If you thought writing was hard, try condensing a 95k+ novel into a 400 word synopsis….
Can you say ‘pain in the ass’? … or as my pal Sartre might have said, ‘Ça me fait chier’….
Anyway, I’ve been toying with the idea of submitting my work for a competition, and of course, they require a synopsis of the whole novel to go along with the sample.
Being a researcher by day, I immediately set to googling ‘How to write a synopsis.’ Lots of options here, here, and here, but none that were remotely helpful to me…I think my buddy, MJ Griffor, over at Novels from the ground up and I stumbled upon the same sites ‘cos she (he?) mentioned some of the same frustrations I found in their fantastic post, Writing the Dreaded Synopsis. Check it out for a great breakdown on how to go about writing one, and a great look at a chapter-by-chapter process for the same, which I intend to start applying on my own.
I know what a proper synopsis is supposed to look like, what I need is a mad libs-style template where I can just pop in character names, plot points etc and it will just spit one out for me….
Any chance those exists?
No?
Okay
So aside from being a sad panda over the whole synopsis thing, I also spent the last two days hacking and chopping at my submission; there’s a 5000 word limit, and my original piece was over 7000 words.
Consequently, I now want to rip my hair out. But I did manage to get it down to the limit, and will now devote my time (and sanity) to getting the 400 word synopsis done….
Oh my gosh, have I been there where you are and I know the pain. Ugh. Try not to tear out too much of your hair. You’ll need it for the publicity shots when you get published!
Hahahaha One can hope
Hey, I did it, so can you.
It’s unbelievable, isn’t it, how sometimes it’s harder to write a synopsis than an entire book? I hear and share your pain. I’ve also found (in my day job) that it’s much harder to write a short compelling bio than a 2 page CV. Distilling is such sweet sorrow…. but the result will be worth it, right?
It’s awful! I’m finding it very close to impossible. I mean it’s not the summarizing; that’s fine. I mean how many of us get out of school and can’t summarize something, no matter how long? It’s summarizing it in a way that is readable and exciting, gripping, you know?
ugh! Oh well, c’est la vie, right?
Thanks!
We should meet for a drink because I am in the same horrible place – and hairless as well. Writing a synopsis for my book that isn’t dead words on the page is the hardest thing I’ve tackled in my writing career to-date. Ugh. I’m off to check out your recommended links.
Don’t know how much help the links will be, but I hope you find it useful. This is definitely the most difficult aspect of writing
Good luck!
Same to you! I bookmarked about a dozen such sites but still flounder!
It’s like the holy grail of writing… :/
Seriously.
I think the trick with synopsis is to remember their purpose is to tell the editor/judge/whoever what happens in the story. Nothing more. They don’t need gimmicks or a strong voice. Just the skeleton of what your story is about. Query letters are another thing….
This is a really good distinction cos I always thought they were more or less the same, but they really aren’t. Also the skeleton approach is less scary than the ‘write a blurb’ approach.
Thanks !
Same boat here… finally readying a MS for agent submission. I felt all set and then realized that this daunting task is still before me. Kind of procrastinating. Let me know if you figure out a trick!
Haha I need to figure out some tricks :p Good luck with your submission, I hope it goes well
At least with an agent submission, you have some space to explain the story; my synopsis has to be 400 words… :/
I know it can be done, because someone else did it for me!
I know, I know, I should have done it myself. And I kind of did. But I think writers get to close to their stories, and it is almost impossible to leave out that one (or forty) detail that absolutely makes the story come to life (but really doesn’t). I wrote a two page synopsis, and then had a friend who is a very good writer cut it down to one page. I was amazed that I had everything there, I just couldn’t edit it myself. Maybe you have someone like that you can work with?
hahaha I might have to resort to that. I begged one of my writer friends to help me out. We’ll see how it goes :p
thanks!
As authors, we’re all on ground zero with our stories. We pluck details and minutia and record the subtly of character eye-twitch by finger-jab and conversation word by word. Immersion becomes second nature. But it’s the enemy of a synopsis.
A synopsis is a bird’s-eye view. The details are lost and the characters become largely indistinct. The only thing left visible are landmarks of the plot.
The trick is pulling away. Lifting off and hovering with an analytical eye, becoming dis-involved with the characters and reporting on the story as a historian would.
That’s a great way of looking at it
I still haven’t gotten high enough, but I’m flapping my wings like mad :p