I have recently made an agent package for my novel. In that agent package, you have to include a synopsis. This is usually 500-800 words (or 1-2 pages). Each agent will be specific about the size they want. It is important that you listen to this and do not go over this. They have guidelines for a reason. And agents get hundreds of submissions.
Part of the narrowing down process is likely to be: can this person follow instructions? If you send a 2-page synopsis when they asked for 1 page, or a 900 word synopsis when they asked for 800, then you have just gave them the first and only reason they need to bin your manuscript… and you cannot submit to the same agent with the same project twice. So best to get it right the first time.
They will also know if you play around with font. Use Times New Roman or Arial at size 11 or 12 and 1.5 spacing or double-spaced.
What is a synopsis?
A synopsis is different to a blurb. The blurb is the back of the book that hooks the readers in with hints of what the story is about. It leaves questions in the readers mind. But a synopsis does not do that. A synopsis is more that summary on wikipedia when you google a book or a film and it gives you the ins and outs. The spoilers. The core moments.
This is what you would be writing for an agent. The story from start to finish with the core moments told and nothing held back. They need to see the story outline, not have questions racing through their mind.
Bear in mind, in order to write a synopsis you are going to need a complete manuscript, preferably not the first draft.
How I wrote a synopsis
My novel sits at 156,000 words. It’s difficult to imagine squeezing this into 800 words, or even just one page but needs must and I did it. It’s possible. With Seas’ Game I also had the issue that the narrative jumps between timelines, and it is also omniscient narration so it is not just focusing on one character at any given moment.
It get this into two pages, I needed to be tight with all things. This meant omitting the romantic interest / love dynamic of my characters. I also didn’t include the smallest perspective, which was my MFC’s father. His storyline is important but not as important as my main female characters.
Choosing what to cut
I recommend outlining all elements of your story but keep it simple. For example:
- Kingdom is made aware of the birth of the prince.
- All attend but the prince’s uncle.
- The king questions the whereabouts of his brother.
- Uncle makes a lame excuse when challenged
- Uncle and King argue.
- Prince visits uncle and is told of a dangerous place that the prince should never visit.
- Prince fetches his betrothed to travel to the dangerous place.
- Unfortunately for the prince, the King’s vizor is acting as chaprone.
- They ditch the vizor at the earliest opportunity.
- Prince and his betrothed are attacked by a bunch of nitwits.
- The king rescues him just in time.
- The uncle then sends the Prince to a deserted place for a surprise.
- The prince is almost squished by a stampede of scared subjects.
- The king pushes him out of the way
- The uncle uses the stampede to kill the king without the prince knowing.
- The prince sees his father’s dead body and believes it is his fault.
- The uncle sends the prince away.
Above is the first act of the Lion King. Some of these points don’t add much. Here’s the list with only the core elements.
- King and his brother argue about his absence from the prince’s birth.
- Prince is told of a dangerous place that the prince should never visit.
- Prince travels to the dangerous place and is attacked by a bunch of nitwits but is rescued by the king.
- The uncle issues a trap that allows him to kill the king.
- The prince believes he is responsible for his father’s death and runs away.
This could be tighter. I would say, aim for 25-30 bullet points for your story, with the first and last quarter of the book taking about 4-6 bullet points each.
Writing the synopsis
The core elements from the outline above will help with the foundation of the synopsis. For the purpose of this, I’m going to be giving the lion king character human ages.
KING MUFASA (40s) questions why his brother, SCAR (late 30s) missed the birth of the prince. Through a heated argument, Mufasa issues a warning and Scar backs down. Scar is then visited by the prince, SIMBA (10) and Scar purposefully tells him of the Elephant Graveyard, a forbidden place he knows Simba will want to visit. Simba visits with his betrothed, NALA (9) but is set on by a bunch of nitwits hired by his uncle. Mufasa saves Simba and chats to him about heeding orders.
Shortly after, Simba is sent into a gorge by his uncle. The nitwits are then given the cue to frighten the animals and start a stampede heading directly for the gorge. Mufasa runs into the chaos to save Simba. With the prince safe, Mufasa turns to his brother for help only to be killed. Scar makes Simba believe it is his fault and Simba runs away.
Those 6 points became the first two pages of a synopsis, giving more detail while sticking to the main points. This would be a great headway for the first page of a two page synopsis. For a one page synopsis, I would want to be a little tighter. Perhaps the second paragraph would be rewritten:
Scar sets a trap for Mufasa by placing Simba into the middle of a stampede. Scar uses the chaos to kill Mufasa and blames the death on Simba who flees.
Managing a non-chronological novel
A synopsis is told in the order of novel events. This means that any events that happen in the past but is only told half-way through the novel, is also told only half-way through the synopsis. This was the difficult bit for me. For a one page synopsis, I recommend omitting any mention of flashbacks. You simply do not have the space for it.
For a two page synopsis, I split my novel into acts using headers and added a line at the bottom of the acts along the lines of: interwoven throughout this act are scenes from 1725-1730 that mirror the events of the main timeline. There were also occasions where I could mention the flashbacks without this by using phrases like “triggers a memory of X event”. In fact, other than the first act, I used phrases like this to imply a flashback in a way that fits the synopsis flow rather than directly mention that scenes from the past take place. It’s a difficult balance to get right.
Formatting the synopsis
You may have gathered some of the formatting rules of a synopsis by my example above. The first time I mentioned a character, I capitalised the name and gave a general idea of what the character’s age is. You can be specific with the age too, like I am with Simba and Nala.
I would try and keep the name mentions limited as limited as possible. Zazu is not mentioned or even hinted at in the synopsis. The hyenas are mentioned as a group because they do not act as individuals and other than being Scars nitwit goons, they have no crucial role in the story. Nala’s role in the story is limited. She is probably only mentioned in the first act and at the turning point of the story. Technically, we could replace her name with betrothed and it would still make sense. However, as she plays a crucial part in Simba’s return to the pride lands, it is good to name her.
There will also be times when there are important locations or items. I would bold these so that they stand out as something that is important to the story. Imagine not highlighting the sword in the Sword and the Stone. The story wouldn’t work without it.
They are told in present tense and third person omniscient. This wasn’t an issue for me as I tend to write third person omniscient anyway, and I’m used to present tense from screenwriting, but it’s something to be mindful of. Especially if you’re not used to third person or omniscient narration.
Additionally, you will give away spoilers. The ending sentence for the Lion King would be along the lines of: Simba defeats Scar and leaves him for dead when the heyenas attack.
Get someone to look at your synopsis
I am lucky that I know Alex Davis, an ex-publisher who now teaches others about the publishing world and holds some awesome events on writing. He looked at my agent package for me and gave me comments on how to improve this. Not everyone is going to have a connection to the industry but it is still important that you send it to someone to look at.
Preferably not a friend. Ask a coworker. As a friend’s uncle. Someone who is not going to have bias towards you or someone you trust to be able to manage that bias. The last thing you want is for a spelling mistaking to be sent their way. Even worse, you don’t want the hook to be lost at the synopsis stage. Make sure it’s not dry.
Synopsis done, now what?
Now that you have done your synopsis, you need to prepare for the next part of the agent package. This would be either the cover letter, or going over your three chapters in great detail. If you have already done both of these, well then it’s time to send it out and I wish you luck.