Are you a writer who hates the idea of writing a synopsis for your story?
You’re not alone, most of my students tell me it’s their least favorite thing.
You might love your story, have a potential bestseller on your hands, but unless you can make the synopsis shine as much as the story it attempts to describe, you’ve lost an important opportunity.
Here are three easy to remember tips that I know will help take the edge off some of the fear of synopsis writing-
It’s Someone Else’s Work
This is a handy tip for self editing too. Imagine, it’s not your story but a book you read and you’re telling a friend about it.
Write down everything you can remember.
I’m guessing you’ll remember the most important parts of the story, characters, plot, turning points, conflict, plot reversals, and the ending.
Guess what, all these elements go to make a great synopsis.
Once you have these, simply work more details of your story around them.
Chapter by Chapter
Some writers get overwhelmed especially if they’ve got a longer story on their hands. Don’t panic, take a deep breath and break the story down chapter by chapter.
What happens in each one?
Once you have that, try to figure out what’s most important to include in the synopsis.
If you left something out would the synopsis still make sense?
If so, it doesn’t need to go in there.
Imagine You Write for a TV Magazine
I always say turn a dreaded chore into something fun so imagine you work for a TV magazine and you need to give your readers an overview of a show you think they might enjoy watching.
The show is your story, what are you going to tell them about it?
Imagine, too, that your imaginary reader is an editor or agent.
How can you convince them that this show they can’t afford to miss?
Try one of all three of these and I know synopsis writing will get a lot easier for you.
Gah, you read my mind, because I hate the synopsis. I think my dread stems from having done so much work and being done with the manuscript, then finding out I still need to finish the synopsis. The first tip is pretty useful though. Thanks for sharing!