Lazy cat days…I feel ya, Ultron. Super chilly days like today call for mass editing and blog writing! Today, I have been working on a synopsis for my novel.
This has become one of the hardest things I have had to come up with while writing my novel. I know what my book is about, but I have a hard time describing it to people.
“Oh, it’s just a book about pirates.”
That’s easy to say, but that doesn’t tell you the details of the story. Just saying this, you don’t know that it’s about a girl. You don’t know that it’s the journey of a girl to help free her country from the tyrannical rule of Commander Pettigrew. As I work towards
finishing this book and figuring out how to get it published, I know that I need to start working on a kick-butt synopsis, or summary.
A synopsis is a summary of your story.
It tells the basic story. For example, here is one that I made up for a story named “In the Shadow of the King”.
Slave to Counselor.
Follow the story of a young boy who grows up in Chandelier Palace. Dormanu was born into slavery, but that doesn’t keep him from dreaming of bigger things.
Dormanu makes his way through the ranks, starting from chamber pots and rising up to chief counselor of the king. However, the story isn’t that simple. Conflict from other slaves, loves, and his family will make Dormanu’s path a difficult one to overcome. He will have to work hard to grow from the miserable life he currently leads.
Dormanu wants to leave the shadow, he no longer wants to walk in the shadow of the king.
This synopsis is short, but intriguing. The idea of the story is shown, without being too vague, but also not too detailed. The reader should be able to get the idea of your story without reading the whole novel.
A synopsis is what you will use to sell your book.
How many times have you gone into a bookstore or library and read the back cover or inside cover of a book? Even better, how many times have you done that and set the book back down?
That was a shortened synopsis of that book.
This is why this descriptive paragraph of your story is so important. You will use this to sell your story to readers and, if you end up publishing, to editors and publishers. The synopsis needs to make readers pick up that book and read it. This is all fine and good, but how do you actually come up with one of these?
Think of the basic story-line.
When I was coming up with my synopsis, I had to sit and come up with a couple of questions. How do I purposefully and strategically tell my novel’s story in so few words?
First, I came up with the basic story-line. This is the major plot point that my characters are going to be following. In my example synopsis, this story-line is Dormanu’s dream of being something more than a slave. I add this to the synopsis, because it is important! I want to make sure that my readers know what the story is about.
I know that seems very simple, but it can be hard at first. You don’t want to add every.single.detail. to the synopsis. You have all of these favorite parts of your story that you are just so excited to tell your reader, but you want to keep some of it a secret. However, you can add some of the highlights.
Add the pizzazz!
In addition to your basic plot, you might want to add little snippets of the exciting things that happen to your main character. In ‘The Shadow of the King’, I added the fact that Dormanu would be facing conflict. This is something that can peak the interest of a reader. I know in reading some books, that I have seen them use this on their book covers. It isn’t enough to make me feel like I already read the book, but just enough to make me be like ‘huh, I wonder why that happens’.
Adding the pizzazz is kinda like that important first line, that hook, of your story. I know that I have read a few books where the first line is actually what is on the back of the cover. It could help in a synopsis.
These are the reasons why I believe having a synopsis is important. Don’t forget to check out the synopsis of my novel that I am currently working on here!
Life of a Disorganized Gnome 