How to Write A Synopsis

by author Jodi Meadows

SYNOPSES: THE THING EVERYONE LOVES TO HATE:

Last year I wrote about how to write a query that works, and everyone was appalled to find out that I like queries. Oh yes, I think they’re useful. Prepare to be appalled again.

I like synopses.

This is a new development. I hated them when I first started writing, and still later while I was reading slush for an agent. I hated synopses right along with everyone else, even though I knew they had their useful moments and I understood their purpose. I hated them right up until I plotted an entire trilogy in three horrifically long and bad synopses and a) it didn’t kill the story for me, and b) I suddenly had a clear direction and goal for the story.

THE TRUTH ABOUT SYNOPSES:

The first thing you need to understand about synopses is this: they can suck.

Now, I think that’s going to be hard for a lot of people. Understandably, we don’t want to waste time writing something that sucks. But you don’t have to show anyone the sucky version. You can just write it to get the story out, see what happens, figure out where the story sags, and change things where necessary — before you ever write the first sentence.

There are lots of great reasons to write a synopsis before you start writing the story. This is only what applies to me (because I can’t speak for the entire world. Yet.):

1. I like knowing what will happen in the story. I like having goals.

2. I get to see what’s broken before I start. Ideally I will be able to fix it too!

3. I can see what is important in the story and make sure to highlight/foreshadow/whatever with it.

4. If I don’t feel inspired one day during the first drafting, I can still write because I know what the story is doing.

DIARRHEA, SYNOPSES, AND OTHER THINGS YOU WISH YOU NEVER HAD:

When I write a synopsis, I simply write what happens in the book — or what will happen, since I tend to write a synopsis first. I stop worrying about whether it’s badly written and just get it on paper. Backstory gets heaved onto the page in an infodump. Motivations for all characters are spelled out. Events are explained in as much detail as I need. Heck, sometimes I even describe the setting. It’s notes. It can be whatever I want it to be.

I like to think of this draft of my synopsis as the verbal diarrhea draft. You know when you’re telling a friend about an event, but you keep getting sidetracked by tangents and discussions on why someone might have behaved this way– But oh, obviously they did it because of this other thing that happened to them before–

Yeah. That’s what my first-draft synopses look like. Messy, explainy, and impossible for anyone to understand. And that’s okay. These synopses are for me only, so I end up feeling a lot of freedom to let it suck and ramble and whatever.

How big should you let your synopses get? I can’t believe you’re asking. Let them go on as long as they go on. Remember how they’re sucking and that’s okay? Mine tend to go on for about three or four thousand words, depending on how much plot and development I have to explain.

MAKING YOUR SYNOPSIS READABLE TO PEOPLE NOT LIVING IN YOUR BRAIN:

This is where it gets tricky, right? Trying to make your synopsis make sense to people who’ve never read your story and don’t know how your brain works.

By now, I hope you’ve at least written some of your story, if not all of it. And I hope you’ve revised it a little. Now that you’re in revision mode, let’s get started revising your synopsis. You remember, the cruddy one you wrote ages (or a few paragraphs) ago. Time to get brave and look at it.

First, read through everything to become familiar with what you have. Now cut the unnecessary stuff.

Since I write fantasy, I usually begin with one short paragraph that covers the premise of the worldbuilding and how it affects the main character. The key here is short.

Begin with the inciting event: what happens, how your character reacts, what they do after . . .

Your character does X. Then Y happens, and your character reacts by Z. Your character does something else, and it has these effects. Other people react these other ways.

Basically, as you did before, write what happens. But this time, make sure you don’t explain every detail unless the event is simply incomprehensible without. This is where it’s okay to do a little telling and skimming over scenes that don’t have a ton of plot.

CUT MORE. NO, MORE THAN THAT:

Now cut more stuff. This is where you get brutal and you actually do have to make it think about not sucking. Depending on how long your want your synopsis (I usually aim at 1,000 words, but you may need more or less depending on your genre and the complicatedness of your plot), you’re going to be thinking about cutting a lot of words. So here are some tricks:

1. Use simple sentences.

2. Don’t use five words when you can use one. For example, rather than “he runs away from the monster,” “he flees the monster.” So: look for stronger verbs, stronger nouns, and ditch the adjectives and adverbs. The chances of you needing them in a synopsis are slim.

3. Apply that to sentences and ideas, too. Don’t over-explain things. You may be tempted to spend a few sentences explaining the magic system. Don’t. If there’s a detail that needs explaining later, explain that detail later. But not now.

THE END

But only sort of the end! First, you probably should have a couple trusted friends read your synopsis. Ones who’ve read the story, ones who haven’t . . . just to make sure it makes sense all around.

I think a lot of people stress over the synopsis more than it deserves. Yes, it’s an important piece of your submission package, but the synopsis is almost never a make-or-break deal. So go forth and embrace its usefulness. You never have to fear the synopsis again!

Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. INCARNATE, the beginning of The Newsoul Trilogy, will be published January 31, 2012 by Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers *A Kippy is a cat.

INCARNATE by Jodi Meadows: About the only girl who is new in a world where everyone is perpetually reincarnated, and her quest to discover why she was born, and what happened to the person she replaced.

Coming January 31, 2012 from Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.