Writing a Synopsis

I've learned quite a lot about writing synopses over the last several weeks. Mostly from my failures. I'm still not sure I have everything together, yet, but I thought I should at least share what I have learned.

The summary has to cover the major plot points and address the protagonist's journey. Efficient, but inclusive, the writing must give spoilers, completing the picture of the concept. Vague writing has no place in this type of proposal. And while concise, the synopsis should still interest and enthuse. After all, it's the first impression that an agent or editor will have of a writer. Geared to hook the reader with an overview, a writer's entry will go a long way to achieving success when the reader comes to the end and is excited to keep going.

Yeah, well, that's the plan anyway.

I started my synopsis going through my protagonist's arc. Her regular life and goals started my essay. Then I explained how my inciting incident thwarted her progress. That much was easy, but I write mysteries and suspense. As I tried to describe the plot and all of it's twist, my writing became hopelessly confused. Even I was confused and I wrote the thing!

So I started over. This time I thought I had a handle on it! I explained my protagonist's arc from her point of view, then I added a major plot point from the hero's point of view. From there, I set up the antagonist's point of view, describing the details of the plot that way and finishing it up with general paragraphs that tied all the strings together.

It was better. Less distracting. But boring. Thank heaven for my critique partners. Lynne Gentry, Janice Olson, and Kellie Coates Gilbert took me by the hand and walked me through a new process. With their help, and some blogs that I found on the subject, I finally think I have a well-rounded read that hits the high points without becoming confusing or bogging down into details.

Let me tell you how I did it.

First, I used Beth Anderson's suggestion of breaking down my story data into single sentences. Doing that, I could easily see what were actual plot points and what subplots got in the way. This became the skeleton for my synopsis.

From there, I used Vivian Beck's suggestion of beginning with a back cover hook. She also suggested  an introduction to my characters. I sort of weaved that into the starting place of the story that I'd already figured out. I added the Goals, Motivations, and Conflicts like she suggested too. I'd learned a lot about that from Susan May Warren's book on the writing craft From the Inside Out.

After that, I went back to my plot points and added each as a couple of sentences. Making sure I used the Action, Reaction, and Decision that Vivian Beck suggested. (And she gives a great example of it!) I'd also learned that before, from a couple of the craft books I'd read. Just hadn't thought of using it in a synopsis! Bravo!

From there, I added my ending that I'd penned in my skeleton with some muscle and skin on it. But I wasn't done yet.

As a final section, per Kellie Gilbert's advice, I nutshelled the protagonist's arc and a broad theme of the book culminating in the spiritual lesson that my protagonist learned. (I do write Christian fiction!) It easily fits on a single page, reads smoothly, and covers the most important pieces of my story without getting knotted in the myriad of details.

As with any writing, but especially in this first impression piece, avoid to be verbs (passive), unnecessary adverbs or descriptions, and be careful of grammar rules. Oh, and synopsis writing should always be in present tense.

Do you have any tips for synopsis writing?

Highs and Lows

Okay, you non-race fans. Bear with me. There really is a point to this! I was watching an interview with last year's Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne. In only his second Sprint Cup start, the 20-year-old (same as my Dear Boy) won the equivalent of the Super Bowl.

He was so green he had trouble finding Victory Lane. "I don't even know where to go," came over

his radio after his burn-out.

Only a few weeks later, his career lay in jeopardy by a mysterious illness. Five weeks, he was forced to watch, mostly from a hospital bed, his car race without him.

Thankfully, the man recovered and has qualified for his second Daytona 500 race coming this Sunday.

High highs and low lows. They're just part of life, whether you're a race car driver, a parent, an accountant, or a writer.

The highs inspire us. Carry us. And the hope of them drive us forward in anticipation. It's that hope that gives us our strongest motivation and propels us through most of our daily days. Reaching the highs is spectacular for a moment. Resting on it for too long can drag us down, but that element of reaching the high and the memory of it provide the fuel that creates our dreams in the first place.

If the highs inspire us, the lows direct us. As a teacher, misbehavior always resulted in redirecting. Not only did the word sound better than punishment, it was a more accurate description of what happened. I didn't want to stifle the creativity or the spirit of my students. I just wanted to funnel it into an appropriate area.

Our failures treat us to the same instruction. Like a mouse in a maze reaching a dead end, we have to pick up and turn our enthusiasm to a different path. The lows threaten to rob us of hope and a positive attitude, but they don't have to.

In fact, they really don't have the power to do that. Dead ends only look like they stop us, but it depends on how we react to them. We can allow them to stop us, sit on our hineys and whine. Or we can pull a u-ee and try another possibility. (There are always other possibilities.)

Now this article isn't an explanation of me making a drastic change. On the contrary, I'm riding on hope right now with my new story idea and am writing more than I have in months. But I have to be ready for set-backs: passes from agents, strong critiques, even poor reviews. I don't expect them, but I have to be prepared for them so that when they come I can use them for growth instead of wrapping my emotions around them into a fetal position.

All of my goals, including reading, visiting other blogs, even my exercise, are on an upswing. It hasn't been that way the whole time, but I've been able to find something to be pleased about with every update, even on weeks when I topple big.

Where are you this week? What's spurring you on, or what's holding you back?

Writer Tip - Fragmented

Fragmented sentences are tricky little guys. They'd like you to think they are acceptable because they express things the way we speak.

Well, okay. End of article.

No, it's not that simple.

They are okay in things like novels where the writing is polished, but not formal. The narration is done in the author's voice and expressed through a

character's point of view. So not only do you hear the way the author thinks, all of the words go through a second filter making sure they are true to the way the character thinks.

If the main character is male, there are going to be fragments. Just sayin'. And if the poor fella is from the south, have mercy on him! Jeff Foxworthy said that Texas was the only place he knew where "I tell you what" was it's own complete sentence. There's nothing else. That's it. Big fat period.

So there are places, like blogs ... ahem ... where fragments are completely acceptable. Even preferred. (For instance, if I said in the last sentence, "They're even preferred," you would not only lose my voice and the way I talk, but the sentence itself wouldn't latch onto the one before it quite as tightly.)

However, don't fill up a college essay, research paper, or thesis with a bunch of fragments. (Oh and don't use bunch either.) Your teacher/prof will surely count off, but that's not the worst part. When you show such obvious mistakes, your teacher will miss the point. How can you share how brilliant you are when you leave out necessary parts of speech? It's like forgetting to capitalize the first letter of a sentence.

Every sentence in formal writing needs a simple subject and a simple predicate (that's a noun and verb or as I taught my 4th graders, "Who did what?") In formal writing you will most likely not use the word you in your paper nor imply it, so every sentence should actually have it's own STAR. A person, place, thing, or idea that takes action or has being in your sentence. And that action or being is what the STAR does or is. (IE the verb.) Once you connect with those two parts you're on a down hill slide. Just make sure you don't leave your STAR hanging anywhere.  Jazy Josey ran to the window when she was supposed to be.

Um ... excuse me, but inquiring minds wanna know. What was Josey supposed to be doing? Yeah, don't do that. Make sure your sentence ties itself up in a little bow. Keeping it's arms and legs firmly within the sentence.

Are fragments a trouble spot for you? What is your grammar t-zone?

May your satisfaction overflow!