Paring Down a Synopsis

I would suggest putting it in SYW. If I remember correctly your query scored 9 requests for partials, so I don't think you would have a problem getting fast crits, especially if you put in there that you're in a time crunch.

Pisarz said:

I have a two-page synopsis that I've used for previous submissions, but I've just received a request for a one-pager.

Keeping it to two (single-spaced) was hard enough--any ideas on what technique I could use to trim it to one?

Thanks in advance!

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This is a great exercise, esp. when the target is a number of words (rather than a number of pages, where it's too easy to cheat!). I've never done this where the resultant shorter synopsis wasn't better than the original.

I started with two pages on most of my novels and before I even submitted ended up with various versions of various lengths.
LOTTERY ended up as a paragraph. It is hard but it is necessary and possible. I have had to do more synopses AFTER my book sold than before.
Work from one sentence up and two pages down.
Look on the cover of other books for ideas. The novel Labyrinth for example:
"Three secrets. Two women. One grail."
I find that people who write fantasy or SF seem to have a harder time as the plots can be quite complex.

If you must pare down from a two-pager, try cutting out minor plot points, minor characters, and definitely trim all the adjectives and adverbs. Try to summarize more. For example, if you have the following three sentences:

"Jack sells the baby to the black market. He tells Mary he does not know where the baby is. Mary does not believe him but goes to look for the baby."

... you can further summarize the plot into:

"Jack lies to Mary about the black market, but she looks for the baby anyway."

By combining plots into shorter summaries and cutting out extra verbiage, it's not difficult to trim the thing down. The trick is to decide what can be cut and what can be grouped together.

For me, I started with a 10-page synopsis, then pared it down to 5, then 2, then 1, then 3 paragraphs, then down to 1 paragraph, and finally done to one tagline. It's actually rather interesting to see how you can further condense the whole story into one single idea.

I echo CZ here, put it in SYW, just let us know where, which genre you put it in. I'll give it a once over. Beg Maestro, and he might give it a gander, too.

As some others have hinted at, I would focus just on the main story arch, down to its bare, unsupported bones, and get that as short as possible - probably 1/2 to 3/4 of a page. Then pad it up with the most important side details- major subplots that have a strong (potentially stronger) voice than the main plot. For instance, in Casablanca, the story arch is Rick and Ilsa, but the sub-plot of the exit visas is virtually insepperable, and would almost have to be mentioned. I could see Ugarte being deleted from a short summary, however, or relagated to a short sentence.

I don't envy you. I think the 1-page synopsis is the hardest to write. A couple of paragraphs aren't a huge problem, a couple of pages can sometimes be a bit difficult depending on length but can usually be done, but 1-page falls in a gray area that can be hard to do -- at least, that is how it is for me.

Personally, I'd start with the short synopsis you might have in a query letter and work from there rather than trying to pare down a larger synopsis.

Can you sum your book up in one sentence? If so, start there and work your way up. And don't tease--in a synopsis, you need to spill how it ends. Good luck!

I'm gonna go out on a limb here. I don't cut down my longer synopsis.

Write a new one. Use your hook in your query as a jumping off point. Pretend you're telling the story to a friend with a really short attention span and just hit the highlights.

Please, don't just summarize the plot. You have to include a little something about the motivation(s) of the main character(s), to make it more than a sterile summary of events.

Exactly. A synopsis in NOT a summary. Tell the story.