Does size really matter? (synopsis)

If your synopsis is 8 pages, you've drifted into outline land. Boil it down to one page. You don't need to include all the sub-plots. Start with a one sentence log-line and work your way back up, instead of taking your entire novel and trying to shrink it.

You can do it.

I understand your pain. I'm trying to cut a 75,000 word novel into a one page synopsis, and struggling. I've got it down to one and a half, but when you have three main characters and you have to squish their separate story lines together and show how they all link up in one page... yeah, it's a pain.

I do think that 8 pages is a little too long. That would be more like a detailed synopsis, and it's unusual for an agent/publisher to request that straight off the bat. I had a pretty spiffy 4 page synopsis, but after reading it through I realised it was pretty much a blow by blow of every single thing that happens in the novel - there was so much information that it was a bit suffocating to read. In most cases, that's not what people want when they request a synopsis. Mostly they're after a more overall picture of the main plot/conflict.

I think a good synopsis should show that you know how to plot a novel from beginning to end, while displaying all the unique selling points of your story, concisely and entertainingly enough that the reader's eyes don't glaze over while reading it.

Too bad you're not a man. If you were, five pages would be nine.

NeuroFizz said:

Too bad you're not a man. If you were, five pages would be nine.

Click to expand...

On CraigList it may be 12.

But yup, get it down to 1, 2 maximum. Synopses are single-spaced, so that should give you up to 1000 words. Plenty to summarize the main plot.

I had a four page synopsis, but was told I needed a one-pager. It had been painful for me to boil down the book to four pages. Four pages to one page seemed to be an insurmountable leap.

So, I decided that my four-pager had to become a three-pager. You can always lose one page, right? I did that, then put it aside for a couple days. Then, with fresh eyes, I cut my three pages down to two. Then, a couple days later, two to one.

These may seem like unnecessary steps for some folks, but the incremental drafts helped me address the extra words, repetition and extraneous details without losing the overall thread of the synopsis. It felt more like trimming the fat than blasting away at the sucker with a shotgun.

<holds up thumb>

What, you mean this isn't 10 inches? Damn it. I've been lied to!

On topic... yeah, 8 pages is a little much, but I feel your pain. I have no idea how I'd ever squish one of my novels into a one page summary. I'd have to use size 2 font!

... okay not really but I would probably be calling you up to go have beers and procrastinate some more.

When I was querying, I noticed that most agents who asked for a synopsis wanted a "brief" one. And I don't think eight pages qualifies as brief. I got by just fine with a one-page single-spaced synopsis. (The agent I signed with didn't even want to see a synopsis.)

The best advice I ever got on writing a synopsis was to tell the main story line as if you were trying to describe the plot to a friend while both of you were on a coffee break.

All I can do is quote an agent: "If a synopsis is longer than a page, it's headed for my trashcan."

Other agents may feel differently. If they ask for something different, by all means give them what they ask for.

But would you want to read a multipage synopsis?

I wouldn't even want to look at a multipage synopsis of my own book, much less anybody else's.