When I need to flesh out the shape of a novel, I write a synopsis. Since I’ve recently resigned myself to doing this yet again, because I never learn and I always learn, I thought it’d be a good time to talk about what a synopsis is and how to write the damn things.
The synopsis is a document agents and editors routinely ask for in a submission package, sandwiched between your query letter and the first pages of your manuscript.
A synopsis’s purpose is to tell, briefly but in entirety, your book’s story.
It is not just the paragraph from your query letter that briefly describes the book, cut and pasted into its own document. Yes, I’ve seen that in more than one slush pile. So let’s talk about how to craft this beast.
Length is two pages. Certain agents may request other lengths—and always tailor your synopsis to whatever specs an agent asks for—but two is probably the most common. I usually dislike guidelines that list page length instead of word count, but if you use standard manuscript formatting for your synopsis, you’ll be fine. Note that that means double-spaced. If you’ve got 250-300 words a page, you’re golden.
EDIT: I’ve adjusted the above bullet about length. I originally said two to five pages and didn’t specify spacing. A reader brought it to my attention that a five-page, single-space synopsis would definitely be longer than ideal. They’re right, and mea culpa!
Just tell us the story. Not “here’s why I wrote this” or “our story begins with” or “thank you for reading my…” The synopsis begins with what is literally happening on page one—Julie Smith is grooming her pet dragon when a letter arrives from the palace—and continues to show how one thing leads to the next in an easily digestible way.
Use present tense, third-person. Act like you’re telling a friend a play-by-play of the story, but be polished and entertaining. Julie’s been dreading the arrival of this letter, but her mother is ecstatic because…
Keep plot points concise and character motivations clear. Skip the messy details; sometimes that includes entire secondary characters. What is your main character trying to accomplish, what is the accompanying emotion, and what were the results? Desperate to find her pet dragon’s twin, Julie ends up trapped in the villain’s castle…
Use the voice you want the book to have. Brevity is no excuse to be dry. Are you going for dramatic and tense? Funny and offbeat? Your synopsis is a prime opportunity to impress the reader with your voice. Julie eats dinner hits different than Dinner is a morose affair, and uses just about as many words.
Avoid headings. Don’t bother explaining what happens per chapter; that organization could change in edits anyway. Don’t bother with Wikipedia-style character descriptions, either—that keeps information in silos and doesn’t show relations well. In fact, any kind of heading just gets in the way of a quick skim.
Give away the ending. This is probably what I see missing from most synopses. Your ending is a huge factor for the decision-maker reading your synopsis. They don’t have time to invest in reading 90K only to find out they’d never represent a book with that payoff. Also answer any other questions you raise in the synopsis; if you tease a mysterious gift, reveal the mystery by the end of the synopsis.
Keep going. Good luck.
-Chris
Wolfgang Editorial