One Paragraph Synopsis

ONE   PARAGRAPH  SYNOPSIS

If someone just walked up to you and asked you to summarize your novel into a single paragraph, you'd probably laugh at them. However, after trying to write a one-sentence synopsis, maybe you'll realize that a whole paragraph opens a world of possibilities! Don't go too crazy though. You don't want to end up with a paragraph that takes up a whole page.

In addition to the questions you asked yourself when writing the first version, consider the following:

• If you have more than one central character, what fate ultimately binds them together? Typically 

• What is the climax of the piece? Does your heroine slay the dragon? Does Timmy manage to rescue 

• What lesson is learned? Once again, this issue might be identical to the theme, but it might not. The 

It's time for a new sheet of paper or blank document. If one of your single sentence synopses really stands out, then start with that item if you'd like. Once again, treat this like a brainstorming session and churn out as many versions as come to you. I personally like to think of this in terms of what you might read as the back cover blurb. One version for the example story is:

Notice that in the single sentence version I didn't bother to include any names, but here I've introduced a few. Names of places and people must be used sparingly in any synopsis. Only mention a name if you're talking about a central character or place, I use a personal rule of:

"If it's too confusing not to mention the name, add it."

This issue typically comes into play when I realize I'm using a lot of words to write around something where I could just include a name. Others have suggested the following to me in the past:

"If a character or place is only referred to once throughout the 

Of course, this means that I might want to take out the reference to King Gunstig above, but I don't think this single paragraph version has a confusing number of proper nouns to keep track of. That's where we tend to run into problems with synopses. A synopsis for a novel with a cast of thousands can quickly bog down in too many people, places, and things to keep track of!

The One Page Synopsis

After going through a single line and single paragraph synopsis, the idea of having a whole page to fill is heaven. Here is where it's really tempting to try to fit everything in, every little nuance and subplot, but fortunately for the average novel all of this information won't fit in one page-- I say fortunately because if you did include all of that, then you'd have to pull it back out!

Proceed with caution. Here are some more questions to ask yourself before starting:

A great way to structure these issues if you have multiple main characters is to give each of them a paragraph or so. One good layout is a first paragraph that ties evervthing together for the beginning, progress through the characters, and then a last paragraph that ties it all together again for the end. For a single character, make sure not to let subplots get involved, since it might feel that you have room.

Grab another blank sheet or file and give it a whirl. If you actually need to turn in a one-page synopsis, then be sure to keep in mind that you'll have to double-space the document once you have it typed up. On the other hand, if you don't have to turn in the single pager, go ahead and leave it single-spaced, while keeping in mind that when it comes time to expand into whatever length you are looking for, the ultimate result will have to be double-spaced (isn't document formatting fun?)

Here's an expansion of my previous exercise, designed to fit on a single double-spaced page:

Once again, I avoid names as much as possible here. Little Timmy comes up often, and it's easier and more appropriate to say "Timmy" than "our hero" for this kind of piece. The rest of the characters I really don't feel the need to name, even the King who's referred to more than once. It's easy enough to just say "The King." Now, if there were two Kings in this story, names would become more important in the synopses.

This breakdown is also still very focused. None of Timmy's side adventures are included. Nothing about what the warlords are doing, a couple of quick adjectives to describe the old woman, or even the specifics of how the curse works are introduced here. There's just not enough room. I find that, personally, I delete a lot of what I write when I'm preparing the single-pager. It's easy to think that there's so much room after being confined to sentences and paragraphs; that is, until you suddenly find yourself moving on to the next page.

The Expanded Synopsis

Finally! If you're submitting your novel to an agent or editor and a synopsis is required, this length is what you're aiming for. The general advice is to keep the expanded version to five pages. However, always look at the writer's guidelines for the publication or agency in question and follow their instructions rather than anyone else's. They're the ones who know what they want, and they are paying attention to whether you heeded their preferences or not.

Your synopsis may not need to be particularly long: let your story be your guides. Once again, let me remind you that a novel synopsis should only cover your central storyline and characters. Don't go off following side plots or trying to explain every nuance of your characters' behavior, even of the main protagonist(s).

I approach the expansion by starting with the single-page version, and then filling in between the lines. Often I haven't managed to answer all of the questions asked throughout this article, and so I go back through and look to see where I can flesh out motivations, driving forces, key events, and so on. Nothing gets added unless it's necessary to explain what's already there. The hard part, of course, is as the author I often think more is required than really is.

It's worthwhile at this point to share your synopsis with people who are good at giving constructive feedback, and (this is important) who have never read any part of your novel, and who you haven't told much of the story to-- especially if you have a particularly complex plotline. See if they find the described story compelling, if they feel that what you have is cohesive, or if they feel like you have a bunch of unrelated bits and pieces all kind of tacked together. I personally find that this is the best way to accomplish two things:

1.  Not leave out critical bits of detail that are obvious to me but not 

2.  Find bits of detail that are not necessary, and in fact over complicate 

Once I found myself with a twelve page synopsis, and after a lot of thought and showing it to a few people, realized that what I'd done is written a six page synopsis with too much information about a quite complex plot, and expanded the piece to twelve pages trying to explain all of the extraneous bits I'd included in the six-pager. By rewriting my synopsis using the methods discussed throughout this article, I found myself with a much better five page synopsis that better met that fine line of too much detail, and too little. 

Obviously, every writer works differently. This method might be great for you, or might in fact make writing for you much more difficult.