I've done a number of blog tours over the years, posting on different sites. Now I'm bringing them to you!
Originally published August 2, 2013 for Savvy Authors
You’ve just spend weeks (or months or years) writing, honing, and polishing your story. But to sell it, you need to write a full synopsis. Imagine condensing your novel or novella down to 500 words or less. Does your heart pound in your throat? Does your whole being rebel against the thought?
Well, of course. A synopsis is like putting your story on an X-treme diet. Who likes diets—especially ones that reduce your baby to a bare 1% of the total?
But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can ease the stress of writing a synopsis by flipping your thinking around.
Build the synopsis from the ground up.
How? You simply have to know the traditional five turning points of your story: the catalyst, the big event, the pinch, the crisis, and the climax. These go by other names, so my definition of each is at the end. (Please note that this technique is for the one or two page synopsis, complete with ending, that you send an editor, publisher, or agent. The teaser synopsis, or blurb, is another animal entirely.)
Let’s build a synopsis using this technique from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, you’ll still be able to follow along.
Here are the turning points. If you don’t understand the story from the raw points, that’s okay. It’ll become clearer as we go.
Catalyst: Dorothy’s dog Toto is seized by her wicked neighbor. Dorothy retrieves Toto and the two run away from home.
Big Event: A cyclone hits, sweeping Dorothy’s house, Toto, and Dorothy away.
Pinch: Dorothy and her friends reach the Wizard, only to be told she must destroy the Wicked Witch (or bring him her broomstick in the movie).
Crisis: The Witch captures Dorothy and imprisons her.
Climax: The Wizard’s hot air balloon takes off without Dorothy. She must rely on herself to return home.
The book actually jumps right to the Big Event, but that’s a normal difference between books and movies. Authors are taught to get right into the story. Screenplays include a setup that’s usually ten percent of the finished film.
Now we write our synopsis. Take these five points and add to them like this: add a sentence or two before each point to orient the reader, remembering to include the setting; insert those specific details between the points that are necessary to transition smoothly. Bonus Tip: You can add in hints of what makes your writing special (like a touch of humor), and one or two tidbits of color. In this case, I’ll expand “Dorothy’s friends” to include their very lively names, and also add the yellow brick road to contrast with Dorothy’s old gray farm. Bonus Tip: The theme often makes a good wrap up.
The Synopsis:
Dorothy is a young girl living with her aunt and uncle on a small, gray farm; only her dog Toto brings her joy. Then Toto is seized by her wicked neighbor. Dorothy recovers Toto and runs away from home.
She meets a carnival man who convinces her to go home. But when she gets to her house, a cyclone hits. Before Dorothy can reach the storm shelter, the wind sweeps away Dorothy’s house with Toto and Dorothy in it.
The house lands in a colorful countryside—on top of a bad witch, killing her. A good witch appears and tells Dorothy that the great wizard Oz can send her home. She gives Dorothy the dead witch’s Silver Shoes (ruby slippers in the movie). Dorothy follows a road of yellow brick to Oz’s city, and along the way rescues three friends: the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion. But when Dorothy and her friends reach the Wizard, he will only help her if she destroys another bad witch, the Wicked Witch of the West.
But the Wicked Witch sees them coming and sends winged monkeys to capture Dorothy and Toto (and the Lion in the book). The Wicked Witch incarcerates Dorothy (enslaves her in the book). Dorothy is alone and friendless.
But when the Witch tries to steal Dorothy’s silver shoes, Dorothy, in anger, throws a bucket of water on the Witch. The water melts her. Dorothy is freed. She collects her friends and returns to the Wizard to claim her reward.
The Wizard, though, tries to get out of his promise. Dorothy and her friends confront him, and the Wizard is proven to be merely a man. But he is a man with a hot air balloon and offers to use it to take Dorothy home.
Then, the day of the launch, the balloon takes off without Dorothy. She must rely on herself to get back home. She finds the good witch, who says the silver shoes will take Dorothy and Toto back. She’s had the power all along, but without her adventure, she wouldn’t have discovered that there truly is no place like home.
Easier than whittling down a hundred or so pages, right? Only items which are essential to making the plot points make sense are added, such as the silver shoes, which both trigger Dorothy’s anger (melting the witch) and get her home. Only the main characters and those who infuse extreme color are named.
If you’ve read the book or seen the movie, you’ll note I haven’t included the friends’ stories. That’s why this is such a great tool. The Scarecrow’s brain, the Tin Woodman’s heart, and the Cowardly Lion’s courage are important, but they’re not critical to understanding the plot points, so I know I can safely exclude them.
Need more? If you’re asked for a longer synopsis, you can simply list the five plot points for the secondary stories and weave them in. This also works for romance, where you have story arcs for both hero and heroine, or paranormal romance, where you have the hero, heroine and story arcs.
The five plot points defined. These definitions are my own. You can find other names for these points and fuller explanations with a simple web search. If these definitions don’t match yours, the technique will still work using your own understanding of the major story turning points.
The catalyst: The protagonist is going about her daily life when something changes.
The big event: Takes the protagonist in a new direction. The problem is worse than she first thought.
The pinch: Either the point of no return or a low point when the protagonist fails utterly. Usually starts her on the right path to the final solution.
The crisis: Locks the protagonist in and leads directly to the climax. Can be where the protagonist tries for a final solution and fails.
The climax: Final showdown. Can be where the protagonist tries for a final solution and either tragically fails completely with no more options, or succeeds.
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