I have probably posted this before, but I came across it while going through the blog tours I've done (2013, if anyone's counting) and it bears repeating.
Synopsis in a Snap
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. Condense your 30-120K down to 500 words or less. Does your heart pound and your mouth? 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 to a bare 1% of the total?
But it doesn’t have to be that way. You can ease the stress and write a synopsis in a snap by flipping your thinking around.
Build the synopsis from the ground up.
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. (This technique is for the synopsis, complete with ending, that you send an editor, publisher, or agent. The teaser synopsis or blurb is another animal.)
Let’s build a synopsis using these five points 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 Gale’s dog Toto is seized by her wicked neighbor. When Toto escapes, Dorothy and Toto 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 film).
Crisis: The Witch captures Dorothy and her friends, and imprisons her away from her friends.
Climax: The hot air balloon takes off without Dorothy. She must rely on herself to get back home.
Note that the book 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. Add a sentence or two before the point to orient the reader, and between the points to transition smoothly between. You can also add in one or two points of color. In this case, I’ll expand “Dorothy’s friends” to include their very lively names, and add the yellow brick road. Another addition is the theme, which I’ll added at the end.
Dorothy Gale is a young girl living with her aunt and uncle on a small, old, and gray farm; only her dog Toto makes her laugh. Then Toto is seized by her wicked neighbor, so when Dorothy recovers Toto, the pair runs away from home.
Dorothy meets a carnival man who convinces her to go home. But when she gets there a cyclone hits. Before Dorothy can hide, the wind sweeps away Dorothy’s house with Toto and Dorothy in it.
The house lands in a colorful countryside—on top of a Wicked Witch, killing her. A good witch appears and tells Dorothy only 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 witch, the Wicked Witch of the West.
But the Wicked Witch sees them coming and sends the Winged Monkeys at them. The Monkeys capture Dorothy and Toto (and the Lion in the book) and take her to the Witch, who incarcerates her (enslaves her in the book). Dorothy is alone and friendless.
But when the Witch tries to steal Dorothy’s lovely slippers, Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her in anger, which melts the Witch. Dorothy is freed. She collects her friends and returns to the Wizard to claim her reward.
The Wizard tries to get out of his promise, and when Dorothy and her friends confront him, is proven to be merely a man. But he has a hot air balloon and take Dorothy back to Kansas in it.
Then the day of the launch, the hot air balloon takes off without Dorothy. She must rely on herself to get back home. The good witch tells Dorothy the Silver Shoes (ruby slippers) will take her and Toto home. She’s had the power all along but without her adventure she wouldn’t have known 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 slippers which trigger Dorothy’s anger (melting the Witch) and get her home. Only the main characters or 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 Woodsman’s heart, and the Cowardly Lion’s courage are important, but they’re not critical to 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 any secondary stories and weave them in. This also works for romance, where you have plot points for hero and heroine each.
Published since 2009, over the years I've accumulated various items of writing wisdom. The Third Tuesday Writing Tidbit showcases these items in no particular order. Click here to see all 3T Tidbits.
