Synopsis

[Daphnesmate]

Hi. Anyone submitted to agents? Please can you give me advice about the synopsis - it's length and what it should contain. What sort of format did you use?

Actually there are lots of articles etc about writing a synopsis on the internet and mostly pretty useful and d all say the same thing.

Just explain the plot, in chronological order, including the ending and any twists or surprises. Explain a little bit who the main characters are. Set out their character arc - how the events of the plot impact on them emotionally.

The point of the synopsis is that the publisher needs to understand what happens, to whom and why, without reading all 350 pages of it. And that's about all, really!

Don't try to be clever or witty or sarcastic. You want to write in a very neutral tone of voice. Not a single spelling mistake!!! and make sure you specify what genre of novel you have written.

I'm actually finding it quite difficult to write. I think I am afraid I am going to leave out a critical bit or not convey the essence of the story across or on the flip side write too much. It is not a particularly straight forward story really for a couple of reasons. Work in progress at the moment!

I've managed to write it or at least a first draft. It is about one and half pages long...is this too long for a synopsis? I haven't filled it with unimportant events or anything and I think I would find it difficult to condense the outline of the story any further.

You will need different length synopses to submit to agents with varying requirements, so you will need to get it down under a page as well.

Basically they want to know you can plot and that your story doesn't just fizzle out.

Most people find them hard to write at first but it's useful as it forces you to figure out the most important elements of your story. It's better to leave out a nice subplot or two than to get bogged down trying to squeeze everything in and end up with something hard to read.

It feels difficult getting the book out the door to agents, never mind the self doubts about the actual book itself, there's the synopsis and covering letter to consider and I think I might tie myself up in knots about it all if I worry too much. At the end of the day, I wrote the book for me and never with the intention of getting it published, of course it would be nice, really nice if that happened but at the end of the day, I can always self publish it for my own satisfaction I suppose.