Breaking the Synopsis Myth

You've done it. You've finished your manuscript to a bright polish. You even managed to put together a decent query letter, but then you realize what you still have to do: the synopsis. People tend to debate whether the synopsis or the query letter is more difficult, but after finishing both, the query letter wins hands down.

But, but, but...

Well, let's take a look.

For those of you who aren't aspiring authors, here's a little glimpse into the world of publishing. Now, I'm not in publishing, nor have I been published yet, but I offer you my many, many hours of research in a short blog entry, free of charge.

When you want to find a literary agent, you know, a person to help with your career, manage contracts, find a home for your book, etc., there is a process. First, you finish your story. If you haven't, don't even bother unless you're lucky enough to be someone like Stephen King, Diana Gabaldon or Janet Evanovich. Once that's done, and edited to a high gleam, you need what's called a query letter. A query is a short pitch of your novel, usually around 250 words, that should give the plot and tone, yet can still invoke the "awesome-ness" reaction. In other words, you want people to be knocking down doors for your work. I've talked about queries a bit before here.

Some agents also require a synopsis--this is the plot of your novel in about two pages. Now, everywhere I went, I read how difficult it was. How nervewracking. There was no way anyone could write the plot of their 300+ page novel in two pages! Even I fell into this trap, putting off the synopsis day after day and instead spent my time researching. The research wasn't helping, until I came across the most relevant and helpful sentence this morning on Nathan Bransford's blog. Simply, it says:

A synopsis needs to do two things: 1) it needs to cover all of the major characters and major plot points (including the ending) and 2) it needs to make the work come alive.

That single sentence caused a lightbulb to turn on inside my head. If I had only seen this advice a week ago, I would've had the synopsis done without all this dread inbetween. I abhor formulas, which was mostly what I had found until today, but this advice just worked for me. I sat down and an hour later, I had a finished synopsis of 1,400 words and just a tad over two pages. I'm pretty pleased with it, actually. A few subplots were left out, but it's for the best.

So, if you're at the stage where you want to find an agent and try getting published, don't fret over the synopsis. The query letter is hard, I won't deny it (mine took a month to get where I wanted it), but after that, the worst part will be the waiting and the rejections. Don't fear the synopsis.

On a side note, I sent my first query letter today.

UPDATE: I have since written another synopsis, just over a page and it was kind of fun. You read that right: I enjoyed it.