The Dread Synopsis

You want a synopsis to show the plot of the story. It's the easiest way to identify plot holes. It isn't really a selling tool, but a tool to show that when your character goes from A to B, it makes sense. It goes from the beginning of the book to the end, and isn't designed to "hook" the agent.

If you outline, then your outline can work very well as a basis for the synopsis. If you don't outline, the easiest way is to bullet point your story, hitting every important point (you can always cut it down as you write it, but the more plot points you have the better to start with).

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

A synopsis takes a few minutes to read. A novel takes hours/days. Some agents and publishers want to read a synopsis before they invest time in the full in order to see if you have the ability to organize and pull off an entire novel. (An agent at a conference once said, quite seriously, "We want to be sure unicorns don't show up in chapter 13.") A synopsis can also be passed around at a publishing house to those people on the team who need to know what the novel is about without taking the time to read the full.

A pitch and a synopsis are two very different animals. A pitch is used to entice someone to read the manuscript. It's a selling tool. The synopsis must engage the reader -- please God, don't make it a recitation of events -- but its primary purpose is to outline the novel, including the ending.

Both can vary in length. This page explains the different lengths and what's required:

http://melissa-c-alexander.com/2010/10/pitch-or-synopsis/

I'm currently researching agents [having selected the three that represent my favourite crime authors] and all three are asking for a submission package of: covering letter, synopsis, 3 chapters; and CV.

I'm actually surprised you have got this far without needing one.

I'm writing mine at the moment for the CWA Debut Dagger competiton, which is longer than an ordinary synopsis, so I'll have to do an editorial job on the version going to agents.

As someone who has done editorial work, if the synopsis didn't do it for me, I won't even look at the manuscript.

The synopsis is a selling tool, as well. The synopsis isn't only for the agent, it's also for the editor, and the acquisition board.

popmuze said:

Last time I had a book going out with an agent, I think the agent wrote the synopsis. Or was that his pitch letter to editors?

Click to expand...

The pitch letter.