By:
Jane Friedman
It’s probably the single most despised document
you might be asked to prepare: the synopsis. The synopsis
is sometimes required because an agent or publisher wants to see, from
beginning to end, what happens in your story. Thus, the synopsis must convey a book’s
entire narrative arc. It shows what happens and who changes, and it has
to reveal the ending.
Don’t confuse the synopsis with sales
copy—the kind of material that might appear on your back cover or in an Amazon
description. You’re not writing a punchy marketing piece for readers that
builds excitement. It’s not an editorial about your book.
Unfortunately, there is no single “right”
way to write a synopsis. You’ll find conflicting advice about the appropriate
length, which makes it rather confusing territory for new writers especially.
However, I recommend keeping it short, or at least starting short. Write
a one-page synopsis—about 500-600 words, single spaced—and use that as your
default, unless the submission guidelines ask for something longer.
Most agents/editors will not be interested in a synopsis longer than a few
pages.
While this post is geared toward writers
of fiction, the same principles can be applied to memoir and
other narrative nonfiction works.
Why
the novel synopsis is important to agents and editors
.
. .
To
read the rest of the post, click here:
~*~
If
you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they
are again:
- Back to Basics: Writing a Novel Synopsis | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/Srdas
- Letting
Go of the Practice Novel http://ow.ly/SrhmP "Writing a book is an adventure. To begin
with it is a toy and an amusement..." - The
Non-Structural Language of Story - Storyfix.com http://ow.ly/Srhrb - 7 Essential Tools For Creating Superb Bestselling Book Titles http://ow.ly/Srhw2
AdviceToWriters - Advice to Writers http://ow.ly/SrhyN- Meaning What You Say, And a Bit More | Writers In The Storm http://ow.ly/SrhCM
- The Four Benefits of Pre-Writing (a guest post by Kaitlin Hillerich of Ink and Quills) | She's Novel http://ow.ly/SrhH8
- Create a Compelling Book Title - Rachelle Gardner http://ow.ly/SrhK1
- The State of the Publishing Industry in 5 Charts | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/SrhN2
- Where
to go When Your Self-Editing Can’t Get You There (or They’re?
or Their ?!) – The Wise Ink Blog http://ow.ly/SrhQY - Authors:
Have You Blabbed or Scoped Yet?
by France Caballo — The Book Designer http://ow.ly/SrhVl - How to Be a Better Writer: Turn Struggle Into Success http://ow.ly/SrhXi
- Fiction University: Who's There? Introducing Characters in a Scene http://ow.ly/SrhZW
- How to Create a Remarkable Villain (Beyond the Clichés!) http://ow.ly/Sri5k
- 9 Reasons Screenwriting Is Exactly Like Poker - ScreenCraft http://ow.ly/Sriah
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