Some authors are reporting that a synopsis is the deal-maker document that lifted their book into publication. Even if the publisher is you, the author, the work that goes into summary to make a synopsis pays back in multitudes. You’ll be selling and pitching that book the rest of your life. You don’t get to tread on the attentions of an audience very long before you engage them. Knowing what’s crucial to a story means learning to see it from afar. Keeping the synopsis lively and brimming with your voice is the special sauce that makes them savory.
Nonfiction writers are given the synopsis as their foundational assignment. A proposal for a nonfiction book usually includes a meaty table of contents and a comprehensive introduction. The whole of a proposal, aside from the writing sample, is a synopsis.
In fiction, it’s different, because these are novels and are unique in some way. You only get a couple of pages, single-spaced, to create a synopsis of a novel or a memoir. Those are books rooted in metaphor and pacing and expression, and it’s a real effort to get one written that includes all of that and doesn’t get swamped by plot. It’s a snapshot of the characters, their plot, and the themes of the book.
Making each piece work
Every sentence must serve a purpose in a synopsis. The writing needs to begin with a sentence that introduces the protagonist and their problem, viewed through a conflict. All of your favorite whistle stops go into a synopsis: inciting incident, key conflicts, and yeah, the climax and resolution.
The synopsis shows the agent or the publisher the roadmap of the story’s arc. The synopsis is much easier to create after you’ve written the book, if you’re writing fiction or memoir. Stay away from subplots; you don’t have room for them.
Show motivations for characters’ growth and change. This is probably the best place to infuse the writing with the soul of the story. I like to suggest revealing the Secret Sorrow of the protagonist, and even the sorry for the antagonist. It’s an injury from long ago the character hides or denies.
I have a list of central human themes I apply to books I’m working with: things like mercy, equality, cruelty, dignity and deceit. These big-picture topics signal to an agent or an editor you’re reaching for a universal message — the kind that brings in more readers.
