Writing a Treatment for a Novel

writera · Oct 28, 2018

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to ask this, but how does writing a novel treatment work? I've written the first two books in a trilogy and have been shopping them. The third book is still in progress and I've got a vague plan for it. Someone told me that, if the first book is picked up, the publisher/agent might want to see Book 2 and also a treatment for Book 3. I'm not sure if this is true (or how a three-book deal would work - would you have to show a plan?), but anyway, it got me thinking, what counts as a treatment for a novel? Would it be a chapter by chapter list (maybe in bullet points) with a couple of lines about each chapter? Or would it be like a detailed synopsis, a few pages outlining the story from beginning to end? Or a combination of both?

Enlightened · Oct 28, 2018

I may be wrong, but I think treatments are for screenplays. Maybe whoever told you about treatments meant a synopsis of the book. You can Google how to do a Book Synopsis.

Old Hack · Oct 29, 2018

writera said:
I'm not sure if this is the right forum to ask this, but how does writing a novel treatment work? I've written the first two books in a trilogy and have been shopping them. The third book is still in progress and I've got a vague plan for it. Someone told me that, if the first book is picked up, the publisher/agent might want to see Book 2 and also a treatment for Book 3. I'm not sure if this is true (or how a three-book deal would work - would you have to show a plan?), but anyway, it got me thinking, what counts as a treatment for a novel? Would it be a chapter by chapter list (maybe in bullet points) with a couple of lines about each chapter? Or would it be like a detailed synopsis, a few pages outlining the story from beginning to end? Or a combination of both?

Treatments are for screenplays, not novels.

Multiple book deals are falling out of favour, I think. So I don't think you should worry about this too much. However, if a publisher were interested in hearing about what you have planned they'd probably want to see a brief synopsis of the books concerned--a page would be fine but if you had a slightly longer one, that would be fine too.

Note that they'd probably want to see a synopsis for the book you've already completed, too, so it's worth ensuring you have one written and ready to go.

anouchka-h · Oct 29, 2018

It might depend on the genre in which you're writing. Some genres are more likely to have agents and editors looking for a series, e.g. crime. Don't worry about this too much yet though and I doubt if the first book was picked up, they would be asking for a synopsis for the third. You wouldn't need a chapter by chapter breakdown, something shorter and simpler would be fine.

PeteMC · Nov 2, 2018

Your friend definitely means a synopsis - a one-to-two page summary of the plot. There are plenty of guides around on how to do it.

I had to write a script treatment once, and it is not something I'd want to have to do for novels!

Writing a Treatment for a Novel

writera

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