How to Write a Synopsis: Advice from Industry Experts

Notes for Crafting a Winning Synopsis from Industry Experts:

Congratulations! You’ve written your 75,000 word master piece. Now in order to present it to industry professionals in a concise, enticing and engaging manner, you must par down your novel to one one-hundreth of its original size; approximately 750 words or less. There are many conflicting resources on formatting a synopsis, but the elements that are needed to compose a winning synopsis are agreed upon across party lines. Here’s my take on how to make sure you hit the highlights and other important facts.

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR SYNOPSIS: Make sure your synopsis covers the beginning, middle and the ending of your book. Don’t save your ending as a surprise. 2012 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market a.k.a. CWIM (edited by Chuck Sambuchino) advises to make sure your synopsis includes hook, plot, theme, characterization, setting, conflict and resolution. The Writer’s Digest Guide to Query Letters by Wendy Burt-Thomas advises a synopsis should include “your book’s content, structure, tone and design if needed.” Furthermore Burt-Thomas says to “start your synopsis strong immediately, then fill in the details later.”

            The Fiction Writer’s Connection website has a great checklist for your synopsis. The list includes questions like:  Does your opening paragraph have a hook? Are your main character’s conflicts clearly defined? Have you hit your major themes and major plot points, and did you show how the conflict was resolved in the end?

            The Vivian Beck Agency also advises to start with a hook, and after you introduce your main character, they say to unveil your main character’s CONFLICT, MOTIVATION, and GOALS. The Body of your synopsis should include an ACTION, REACTION, and DECISION (check for these elements to suss out if you have an active or a passive main character).  Don’t forget to include the crisis and resolution to your story.

            Nathan Bransford (a one-time agent with Curtis Brown, and now published writer) says that a synopsis is not the time to detail every character in your story.  He says, “[a synopsis] needs to make the work come alive. If your synopsis reads like "and then this happened and then this happened" and it's confusing and dull, well, you might want to revise that baby.”

In regard to length, Nathan advises two to three pages, double spaced unless submission guidelines ask for something different.

CONFIRM THAT YOUR MAIN CHARACTER ISN’T A PINBALL: Read your synopsis and decide if your main character is responding to events, bouncing around like a pinball tossed in one precarious (perhaps exciting) direction after another, or if you’re main guy is driving the action. If he’s a pinball, then no matter how exciting the events may be, your guy is passive and that is not what the industry wants.

            Mary Kole from the Andrea Brown Agency often offers pitch-slam events at the conferences she attends. In a sit-down interview I enjoyed with Mary Kole at the SCBWI conference in Los Angeles, she offered a pearl of wisdom: make sure your main character is ACTIVE vs. PASSIVE. The advice seems obvious, yet so many writers have things happening to their main character vs. having the protagonist drive the story forward.

FORMATTING:  CWIM 2012 (Writer’s Digest Books) says to include your genre and word count on the upper right side, and your name, address, phone number and email address on the left side. Your title goes in all-caps in the center

Example:

First Last                                                                               Historical Fiction

1234 address                                                                           50,000 Words

City, State Zip

(303) 111-2222

emailaddress@yahoo.com

MY FABULOUS BOOK TITLE HERE

Other formatting advice includes:

• Don’t number your first page; begin numbering on second page;
• Double space all text ,and use 12 point Times Roman with one-inch margins
• Second page header is formatted like so: Your name/TITLE IN CAPS/Synopsis     2
• The first time you introduce a character in the synopsis, have their name appear in all-caps (with normal formatting to follow);
• And **open with a great hook and inciting incident.
• Size-I keep hearing, “the briefer the better, but all elements must be there to sell your story.”  Guide to Query Letters  by Wendy Burt-Thomas says it’s typically one to two pages. 2012 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market a.k.a. CWIM (edited by Chuck Sambuchino) has a glossary where synopsis is defined as “a page to a page and a half if single spaced” (odd definition since they also advise to double space your synopsis).
• Write your synopsis in present tense
• Use 12 point Times Roman

  

SYNOPSIS VS. QUERY: Make sure you know the difference between a synopsis and a query. A query letter is a single page, three paragraph letter that is meant to hook the reader into asking for more. The three paragraphs include The Book, The Hook, and The Cook. (1) Paragraph One: The book tells the title, the word count, and the genre. (2) The hook includes your logline and a few lines about your story (similar to what you might read on the jacketflap of a book). It does not tell your whole story.  (3) Paragraph Three: The cook is a paragraph about you, where you went to school, and any writing credentials you may have.

            The Synopsis, unlike your query, tells your entire story (beginning, middle, and end). The length of your synopsis will depend on agents/editors submission guidelines. You should practice writing a short, one page synopsis as well as a long, three to five page synopsis.

More Resources:

Advanced Fiction Writing

Writing World

C. J. Darlington

How to Find a Literary Agent by Kim Tomsic

Would you like to find that perfect literary agent for your project?  This article is packed with useful advice like please don't use glitter and rainbows to get their attention.

Start your quest for an agent by researching sources like The Guide to Literary Agents (GLA). Your goal is to search the pages and find an agent who is reputable and fits the type of book you are writing (picture book,young adult novel, romance novel, biography, historical fiction, cookbook, etc.). 

In the GLA, you will find a wealth of useful information including: agents name and email address; information about the agency for which they work; the agent's client list; their website/blogsite; if they're a member of various associations (i.e. SCBWI); how the agent prefers to receive submissions (i.e. snail mail or email/ query and first five pages/query only/attachments or no attachments/ etc.) and **vitally important** the type of projects the individual agent prefers (i.e. Middle Grade or YA or Picture Book, etc.) . You can also research agents and their specific taste on their agency website and on #MSWL which stands for Manuscript Wish List.

Once you find the agents who you believe would be a great advocate for your project, you begin by writing that agent a query letter. Remember, it's crucial that your research was precise and you learned about the agent prior to submitting. If your project is a cookbook, you shouldn't send a query letter asking for representation to an agent who is looking for YA dystopian material. If you are pitching a picture book, you shouldn't write to agents who only want to represent memoirs. All your research should be complete prior to writing that query. 

Your query letter is the first impression you'll make, and agents want to deal with smart and informed people. They want to know that you’ve selected them for a specific reason vs. throwing darts. You can be sure that if your query reads like you’ve queried them and every agent on the planet, they won't waste their time with a further look.

Do:  Craft your winning query letter by telling the agent:
1. Why you chose to query them (a simple one-line sentence);
2. The logline, working title, genre, and word count of your manuscript;
3. What your manuscript is about in one interesting paragraph;
4. What's in bookstores now that is similar to your manuscript (so they can decide if it's a money maker) OR what books your book would be shelved next to (and please don’t say it’s the next Harry Potter);
5. If you've been previously published;
6. Your education, affiliations (i.e. SCBWI), or special credentials as it might pertain to this manuscript;
7. A courteous closing and how to contact you.

It's ideal to break your query letter down into three paragraphs: the hook, the book, and the cook.

Don'ts

Here are a few things not to do—no matter how tempted you are—if you want to stay professional:

Don’t tell the agent that your mom, sister, classroom, and priest LOVED your book.
Don’t call your manuscript a fiction novel (that’s like calling it a story story or a book story).
Don’t submit to multiple agents WITHIN the same agency.
Don’t pack an envelope and mail a query to a "green" office IF that agent only accepts email submissions.
Don’t add attachments UNLESS the agent says they prefer submissions that way.
Don’t have your email filtered to their trash by adding attachments, submitting to multiple addressees, or by adding special stationary and do-dads to your email…these gadgets often land your masterpiece in a SPAM folder, and the agent never has the opportunity to see your brilliant work.
Don’t address your letter "Dear Agent." Remember, address to their name and spell it correctly. The agent needs to know you’ve selected them.
Don’t add glitter and rainbows to your submission; be professional and let your writing do the talking.

For a peek at  How to Write a Query Letter, 

http://kimscritiquingcorner.blogspot.com/2013/06/ive-seen-lot-of-query-letter-posts-but.html

For more information on writing query letters, I think Nathan Bransford's award winning blog is excellent (by the way, he just left Curtis Brown, so don't query him).

p.s. Make sure you check out predators and editors to avoid disreputable agents.

Nathan Bransford

Wow! I can't believe he's leaving the industry! Today is Nathan Bransford's last day as a literary agent for Curtis Brown.  He is also the creator of one of THE best blogs regarding the do's and don't's in publishing (i.e. good query advice, etc.) Fortunately, his blog will still be active at http://blog.nathanbransford.com/.  I just hope it's still packed with publishing tidbits and not tech-y stuff.



Today, the blog reads:

Nathan Bransford

San Francisco, CA

United States

Nathan Bransford is the author of JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW, a middle grade novel about three kids who blast off into space, break the universe, and have to find their way back home, which will be published by Dial Books for Young Readers in May 2011. He was a literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd. from 2002 to 2010, but is now a publishing civilian working in the tech industry. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Alison Presley.