Synopsis...

Thekherham said:

what exactly is a synopsis?

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There's a million sites that can answer your question, but here's a pretty good one:

http://www.fictionwriters.com/tips-synopsis.html

As far as sample chapters, send 3 consecutive chapters or 50 consecutive pages (whichever is smaller). But that's just a guideline. Be sure to read and pay attention to everything in a publisher's guidelines. If they want every other page printed on pink rose petals, do it.

scribbler1382 said:

As far as sample chapters, send 3 consecutive chapters or 50 consecutive pages (whichever is smaller).

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I'm glad this was brought up. I always wondered about this. I'm in the middle of writing my first book and the first three chapters are well beyond 50 pages. But, what if an agent or publisher has in their guidelines, to send the first three chapters? Do you ignore that and send the first 50 pages, or do you send the first three chapters even if they were - say - 100 pages?

Some guidlines say first three chapters or first 50 pages. In that case send only 50 pages worth. Some say send first three chapters, and don't give a page count, in that case send the first 3 chapters even if they total 100 pages.

And remember only send sample pages if they are asked for either in the guide lines or in a request.

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Chapters

Be sure to send the first three chapters, or the first fifty pages, and never three consecutive chapters at random. Three chapters taken from the middle of the novel are pretty much useless.

A goodly number of agents will look at chapter/synopsis/outline, even when their guidelines say "query only." If an agent will look at chapters, it's best for new writers to send them. When possible, it's always better to show them your work with chapters, rather than telling them about your work with a query letter.

Jamesaritchie said:

Be sure to send the first three chapters, or the first fifty pages, and never three consecutive chapters at random. Three chapters taken from the middle of the novel are pretty much useless.

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Yes, definitely. Thanks for clarifying that, James.

And for the question further up-topic about what to do if you're not sure whether to send 3 chapters or 50 pages and the guidelines don't specifically say it, the advice here is excellent, but when in doubt, just query about it.

Synopses for fun and profit

Forget fun. Synopses aren't especially fun to write, but they're necessary and helpful. I write two different kinds of synopsis for my novels. One is for me. It's where I record where my story starts, where it goes, and where it ends as well as important info about the characters. This one is usually about 20 pages long. I use it to keep my prose flowing and keep me on track.

The second one is for the editor or agent who's looking at the work -- usually between 5-10 pages, but some editors want less. This one should be as brief as possible while still accomplshing a couple of things: 1) Telling the editor what your novel is about; 2) showing off your ability to write and organize your thoughts. If your synopsis is rambling and boring, the editor might not make it to your sample chapters.

When I say 'what the novel is about' I don't necessarily mean a blow by blow account of the plot. For example, you could say "This story is about Eugene. He goes to college, he gets a job, he falls in with a bad crowd of plantaine smoking aliens, yada yada" or you could say: "Careful with that Axe Eugene" is a coming of age tale told against the backdrop of turn of the century Manhattan. When Eugene meets the alien invaders yada yada"

The synopsis should engage the editor and make her want to read more. The only real big DON'T is don't try to surprise an editor by witholding the ending. They hate that.

I've written quite a few synopses over the years and even sold novels based on them. They're indispensible.

Hope this is helpful!

Kaath

Length

Always, always, always check guidelines for length. Therse days, darned few editors will look at a synopsis of more than five pages. And, in fact, many now consider anything more than five pages an outline, rather than a synopsis.

Generally speaking, many agents and editors now want synopses in one of three single-spaced lengths: the one page or less, the three page, and the five page.

At some point, the one page, or one paragraph, synopsis, is likely to be your best selling tool. And, in truth, it doesn't matter how long the novel is, you can write a very good one page, or one paragraph, synopsis that is more than adequate.

The jacket copy on a published novel is a good example of a synopsis, other than the ending. In a synopsis, you must reveal the ending. But the way jacket copy is written is just about perfect. It's why publishers put the jacket copy there. It's a synopsis to sell us a novel.

Jacket copy also shows you can write a short synopsis for any novel, even a doorstop novel.

Jamesaritchie said:

Always, always, always check guidelines for length. Therse days, darned few editors will look at a synopsis of more than five pages. And, in fact, many now consider anything more than five pages an outline, rather than a synopsis.

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It's especially important to check guidelines, because the preferred length varies tremendously between marketing categories and even between imprints at the same publisher in the same marketing category. For example, one mainstream imprint at [big conglomerate] prefers synopses in the 7–10 page range, while another wants them to be five pages or less.

Generally speaking, many agents and editors now want synopses in one of three single-spaced lengths: the one page or less, the three page, and the five page.

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And, again, what they call them varies, and acceptability varies, tremendously. In speculative fiction, to my knowledge no editors are looking for one- or three-page treatments; on the other hand, they seem to be an important tool with suspense/thriller markets. So, in the end, RTFG (read the fantabulous guidelines)—and don't get locked into "there's only one way to write a synopsis" whatever you do.

There was a useful article in the SFWA Bulletin about four years ago (I think) comparing and contrasting different synopsis approaches and lengths. The one universal seemed to be that nobody liked chapter-by-chapter outlines. Some wanted a full-book synopsis; some wanted the synopsis to pick up after the sample chapters. Some liked synopses with prologue-like introductions of the main characters and setting before plunging in, others preferred synopses that essentially follow the "sixth-grade-book-report condensation" model from page 1 to page n. And so on.

A Synopsis expands on the work beyond the description by going into greater detail. Usually 2-5 pages. I tend to do it by the chapters, but my style of changing POV with each chapter kind of necessitates that.

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