Writing Your Novel Synopsis
It's going to be okay.
I hate writing the synopsis for my novels. I hate it, so much… flames, flames on the side of my face.
Just kidding, kind of. This task terrified me, so I researched and studied to make it less overwhelming this year. And I’m going to share with you all that I have learned.
If you have a beat sheet, write one line for each beat.
Boom you’re done. I learned this trick from Megan Records on call discussing my hot mess of a synopsis. Just one line for each beat and fill in the gaps so it all makes sense.
Write one line for each chapter.
I learned this method from Amy Neilsen. (I’ve linked her amazing article on polishing your submission package.) I took a class put on by the Thriller 101 podcast where Amy walked us through how to write a synopsis. Here are my main takeaways.
The synopsis should be approximately 500 words.
It is not meant to entertain. It doesn’t have to be voicey. It’s meant to tell what happens in your story.
Focus on the A plot.
When you introduce a character the first time it should be in all caps. Only introduce three characters in the synopsis. If there are others call them by their role—say mom, or best friend, etc.
Write one to two sentences for each chapter. If it’s one page, your done. If not, swap lengthy words for shorter ones. If still not one page, see what you might cut while keeping the essential story. If it’s still not one page, send it to a critique partner, ideally one that hasn’t read your story to see what can go.
I highly recommend going through the power point Amy has on her website. It has examples and is so helpful.
Include characters reactions.
Jane Friedman in this amazing blog post, says the key to a great synopsis is including the characters reactions to what is happening. “That will help you avoid something that reads like a mechanic’s manual. Include both story advancement (plot stuff) and color (character stuff).”
In her article, she has a list of common pitfalls. She suggests not talking about story structure, don’t break up the synopsis into sections, don’t ask rhetorical questions, and don’t discuss the themes of your novel to name a few. This article is a quick, super informative read.
What if your novel is multi-pov?
Lord help us. So are a few of mine.
Gina Denny in this short, informative video says to focus on the main protagonist. There should be one hero character or main main character—focus on them, or them and the co-protagonist. There is a lot of other advice out there, including designating a new POV by a paragraph break and then describing what’s going on with them, but the thriller I’m working on has short chapters to keep things moving and four POVs. Formatting the synopsis this way would make my document probably about four pages. In my synopsis for that one, I focused on the two co-protagonists and the overall arc of the story.
What if your novel is dual timeline?
The best article I have found on this topic is from Operation Awesome. It says: “Just tell the reader what happens, in a chronological or other straightforward manner that will allow the reader to follow the plot. For example, if your book progresses on two timelines that converge at the end, you can synopsize what happens during the first timeline, then do the same for the second timeline, then use the last paragraph to explain what happens when the timelines converge. There's no need to jump back and forth between the timelines in your synopsis, even if that's what happens in the book.”
You can do this!
You wrote an entire book. You can write your synopsis. Just get through it. I believe in you.
If you’d like to take a peek at any of my synopsis’ or need fresh eyes on yours, let me know. I’m happy to help. Also if you have any tricks I didn’t mention drop it in the comments.
You helped with my synopsis! Mine was tricky because I haven't finished writing the book. I even made one plot detail change as I wrote! It was for a project plan for an application for an MFA. There were no instructions on what to include in the project plan and this was my first time ever doing anything like this, so I discussed the themes and then put in the synopsis.(And separately provided a writing sample). There was no way I could have put themes in the synop. because the theme discussion was about the same length. Might have been overkill I dunno. Thanks for everything.