The World in the Synopsis

Don't. Seriously. It's not plot, it's background (mostly. I know, it's woven into the plot. But unweave it. More world squeezing just leads to more questions). The big issues the characters are tackling is your story.

Course, I've written one (failed) synopsis. Your mileage may vary.

I haven't written world into my synopsis, outside of what is mandatory to convey the plot.

But I haven't even tried grabbing anybody with my synopsis, so I'm not sure I'm one to follow.

I don't try to give a compact story in my synopsis. I give the generality of the story, the character development and the way I've used actual history as a background for the MC's adventure. It's worked twice.

They're right. Unweave it, other than to indicate that the story isn't of this world.

If the story takes place in the midwest, on Mars, then say so. But you don't need to give them the encyclopedia entry.

(On a related note? You might want to know that encyclopedia entry, because when you sell it, if marketing or PR, doesn't ask, your readers will.)

I focus on the major turning points of the novel, the things that absolutlely have to be there for the story to make sense. I've found that sticking to the basic story structure format really helps trim a synopsis down. Who is your protag? What problem do they face? Why is it important that they solve this problem? What's in their way of solving it? How do they solve it?

The who, what, why and how

Add the world stuff if it bears directly on the story. For examle in my book, healing is critical to the story so I spend a para explaining how this works and how that affects my protag. I show the stakes and the core coflict of the novel along with it, as it all ties together. If you have simliar world stuff, you can explain it and still show conflict and plot.

If you focus on what characters want and why (emotionally) they want it and what they do about that then you should be able to tell a coherent story without digging into world history. The most setting info you'll need is a statement of location (e.g. Desert of Traal), and some notion of relationship (e.g. clansmen, etc...).

The benefit of doing this is that your synopsis will focus on characters, relationships, action, dilemmas and outcomes.

E.g. 'In the desert of Traal, Brythan discovers that her clutch-mate Klorg has joined another nest and in a pique of jealousy, sets off to find and kill him.'