Two POVs in a synopsis

Zombie Kat · Jul 8, 2012

Here's a fairly silly question for a damp Sunday!

My book is predominantly 1st person but has occassional 3rd person chapters set 20 years in the past featuring some of the same characters. In the book, the jumps back in time are obvious and make sense. But how would you indicate this sort of thing in one of them annoying long synopses which detail all the plot points in the order they occur? Short synopsis is fine; long one is hateful.

Debbie V · Jul 9, 2012

I might just spell it out as you have here. Perhaps post the synopsis for critique and/or give it to Betas who are familiar with the novel. That'll let you know how someone new reads it while getting advice from folk who are better prepared to answer the issue.

Sage · Jul 9, 2012

There are really three ways I can think of to deal with this.

1) The time jumps might not actually be needed in the synopsis (the way a vital subplot and vital characters can still be left out and have the synopsis make sense) and you can skip them.

2) There is a way to quickly sum up what happened back then ("once upon a time, my MCs did this very important thing, and today they meet back up and that's when [insert plot]")

3) During the course of your synopsis you have to occasionally mention some of them. But probably not all of them, and it's completely possible that this will be limited to half a sentence ("My MC has to do this very important thing, thanks to that incident that happened 20 years ago.")

Two POVs in a synopsis

Zombie Kat

Bacteria are your friends

Debbie V

Mentoring Myself and Others

Sage

Supreme Guessinator