SYNOPSIS
Please note that most of my articles in this blog will be original, but for the query letter and synopsis, I’m reproducing or paraphrasing articles from published, reliable sources.
A GOOD SYNOPSIS WILL:
• Be double-spaced, to allow editing in the margins and between lines.
• Be written in present tense, to create a sense of immediacy
• Be more like a book review than a book report.
• Capture the tone of the book (i.e., the synopsis for a humorous book should have a lighthearted approach).
• Be based on a completed manuscript.
• Be written so its parts are roughly in proportion to the book (don’t spend the first half of the synopsis on the first chapter or two of the book.
• Tell the story in a logical way, not necessarily in the order the information is presented in the book.
• Briefly describe the important characteristics of the hero and/or heroine.
• Show the main action sequences, to allow the editor to judge whether the story is logical and believable and whether the plot is realistic and well-organized.
• Show how the conflict is resolved.
• Tell the ending and show how it is brought about.
A GOOD SYNOPSIS WILL NOT:
• Waste words (“The story starts out with…”)
• Include adverbs, clichés, internal monologue, dialogue or scenic descriptions.
• Comment about how humorous, mysterious, suspenseful, etc., the story is (let the editor be the judge).
• Leave the ending a mystery (“And to find out what happened, you’ll have to read the book!”)
- Taken from On Writing Romance, by Leigh Michaels, p. 236
MORE INFO ON WRITING THE SYNOPSIS:
FORMATTING:
• Standard font, 12-point, 1-inch margins on all sides
• Justify the left margin only
• Double-spaced, unless your synopsis is limited to one or two pages, then single-spaced is fine.
OTHER DOS AND DON’TS from Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript, by Chuck Sambuchino and the Editors of Writer’s Digest Books (p. 141)
• Do keep in mind that this is a sales pitch. Make it a short, fast, exciting read.
• Do establish a hook at the beginning of the synopsis. Introduce your lead character and set up a key conflict.
• Do introduce your most important character first.
• Do provide details about your central character […].
• Do include the characters’ motivations and emotions.
• Do highlight pivotal plot points and reveal the story’s ending.
• Don’t go into detail about what happens; just tell what happens.
• Don’t inject long sections of dialogue into your synopsis.
• Do write in the third person, present tense, even if your novel is in the first person.
Information compiled by Jodie Renner, http://www.jodierennerediting.com/, August 2010
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