querying part 2: the dreaded synopsis
common issues, tips, and how synopses aren't just for querying
Writing an entire book is difficult, and yet somehow writing a synopsis is even worse. Condensing tens of thousands of words into one to two pages is a truly grueling task, but I’m here to hopefully help out with that.
(As hinted by the title, I have another newsletter for the query letter itself!)
Credentials: I’m an agented writer and Pitch Wars 2018 mentee, and have donated synopsis critiques to DVpit, Books for Maui, and Books for Palestine.
Disclaimer: I’m just one person and my approach won’t work for everyone.
part one: the basics (skip if you’re not new to this!)
I recommend reading Jane Friedman’s post about how to write a synopsis if this is your first time, as it provides comprehensive information and crucial dos and don’ts.
A brief overview:
A synopsis relays a story’s plot from beginning to end. Thus, it has to depict all important events, including spoilers. The requirements on length varies, but in general it should be one to two pages, single spaced (around 500-1000 words, though below 800 is best). It’s a good idea to prepare two versions: a one-page synopsis and a two-page synopsis.
You must:
Give away the ending. Seriously. It won’t spoil the agent’s reading experience.
Cut to the chase. Opt for clean phrasing over flowery prose. Think of the synopsis in a more utilitarian way, though you shouldn’t write like a robot.
part two: common issues
Here are the two most common issues I find when critiquing synopses:
It’s way too long or too confusing
I think almost everyone who’s written a synopsis has the experience of it turning out too long, so this is probably not a shocking issue to see. Usually, no matter how impossible it seems to cut down more—it can still be cut down.
Synopses being confusing is also probably not shocking, but I’m listing these two issues together because I believe they have a common cause: trying to include everything. (Obviously, sometimes confusion stems from unclear phrasing, but even clear wording can end up confusing.)
To the writer, every subplot and character in the story is essential. Otherwise, why would you write it? However, presenting everything within the synopsis leads to a big word count and too many details for the reader to follow.
It reads like a rundown of events and not a compelling story
Although a synopsis should have clean and no-frills prose, it should still make the reader want to know what happens next. Sometimes, even when a synopsis is the right length and I can understand it all and there are elements that usually make me interested in a story, I’m not drawn in or, when I get to the end, I find it difficult to recall what was going on.
Often, this is because the synopsis reads like a series of events without a strong emotional thread, cause and effect chain, or clear and present stakes to tie everything together and bring momentum to these events.
part three: okay, how do I fix these issues?
One thing to remember is that while a synopsis is, ostensibly, a rundown of the entire story, it actually cannot and should not do that. Instead, it transforms a long series of events into a digestible and enticing package, one that is a mini story in itself.
(A note: enticing doesn’t mean flowery prose! Unlike a short story, a synopsis will be much denser in events, and flowery prose can be difficult to decipher.)
Without misrepresenting the story, the synopsis should be tweaked to maximize brevity, clarity, and momentum. (What if it ends up feeling unfaithful to the story? What if you’re abbreviating too much? That’s for part four.)
Here are some suggestions to consider:
1: Ask yourself what this story is about
The synopsis has to sell a narrative, and a narrative requires a main character, something they want, something in the way, and what they do to get what they want.
First, try to figure out what these four things are in simple, short phrases. Next, flesh them out, again in short, simple phrases. Who is the main character? Why do they want this? Why does someone want to stop them? Doing this will get to the heart of the story, the pushing force behind the synopsis’s momentum.
Going forward, not only should every event tie back to what the main character wants, it’s also important to not drop the emotional reasons for why they want it. Again, imagine the synopsis as a mini story.
2: Build your cause and effect chain
Instead of listing all events in sequence, I would instead step away from the book and list from memory the cause and effect chain that carries the main character from the first scene to the last.
What’s a cause and effect chain? It isn’t “A happens then B happens then C happens,” which is just a series of events, but rather “A happens, causing the characters to react by doing B, the fallout of which leads to C.” This has momentum and consequences and the characters acting and reacting. By figuring out the cause and effect chain, the synopsis—despite its utilitarian prose—will be compelling.
Some advice I’ve seen is to write down one sentence for every chapter. Whether that’s something that works for you or not, I would double check the result by ensuring there’s connectivity between scenes that forms a cause and effect chain, so every scene builds to the next instead of being unconnected. (This is also a way to evaluate the story itself. Again, part four.)
3: Trim away the excess
Narrowing the story down to a cause and effect chain might be enough to form the synopsis—but a lot of the time it’s still not enough, because for the writer there are too many intricate details that go into this chain. However, they’ve got to be trimmed.
Except for characters or subplots that you can’t remove without unraveling everything else—such as the main character, love interest, and antagonist—ruthlessly hack away subplots and secondary characters. Try to keep named characters to a minimum, and focus on subplots that are integral to the main plot.
Rule of thumb: if the removal of something can be smoothed over with a sentence or two, then it should be removed.
For instance, if the third act breakup in a romcom comes from misinformation received through a mutual friend who doesn’t play a big role beyond this, there’s no need to name the friend or the exact circumstances. It can all be brushed over by “after learning from a mutual friend that LI spent the night with his ex…”
4: Step away from minute details
In the process of trimming excess, a frequent dilemma is: I can’t get rid of this character/event because then there’s no catalyst for X event or there’s no one to play X role.
The key is to remember that there’s no need to have a play by play of events. Think about that person in your life who tells long winded stories and how you’re always imagining how you would’ve abbreviated it. Bring that energy to your synopsis.
We don’t need to know the exact chain of clues a detective chases down, only that there’s a string of them. We don’t need to know everything about a tertiary character who is used as a temporary vessel for magic, only that there is a temporary vessel.
part four: the synopsis is a test of the story
Before sending out those queries, I would urge everyone to ask yourself:
Does my synopsis misrepresent my story?
Are you abbreviating or cutting out a large portion of the plot from the synopsis because it doesn’t feel exciting? Are you twisting the main character’s emotions and motivations in order to drive up the stakes?
If the answer is “yes,” then you’re selling a different story.
This will mislead agents into evaluating something that’s not your book. If they request a partial or full and then reject it, it’ll be difficult to tell if the pages are the issue, or if the agent had actually requested something that isn’t to their taste.
The biggest issue is this might mean the story itself needs more work.
If a whole sequence of scenes were struck out or you never considered including them, that might mean they don’t need to happen on page at all. If the stakes of the synopsis had to be reframed to feel exciting enough, that might mean the stakes in the story need to be altered as a well.
Another thing to check is the correlation between your query and synopsis.
Does your synopsis deliver the premise that’s promised in the query?
If your query promises a heist but the synopsis centers a romance, then either the query should center the romance—or this could be a sign that the story isn’t centering the thing you actually want to sell (the heist) as much as you thought it did.
A final suggestion: write a synopsis before drafting the story
I’ve talked about why I like to outline before drafting before, and so for pantsers I definitely would suggest taking a stab at crafting a synopsis to figure out what you want to do with the story before actually writing it.
But even for planners/outliners, I would still suggest writing a synopsis on top of that outline! When juggling details and specific scenes, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. The pressure of condensing the plot into one to two pages helps to evaluate where the tension sags or what needs to be enhanced.
And that’s it for the synopsis! Hopefully this was helpful, and next month I’ll be back with my final post in this querying series: the opening pages.