You Can Write a Super Synopsis

Last year I submitted my novel, Flight For Control, to the PNWA's writers contest and received excellent feedback. What surprised me most was the feedback on my synopsis.

Full disclosure here. While all points were graded ten out of ten possible on the submission, I received under three points from all three readers on the synopsis. One reader said, "Your writing is strong. The story intriguing. If you can figure out how to write a synopsis you might have something."

What had I done? I tried to put the entire story into my synopsis. Wrong. I didn't try to do that, I couldn't help it! I mean there are so many incredible things that needed to be told. All my characters needed to be introduced. How they interacted with each other. The plot twists. The setting. The wins and losses of my protagonist. Not.

The almighty synopsis is no longer my nemesis. Over the last year I've learned the synopsis is more than an outline for the book. This is our marketing tool. We don't need all the characters. We don't want too much detail, just enough to intrigue the reader so they want to read the book. I recently learned how to do this by accident.

I'm now writing my second novel and wrote an outline. Then I wrote the synopsis. Yes, I wrote the synopsis before the novel. This prevented me inserting superfluous facts because they haven't been developed yet. I was able to write the synopsis with ease, and craft it out of pure inspiration of what the story will be. It was easy! Try it.

Do you have any tips for a synopsis? We would love your comments. Through my search, via my best friend Google, I found a great website for helping with the synopsis with many examples. I'm not saying they are good examples because I haven't read them all. But inspiration comes in many forms. Check it out by clicking HERE. Something may help. Life is all about learning.

Have a productive writing day and remember to enjoy the journey!

~ Karlene