste of time, I had never written a synopsis worthy of the name. I’d never been taught how to do it. And like writing essays or business letters or feature articles, it’s not a format newbies can expect to toss off instinctively.

Maybe you’re thinking, hey, how can anybody who’s written three or four hundred pages of a novel be baffled by how to write a one-page summary telling what the whole thing is about? Except anyone who thinks that is not a writer who’s ever tried to cram those hundreds of pages into one.

Author/editor Sandy Steen at Dallas Mystery Writers actually gave her students more leeway than that, allowing them extra pages for character lists and elevator pitches – which will be the focus of another post.

Image: wikimedia commons

Two to three pages at most, Steen repeated. More often one page. “If the agent or editor wants it fleshed out, they’ll ask for more….It’s the concept you’re selling.”

Fortunately, Facebook friend and fellow writer Kathleen M. Rodgers had previously posted a link to “How to Write A One-Page Synopsis,” from Susan Dennard’s blog Pub(lishing) Crawl. Following Dennard’s “three rules of thumb, eleven-point method” gave me a coherent one-page (single-spaced) summary within an hour or two. I can’t guarantee this will get you offers of representation. But it saved my sanity and it can save yours.

Here are Dennard’s three rules of thumb:

 -- Don’t name more than three characters in a synopsis as short as one page: the protagonist, antagonist, and relationship character. (Steen also added that characters’ motivations, especially that of the main character should be included and very clear!) In writing my initial synopsis, I broke the three-character rule for a couple of secondary characters. With words at a premium, it took less space on a page to use a one-word name than the two-word description, “protagonist’s mother.”

-- Tell the ending. Right, spoilers and all. (This is not the “jacket blurb,” written to tease the reader. The agent/editor must know how everything fits together and that the ending is worthy of the rest of the story.)

-- Do not include sub-plots unless you have enough space. In writing my own synopsis, I bent this one for an agent who said she wanted to know if there were subplots. I sacrificed a single sentence to convey the biggest one briefly.

The eleven steps will be familiar to anyone who’s read Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey (although the nomenclature differs slightly) or any works dealing with three-act structure. They are: (1) opening image; (2) introduction to the protagonist, including his/her desire; (3) inciting incident; (4) plot point one; (5) conflicts and character encounters; (6) midpoint; (7) winning seems imminent, but. . . ; (8) black moment; (9) climax; (10) resolution; and (11) final image.

Weirdly enough, I got stuck figuring out what the midpoint was. In desperation, I thumbed halfway through my printed manuscript. And found what I needed.

If you’ve written any story at all, something major has happened halfway through the pages. If nothing leaps out at you from the exact numerical center, flip back or forward a few pages. Picking random examples from what’s on my nightstand -- it’s the place in Wuthering Heights where Catherine dies; where Tita of Like Water for Chocolate refuses the summons of her abusive mother; where the narrator of The Island of Dr. Moreau learns the extent of what the mad scientist has done. You will know the midpoint of your novel when you see it.

Susan Dennard applies this with examples from the movie Star Wars, which will also give you a much-needed laugh in her complete explanation.

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After posting this originally in 2013, I also located a blog by fantasy writer C.J. Redwine with other tips that may not be obvious to a first-timer: Write in present tense, in third person, in the same font as your novel, and mimic the pacing of your novel.

In general, a one-page synopsis will be single-spaced and longer synopses double-spaced. However, be sure to read the agent’s or editor’s instructions. For instance, I recently was asked to submit a 300-word synopsis with double spacing.

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And, oh, yes, I’ve also posted cavalier mentions of query letters and pitches. Stay tuned for more on these topics as conference season gets into full swing!