A synopsis is essentially a summary designed to provide the reader a brief overview of the primary plot and central events of your story. It’s a good idea for every author to learn how to write a book synopsis. Especially when you consider the fact that publishers and agents look at synopses as a means of judging the quality of a novel and its viability as a successfully published book. They need to know what happens in the story from beginning to end, so a book synopsis must convey a book’s entire narrative arc.
Writing a Book Synopsis
It’s no surprise that most authors don’t actually likes writing book synopses. It takes a lot of effort to write an attractive synopsis, especially when you want to impress your agent. There are no hard and fast rules about writing a synopsis. While synopsis formats will vary depending on the book, the general approach to synopsis writing rarely changes. The purpose is to provide a sweeping overview of the main acts of a given story. A synopsis can reveal how fresh or how flawed your story is so it is important that you come up with a striking one. ChatEbooks believes the following tips will prove useful to the efforts of any author struggling with the prospect of writing a synopsis.
Maintain Relevance
You need to stick to the essentials. When your goal is to impress your publisher, it is easy to overstuff your synopsis by trying to include the best scenes and elements of your story. Try to remember the purpose of a book synopsis. Your publisher only cares about understanding the structure of your story and the spine of the plot. As such, avoid including elements that do not provide the reader insight into your story’s plot twists, notable character development and the conflicts at play.
Ensure Brevity
You need to keep your synopsis clear and concise. Avoid providing an overabundance of detail, especially about your characters and plot twists. The purpose of a synopsis is to elicit intrigue from the reader, not to tell the entire story. Stick to the basics. Refrain from including character backstories, dialogue (unless extremely required) or deconstructing themes that the story may address. You only have so many words to make your point, so use them carefully. The longer your synopsis is, the less interest you will attract.
Start Well
Just like the best books require the best openings, you need to make the opening of your synopsis equally as interesting. The very first paragraph of your book synopsis should engage and intrigue readers, compelling them to proceed with some excitement about what is to come. The first paragraph should also provide as much basic information about your book as possible. This includes the time period and location as well as the protagonist of the story.
Synopsis Format
It’s difficult to determine the right book synopsis format that will bode well with your target audience. Try reviewing different synopsis formats of successfully published novels in your genre. Ultimately the best synopses should be concise and elegant, illuminating the key plot points of the story as well as the emotions it evokes.
You need to treat your book synopsis as a selling tool. Every single sentence that you write matters. For that reason, you cannot afford to lose yourself in the details. The key is to say as much as possible in the fewest words. This means hitting your readers with the best elements of your story from the very first word, cutting out any irrelevant details, putting your writing skills on display and making certain that you understand the preferences of your target readers.
In other words, the quality of your synopsis should reflect the quality of your book.
