You've written the book, and it's ready to submit. The publisher requires a synopsis. Easy enough, isn't it? Not necessarily. Christina Hamlett has some illuminating thoughts on synopses snafus. Yours needn't look like today's photo.
Christina says:
For as much time as you’ve spent writing your novel, why is it so hard to distill its essence to a
one-paragraph pitch for an agent or publisher? As recently as this morning, a prospective client
insisted her story was so complex I needed to read the entire 400+ pages of it in order to really
grasp the plot. I gently reminded her that if I wasn’t hooked by a snapshot summary of 100
words or less, why should I commit to over 100,000? A director colleague takes this a step
further with, “If you can’t explain your project in 25 words or less, you don’t know what it’s
about.”
The trouble is that many writers know their projects too well and embrace a tendency to
“overstuff” a synopsis with extraneous detail. I’m reminded of the summers I used to take my
nephew Eugene on day-trips to San Francisco. He’d use the occasion of the long drive to tell me
about the latest movie he had seen. Oftentimes these summaries were longer than any of the
actual films. By the time we rolled back into the driveway, he had yet to reach the ending and
refused to get out of the car until he had properly finished. His recaps tended to flow like this:
So it starts out with these horses and they’re wild and running around in this canyon that’s
Wyoming or something and then there’s this girl who lives on a farm and this guy named Ned
likes her but then there’s another guy named Bob who likes her, too, and he and Ned don’t get
along and Ned thinks Bob let Julie’s horses loose – Julie was the name of the girl – but
meanwhile back in town everybody’s all mad because the Depression’s happening and nobody
has any money and Julie goes to buy food to fix dinner for her father since her mother died when
she was a little girl and…
In contrast, Eugene saved succinctness for school book reports:
Peter Rabbit is about a rabbit named Peter who steals vegetables. If you want to see if he gets
caught, read this book!
Do you ascribe to Eugene’s style of storytelling when it comes to your own synopses;
specifically, trying to tell too much or creating obscurity by telling too little? The following tips
will help you remedy both problems.
A. Brevity is paramount. A meandering synopsis is a red flag that a project lacks focus,
cohesion and merit. If you have only one paragraph within your cover letter to make your
pitch, your summary (written in present tense) should identify the protagonist, antagonist,
genre/circa/setting, and what’s at stake. If this blurbage were on the back cover, would it
comfortably fit without resorting to a really tiny font?
B. Eschew copious back-story. Whenever I read longer synopses (some of which have
actually extended over several pages), writers typically spend over half that verbiage on
characters and events which are irrelevant to the plot…and are then left with only a few
sentences to define the core conflict. If a reader isn’t going to be privy to all of the things
which occurred prior to Chapter One, your detailed set-up should not be part of your
pitch letter.
C. Synopses cliffhangers can backfire. Unless you already have a body of published work
which demonstrates you know how to finish a story as smartly as you know how to start
one, hinting to a decision-maker that the outcome will only be divulged if the whole
project is requested won’t score you any points. The difference between prospective
readers and prospective agents is that readers want to be surprised; agents only want to
know you have something which is marketable and which offers a satisfying resolution.
D. Avoid lofty comparisons. “In an epic certain to rival Outlander,” “Replete with all the
magic of Harry Potter,” “As compelling as any thriller by John Grisham,” “The next
Shopaholic.” Need I say more?
E. Practice reverse engineering. An exercise I use in my film workshops to help hone
synopsis-writing skills is to have students study the synopses of movies that have already
been produced. A great starting point is the Internet Movie Data Base
( http://www.imdb.com ). If, for instance, you look up The Shining, you’ll read:
“A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence
influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from
the past and of the future.”
It’s a short, compelling hook but doesn’t reveal the outcome. Contrast this to a click on the
full synopsis which provides a sequential accounting of every single plot point which
transpires. As a challenge, edit that 1,689 word synopsis down to 300 (or less) without
compromising its essence. When you’re ready to move to the next challenge, visit The
Movie Spoiler ( http://www.themoviespoiler.com ) and The Book Spoiler
( http://www.thebookspoiler.com ) and practice the same technique.
Lastly, always submit exactly what is requested. Nothing more. Nothing less. If an agent wants
to see a 100-word synopsis, you won’t endear yourself by sending one that’s 825. These rules
exist for a reason, not the least of which is to assess whether you are someone who can follow
directions and, thus, someone they’d like to work with.
Bio: Former actress and director Christina Hamlett is the author of 47 books, 266 stage plays
and squillions of articles and interviews. She is also a script consultant for stage and screen
well as a professional ghostwriter. http://www.authorhamlett.com.
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