The Synopsis, and Why You Should Learn to Love It
The Synopsis, and Why You Should Learn to Love It
What is the synopsis, tips on writing it, and why it's ultimately a very useful tool
The most technically difficult part in preparing for the agent search has been…drumroll…the synopsis. This will come as no surprise to anyone who has written one. And after all the rewrites, drafts, and teeth gnashing, I don’t even know for sure if I’ve done it “correctly” or “successfully.” (Once I do get feedback, I will share exactly what did and didn’t work.) All that said, by the end of writing the synopsis I was very glad I did, something I suspect is true for many writers.
I’m beginning to realize that all of writing is this: you start out strong and confident and finish a trembling mess of self-doubt. So let’s begin!
What is the synopsis (and do you even need one)?
When querying agents, they will ask for varying materials: the query letter is a given, and then they may ask to read the first full chapter, or first five full pages, before deciding if they want to read the rest. Additionally, they might want to see the synopsis. The synopsis is, very simply, a summary of your book. Easy, right? You just spent however many months or years writing the darn thing, so you should have a very good idea of (condescending chuckle) what it’s about.
Not so fast, Speedy Pen-zales. Filter your synopsis through the following requirements, and then see how you’re coming along:
Include all major plot points and main characters.
Write drily, matter-of-factly, neutrally. This is not the time to sell your book. You’re showing the novel’s blueprint.
Nonetheless, why your story matters—why anyone would want to read it—needs to shine through.
Include spoilers. The synopsis tells the story straight through, beginning to end.
Omit side characters, subplots, and all unnecessary detail. (But it’s all necessary! Yeah, I didn’t know what was unnecessary, either, until after I’d written four drafts of the synopsis.
Show how the character grows.
Everything you include must be cause-and-effect.
And do all the above in 500-800 words. Absolute maximum is two pages of single-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font which clocks in at over 1000 words, but every agent submission differs, so always check.
To that last point, agent submission requirements differ so much so that, in fact, some agents do not even ask to see a synopsis. Then why write one at all? you may ask. Why not just choose agents who don’t require one, and avoid this painful rite of passage entirely?
Fair question, unfair answer: Even if we knew how many agents you’d be excluding yourself from with that criteria and deemed it insignificant enough that you’d be willing to forgo all those agents who did require one, you’re not in the clear: plenty will ask for the synopsis after the first submission round. And at this point you’ve gotten them interested, so do you really want to make them wait a week or two while you agonize over a synopsis (and then risk writing one that isn’t up to your normal standards because you slapped it together in haste)?
But the really unfair answer is, actually, just write the synopsis even if no agent asks for one ever again. And there are good reasons to, I swear.
Why your story will be better with a synopsis
Writing the synopsis forces you to reckon with your book as a whole: to stand back, gather all the strings that it’s made of, and explain the tapestry you just wove. Succinctly. Compellingly. And you will inevitably come across holes, strings that you swore you tied up but there they are, flying in the wind, and colors that in fact do not go well with the final design.
If you want your agent search to be successful, then you’ve got to make your story as tight and perfect as possible, and this synopsis is a relatively fast track to doing so (even if one minute of writing it feels like an hour, an hour like a week…). You may discover points that need to be explained better, plot holes, irrelevant chapters, or realize it all rests on a Deus ex machina. If that’s the case, you’ll need to revise the synopsis later, of course—but you wouldn’t have seen what needed to be revised in your story without writing the cursed synopsis in the first place, right? Anyway, it should be much easier to revise than to start from scratch: once you’ve come this far, the hard part is done.
Synopsis tips, tricks, suggestions, and how-tos
Though what is acceptable in a synopsis is very prescriptive, there is no one way to go about writing it. I think much of your approach depends on your story itself, but here are various ways I used, each of which got me a little further along. My novel is long (at time of writing synopsis, 120,000 words), and it covers multiple point of views and two timelines.
I wish I’d found this advice from the get-go (from queryletter.com): Remember your query letter? Expand from there. You’ll have to change your tone and add a lot, but I think, when your novel is long, building around those main points in the pitch is easier than taking away.
Write from your outline, if you keep one. I record the chapters as I go in an Excel document listing major action items, word count, and notes (including reminders, questions, edits to be made, etc.). However, if your novel is on the longer side this might not be helpful: you’ll be tempted to expand every chapter cell into a paragraph, which will become way too long (this happened to me!).
Act like you’re describing the plot to a friend (or actually describe it to a willing friend) and record yourself or type up what you said immediately afterward. This will put you in a sufficiently zoomed out mindset; not even your best friend will want to hear your 10-minute tangent about characters they’ve only just heard of.
Is it too long (spoiler: it will be)? Don’t despair! Summarize your summary. Do it again, and again. Each time, ask yourself: What is essential to conflict and plot development?
Experiment with different modes of writing. While my book was written longhand and then typed up, I found I wrote the synopsis better by (mostly) straight typing. Maybe the reverse is true for you; or recording.
Overall, the best resources I used to write my synopsis were:
Get a Literary Agent by Chuck Sambuchino
My indefatigable writer’s group
Stuff I Like
MeetUp: I’ve mentioned my writer’s group a couple of times now, and guarantee I will again. Finding a good group of trusted writers is essential for so many reasons that I can’t get into it in a small newsletter after-thought. So to just answer the big question: where do you find your people? Use MeetUp. That website and app has been integral to me finding like-minded people for lots of different interests—especially when they happen to be non day-job-related activities—writer’s group included.