Synopsis Détente
Today I finished the second draft of the synopsis for novel #2 in my PI series. The event passed without fanfare. No parades, no emails from admirers, not even a pat on the back. But that's okay because the synopsis is one of the necessary evils of the fiction-writing business. As much as it sucks to write it, I'm afraid it just goes with the territory.
Every time I finish a novel, a wave of dread passes over me because I know, sure as Sunday, I'll soon have to write the synopsis. Believe it or not, I actually prefer going to the dentist over writing a 2-page double-spaced Reader's Digest version of my 75,000-word book. I'd rather clean my office than write the thing, and I have. You get the idea.
Not a lot of pics out there illustrating détente.
After writing synopses (awkward word) for four novels, I've reached a Synopsis Détente. Like the U.S. and U.S.S.R. in the early 80s, I still dislike the synopsis, and the synopsis still dislikes me, but in the interest of our mutual betterment, we've decided to compromise with each other. Whereas I used to sit down and attempt to recount every one of the novel's plot points in the synopsis, I have learned to embrace the limitations of the form by summarizing only the key events.
The most comprehensive book out there on writing the synopsis and presenting your novel to agents and publishers in general is Elizabeth Lyon's The Sell Your Novel Tool Kit. I've read or browsed others, but hers is the one I referred to during my early attempts at the synopsis.
Based on what I learned in her book, and from my own experience, let me give you the most basic guidelines for the synopsis:
- Summarize the most important plot elements in present tense.
- Write it in narrative form, like a story, not in bullet points or in a chapter by chapter description.
- Use active, picturesque verbs.
- Refer to characters by name only when necessary for clarity or brevity (i.e., to avoid cumbersome constructions like, "The doctor's brother's girlfriend...")
- Indent the first line of each paragraph.
- Use 1" margins all around. Try to keep the synopsis to one page single-spaced or two pages double-spaced. (I prefer double-spacing because I think the white space makes it read faster.)
- Add page numbers at the bottom, but don't put a header on it. Instead, use the title of the novel and your name in the first sentence: "AN EXCELLENT NOVEL by Jane Doe is an 80,000-word historical romance that explores...."
- Avoid adjectives that tell. This is the old "show, don't tell" advice. In other words, don't tell the agent or editor reading the synopsis that your novel is a "riveting tour de force" or a "sweeping epic"; rather, let the reader get that feeling on her own through your masterful condensation.
- Try to have the synopsis mirror the tone of your novel. For example, if your novel is a mystery, make the synopsis read like a mini-mystery. Describe the happenings in your book so that they form story questions in the reader's mind: "Will he solve the murder?" "Will Jane lose the farm?"
- Where possible, incorporate snatches of dialogue from the main characters so the reader can get a feeling for them. Honestly, I find this difficult to do most of the time, for the simple reason that you're trying to keep it to two pages.
The last piece of advice I have to offer is one that will help you reach détente with the synopsis much sooner than I did. Simply put, be patient. Unless you're a Mozart-like freak who can churn out a brilliant essay in one pass, plan on writing it in drafts.
In her terrific book Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott talks about the importance of writing "...shitty first drafts. All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts." (If you'd like to read the complete essay from the book, here's the PDF. Or buy the damn book. It's great, and so is she.) The point here is that you need to suspend your judgment and recognize that there's NO WAY you can be comprehensive AND brief AND scintillating AND compelling in the first draft. Instead, write a draft, print it out and put it in a drawer for a day or two. Then take it with you to a diner (what I do) and edit it.
As a part of being patient, DON'T try to bang out the synopsis the second you type "THE END" on the last page of your novel. Give yourself a couple of weeks to let the novel's events settle in your subconscious. Then when you start on the synopsis, you'll only be able to remember the truly important parts. Oh, and one other thing: don't try to write the synopsis as you write the novel, even if you take it up on the second or third draft of the book. Why? Simple—you're apt to change the story, and if you do, bye-bye synopsis.
Good luck and happy summarizing. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to start a fire in the wood stove with mine.