I think I'll join this group. I really need to start thinking about writing a synopsis. i'm nearing the end of my second draft (had some major reworking to do) and want to get it clear in my mind the direction I'm taking it before I start on the third.

Great, Jennifer - the more the merrier!

It's so easy to think of synopses purely in terms of doing one after you've written the novel, so as to send it out. But I'm finding it an increasingly useful tool for all sorts of earlier moments.

Just dropping in to say this, from EmmaD, made me ponder:

I'm finding it an increasingly useful tool for all sorts of earlier moments

- it might make synopsis writing less of a necessary evil and more of a writing friend, which should make the writing of one easier...? I feel the same with the play version...basically same thing, just hardly ever required or asked for by theatres or companies etc.

I once had to do a really detailed synopsis/outline - three or four pages - of a novel I'd only written about a third of. I'd have called myself a planner, on the whole - I certainly don't just write off into the blue - and it was a complicated parallel structure. But it was only when I had to write that outline that I realised that the second half of the novel didn't actually join up. Lots of things happened, but there wasn't a chain of cause and effect. IT was only when I had to express it in whole sentences, once leading onto the next, that it became obvious, because of course there were various places where one sentence didn't lead on to the next, in a very fundamental, narrative sense.

Yes, quite often you come across a synopsis for a novel which the writer obviously hadn't planned out at the start so it begins in one genre and ends in another . Often because the writer has spent the first half introducing the characters and their world and left the main plot thread until the second half .

On this feeling that synopses are 'a necessary evil': I understand this, and used to feel the same way. However, what I learned from a workshop taken by commercial writers is that we need to rise to a different mind-set about this, and in the process realise that a) writing synopses, blurbs, cover letters, etc, should be done in the same spirit as writing the actual book, and b) the fact we hate doing them is possibly indicative that we aren't as clearly communicative in our actual book writing as perhaps we'd like to think we are.

In other words, it's probably not helpful to look at synopsis-writing and story-telling as two separate articles. They need to come from the same well of inspiration. In general, I'd say Americans have less trouble with this than the British. It may be because they aren't as shy about telling others how great their writing is. We have a culture of not blowing our own trumpets (unless disguised in false modesty, humble-bragging etc) but unfortunately that's exactly what a synopsis is: a big, bold, brassy instrument for attracting attention.

that's exactly what a synopsis is: a big, bold, brassy instrument for attracting attention.

So, Terry, the Americans use the tuba, while we Brits make do with the piccolo?

Your post is mind-altering for me. I thought the query was for trumpet-blowing, and the synopsis was for cool assessment.

My God. I know nothing.

Alan, one of the big lessons I got from that workshop is that you need to make everything you send to a publisher/agent interesting. Look at it from their point of view: they're trying to find exciting new writers. Okay, you query may show you that way. But it's quite likely they'll read the synopsis next and if it's just a 'cool assessment' of the book, chances are they won't go any further. Of, even if they read the chapters first and like them, if the synopsis isn't fun, they could be swayed against you. Remember, a synopsis is close to a blurb and if you can show you know how to write like a blurb, you will endear yourself to the editor.
 
I posted about this a couple of years back, but at a convention panel, Jo Fletcher set out how you would endear yourself to her with your submission. Essentially, it was to provide her with an Advance Information Sheet. In effect, this comprises a 12-14 word sentence which tells and sells your book (she used the example of when you convince a friend that they have to go watch this movie you've just seen); 2-3 paragraph blurb; marketing points; short synopsis written in tone of the book, etc. It's a double whammy if you do that: first, because, as she said, you've done her job for her (she needs to put together an AI for editorial and sales committee meetings); second, because you're showing you know how to promote your work.
 

I do agree that it helps to try to feel the synopsis as an act of storytelling.

I thought the query was for trumpet-blowing, and the synopsis was for cool assessment.

Well, assessment, certainly, in that one of the synopsis's jobs is to convey clearly that you've got a properly-engineered plot

But even though it's not the place for saying explicitly "This is the best story you've ever read" (specially not if not only you, but your intended reader, is English) but it IS the place for conveying the drama and passion built into the story - not least because one aspect of proper engineering is that the stakes and the jeopardy rise. It's not just about showing how the engine's built and moves, but conveying the vast power, the steam and noise and streams of sparks....

When John comes to stay in the village, it's his liking for her work which Alice first picks up on. But it's when he's kind to her about her mother's absence that she starts to think she might be brave enough to do something about it.

When John comes to stay in the village, Alice is beguiled by his passionate admiration of her work, but it’s the undemanding comfort he offers for her distress over her mother's disappearance which helps her finds the strength to confront Deborah's enemies.

These are both, essentially, the same engineering, and in story terms not actually a particularly dramatic point of the story, though an essential one, if John and Alice are going to get together. The latter version isn't perfect, obviously, after five minutes drafting, but it's a darned sight livelier, and conveys where the friction and energy are going to come from. Compare

liking, picks up, kind, absence, starts to think, brave enough, do something, it

with

beguiled, passionate admiration, undemanding comfort, distress, disappearance, finds the strength, confront, enemies

Even "undemanding", though in some ways a mild word, has a strong one in the middle of it - plus there's a squeak of friction between it and "comfort".

And another way of using synopses as a development tool: if you really can't put the story in those dramatic vivid terms and still represent it reasonably fairly, then maybe it's just not dramatic enough.

Edited by EmmaD at 13:02:00 on 07 January 2014


Edited by EmmaD at 13:03:00 on 07 January 2014

And another way of using synopses as a development tool: if you really can't put the story in those dramatic vivid terms and still represent it reasonably fairly, then maybe it's just not dramatic enough.

 
I agree. It almost certainly will be a development tool if you're using it to sell the book - 'sell' in terms of convince an editor that they just have to read it. So, yes, if you can't do that, it's just possible the book's not strong enough.
 
I write a lot of short stories. Occasionally, I realise that if asked I couldn't really convince an editor that they should read it; that I'm proud it's got something interesting to say. When that happens, I don't send it out; re-write it or park it for later.