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Chapter 2 - The dreaded synopsis

Just a reminder to check out the Dreame Writing Guides book on the app and website, as well as the amazing YouTube videos on the Stary Writing Channel.

Today, I would like to discuss what is probably one of the toughest things to write.

The synopsis… If you could see my face right now, you would think I hate what I do for a living, but for an author to write in a short little paragraph of what you want to tell in your entire novel is almost impossible.

Writers and authors are a breed of our own. We want to describe what’s happening around you. We want to give our readers as much of the information as we possibly can so that readers may enjoy our stories with us, BUT and this is a big BUT, when it comes to your synopsis, you basically have to give a short, factual statement of what your book is going to be about.

So, let’s get into the details of it.

The setting:

I tend to sometimes get carried away and write part of my plot into the setting.

Yes, I still make this mistake after all this time, LOL.

The setting is the time (year or century), and place (earth, multiverse, or a place you designed yourself).

The setting is the background of the story, it is the environment in which the characters live. There might be some characteristics or rules for that world. A storyline needs to correspond to the whole background of the story. It would be strange if you created your own world where gravity is heavier than on earth, but somewhere along the line, your character jumps into the air and floats off into space.

Ask yourself:

• What kind of world is it?

• What was the specialty at that time?

• Is it the same now?

When you start your new book, make notes of all the scenes you already have in mind for your book. Then look at your scenes and describe them. These notes will eventually give you guidance as your story grows.

For the synopsis, however, you need to reduce this list to your main scenes/settings. Avoid writing long descriptions of your setting. Save descriptions and such notes for your book. You want to share your description of the setting with your reader while giving your editor just the basic idea of where and when your book takes place.

Character discovery:

I used this heading because you will discover new things about your characters as you continue writing. However, when you have to write a synopsis, you only have to look at three things.

• The character’s background.

These will essentially be things that happen to your character that will explain why they are who they are in your book. Things like their childhood, or trauma they might have experienced throughout their lives. Maybe they have a big secret they are keeping that influences their current way of acting or thinking.

• Personality.

The character’s background will affect their personality. Give a short description of who they are. Your character might be stubborn, or kind and caring. Doing a character interview helps a lot to find out who your character is.

• Physical features.

DON’T use long descriptions! I can’t stress this enough. Simply show what your character looks like. Their eye colour, hair colour, posture, and body type. Perhaps your character has a distinctive dress code.

When you keep it short and factual, it makes things easier for editors to evaluate your books.

The plot:

This is usually where I fail big time!

You have already given details about both the setting and the characters. According to George Polty, there are 36 dramatic situations in total. No less, no more. Many others have agreed and disagreed with his point of view, but I’ve personally found that his idea is true.

Let’s take a look at these items. The full descriptions can be found on the internet, where they are explained in more detail. I simply want to give you an idea of the highlights.

• Supplication;

• Deliverance;

• Crime pursued by vengeance;

• Vengeance for kin upon kin;

• Pursuit;

• Disaster;

• Falling prey to cruelty or misfortune;

• Revolt;

• Daring enterprise;

• Abduction;

• The enigma;

• Obtaining;

• Enmity of kin;

• Rivalry of kin;

• Murderous adultery;

• Madness;

• Fatal imprudence;

• Involuntary crimes of love;

• Slaying of kin unrecognized;

• Self-sacrifice for an idea;

• Self-sacrifice for kin;

• All sacrificed for passion;

• Necessity of sacrificing loved ones;

• Rivalry of superior vs inferior;

• Adultery;

• Crimes of love;

• Discovery of the dishonor of a loved one;

• Obstacles to love;

• An enemy loved;

• Ambition;

• Conflict with a god;

• Mistaken jealousy;

• Erroneous judgment;

• Remorse;

• Recovery of a lost one; and

• Loss of loved ones.

There is an incredible amount of information on these topics available on the internet. As I am writing this part, I yearn to explain each highlight, but that would be going against what I’m trying to teach in this chapter.

Your book will definitely fit into one of these 36 situations, even if you don’t see it now. If you do some research, you will eventually see that it comes back to one of these.

Your book might consist of more than one plot. Again, I have to reiterate. Stick to the facts of your plot when preparing your synopsis, and keep your description for your book.

The blurb:

This is probably the most important part of your book. This will be the first impression readers see, besides the cover, when they look at your book. This can be anything, from an extract from your book, or sometimes even dialogue between your characters.

Without giving the entire plot away in this paragraph, you need to give your reader an idea of what your story is about and introduce them to your characters.

Where readers will never see the details of the setting, character discovery, and plot you submit to your editor, they WILL see your blurb. Without going into long descriptions of your plot and characters, you simply give your reader a taste of what’s to come.

Entice them, invite them into the novel you created.

When you are done writing your synopsis, read through it, again and again, to make sure that it’s factual and not filled with unnecessary descriptions.

Don’t throw away your notes! They will come in handy when you write your book, but for your synopsis, you won’t need all of your notes.

I hope this chapter is informative, and as I mentioned before, this is simply my personal experience. Feel free to add something in the comments section for discussion or ask a question if you have any.

Happy writing

XX