Selling Synopsis Examples

Tangi1981

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This is a very useful thread Cathy C. I'm about to start writing my synopsis and dread it. Seeing different versions synopses would really help.
Thank you.
 

Cathy C

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You're very welcome! Hope this helps yours.

And speaking of which, peeps---I KNOW some of you have sold recently. C'mon, give up the goods and help out those just starting. Post your synopsis here if the book is already on the shelf (obviously, we don't want to take sales away from a new release.) :D
 

ina

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thank you everyone!

thank you everybody who posted here - i'm a newbie (have been lurking for a while...) and of all things got roped into helping my mom with a synopsis for a novel she's working on in a new genre, and these posts have been very helpful (since i'm no novelist).

thank you again!
ina

p.s. yes, i've been trying to get her to join here, but she's "scared" of the internet. she's a heavy-duty scientist - but scared of the internet. seriously.
 
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Lori's just gone offline, but I wanted to post in this thread so I'd be subscribed.

Later I'll ask her to post the synopsis for Rules of Engagement which is out at the end of the month. I wrote it, but it's her book, so it's her call whether she wants to post it here or not.
 
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I hope you do, Scarlet. We can use all the examples we can get. :D (And CONGRATS on the release!)
With Lori's permission, on the condition that I take this down after 24 hours or so as she's a bit iffy about leaving the synopsis up so close to release date as it gives the ending away (of course) so consider that a spoiler warning!

Book's released on the 30th I believe but no doubt she'll post after me with details.

I love the book, which is why I found it easy to write the synopsis. Another advantage to our unholy alliance - we encourage each other and it's easier to synopsiferisicate each other's stories than our own. And because we read each chapter as the other writes it, we're as familiar with the story as someone who isn't the author can be.

[DELETED FOR REASONS OF NATIONAL SECURITAH]

If you want to know what happens buy the book!
 
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xccorpio

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Congrats girls, and thanks for sharing. Specially being m/m.
:D
Yeah, I know, I should be reading hetero, so I can properly write it.
Because you guys are taking it off soon, I have the perfect excuse to stop studying the HQ lines, at least while I read this.

Edited: Now, I'm looking forward to read the book.

Thanks again.

:)
 
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Brindle Chase

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Here's the Synopsis for Gothic City Lights, which sold to Loose Id, LLC.

The synopsis was submitted to 4 publishers with a partial (per guidelines) and received 3 requests for a full, then 3 rejections and 1 offer for publication!! So, it did much better than I suspected for my first synopsis!

Lilith Templeton was born for lust. Like all demons, even as a half blood, she was cursed by one of the seven deadly sins. No wonder her wild and constant sexual adventures lead to trouble.

This time she’d unknowingly slept with an agent of Mother Superior, Portland’s most powerful angel. Talk about screw-ups. Now she's at Mother Superior's mercy and she'll get it on two conditions. First, Lilith must work with an angel, Gabriel, to take down a rival demon gang. Second, she must leave his virginity intact. It’s simple: find the demons and send the signal so the angels can kill them. Oh and get out alive. However, she gets the distinct impression, this last was optional.

It was sheer insanity. Failure meant death but if that weren’t enough, the angel Lilith is paired with is like no man she has ever met and he sparks more than just the wicked nature inside her. Suddenly there is far more at risk and the temptation to take him is blurred by the strange pitter-patter in her heart. He won’t be easy for her to resist, but she must.

Named after the archangel, Gabriel is an angel of the virtue of chastity and is as virginal as one might expect. Directed to assist Lilith, he’s quickly entangled by his own desires and the sexual tension is unavoidable. Despite her sensual nature, Lilith is a benevolent soul and truly the most beautiful creature he has ever encountered. His path of virtue crumbles as his heart falls for her and if he succumbs, he will forfeit the 388 years he has worked towards his 777 year ascension.

To Lilith, he is the perfect man. Strong, devastatingly handsome, and he can even cook. But unlike all other men she has known and she has known a great many, he treats her as a lady. His only flaw seems to be his annoying vow of celibacy. Lilith begins to realize that her desire for him goes beyond sheer lust and that just doesn’t happen to succubae. Falling in love complicates everything because the only sure fire way to get into the demon’s inner circle is by using her powers of seduction.

Determined to stay true to Gabriel, on the long shot that love might be mutual, she cleverly exploits her supernatural allure and narrowly manages to charm the demon’s mortal followers without putting out. Unwittingly, they lead her straight to them.

Kreigen is as foul as they come and a nasty warlock, a demon of the deadly sin of pride who commands the gang of demons reeking havoc in Portland. He seeks to claim Lilith as his play toy. In desperation, she must break the hidden beacon in her toe ring to send the signal that will bring the angels.

Gabriel waits outside with the rest of his angelic hit team, terrified for the half demon he has come to love. He knows the demons she is facing are ruthless and sadistic. His mind wanders down dark paths and when he suspects that they might try to indulge themselves in her succubus charms, he snaps. Charging in before the beacon, he must get to her before they defile her.

As he approaches, the signal is sent and the angel hit team moves in. The battle rages and Lilith is caught in between, praying that Gabriel can get to her in time. She scrambles from the basement levels towards the top, where she can be rescued by the angels, but is cut off by a stalemate gun battle in the hallway leading out.

Being half demon, she is far less resistant to the gunfire streaming up and down the path between both battling forces and must find cover. She crashes through a shattered wall into a side room and hides, stricken with panic and can only hope he finds her before the bullets do.

Through the chaos all around, Gabriel fights his way to her and she is sure she will not survive. Injured and scared out of her mind, she loses her feeble grip on self-control and throws herself at Gabriel. So sure he will be disgusted with her whorish wanton desires. Instead, she is received, his love for her just as strong. Thinking herself on the verge of death, and in a blur of sizzling hot passion, she takes his freely given virginity while the battle rages just outside her hiding spot.

The angelic forces win the battle and both Lilith and Gabriel must seek redemption for their forbidden love. Lilith is taken for judgment and she is brought before the lead angel. Lilith begs forgiveness for taking Gabriel’s virginity but Mother Superior confesses she had known that Gabriel would never succeed through the path of chastity. Further, Lilith was the perfect avenue for him to find out. Everything had been by Mother Superior’s design. Lilith was set up to help Gabriel fall and take down the demons at the same time.

Earning forgiveness from the angel seemed a pathetic trophy in light of her broken heart. She can think of no one else as a knock at her door wakes her from a restless and much needed sleep. It’s Gabriel and he confesses his love for her. Together, they find the common ground needed for their happily ever after.
 

xccorpio

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Congrats, and thanks for sharing. I love demons and angels stories. Reading the synopsis I can see why they bought it. Keep the great work.
 

Nya RAyne

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Thanks girls and guys for all of your help. I just finished writing my first synopsis at the request of an agent and I swear if I didn't have this thread to refer back to, I would have lost my mind!! Thanks again!!
 

Cathy C

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It's been a while since we've had anyone post a synopsis and I KNOW some of you have sold...

So c'mon --- dish for the rest of us and help everyone here get sold! :D
 

Nya RAyne

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Here's the Synopsis that got me three contract offers in the span of a week's time. Of course, AW ripped it apart several times!!

Synopsis: HE BELONGS TO ME
Genre: Futuristic Romance
Word Count: 86,000

In the year 2110, with the extinction of the male half of the human species on the horizon, relationships with androids are nothing new. However, PHIA ZEN, a hopeless romantic and Baroness in waiting, wants no part of it. But, when her overbearing mother gifts her with a certificate to purchase one, and then nags her about its validity, she reluctantly entertains the idea.

At the local manufacturing facility, Phia meets DR. LORRAINE LOBUSH, the head Personomale Manufacturer in the Southeast region. When Phia argues against an android companion, explaining her desire for true companionship, Dr. Lobush goes against protocol and shows her a human companion not available to the general public. This surprises Phia because outside of the Frehores (male prostitutes), human men are not supposed to exist. The moment Phia lays eyes on the strapping, broad shouldered, and disoriented DONTÉ, every dream she’s ever had comes to life—children, love, true intimacy.

However, Donté doesn’t remember anything before waking to find Phia and Dr. Lobush standing before him. The night he is delivered to Phia, he reads her journal and understands one thing: he needs to make her happy. Her forlorn thoughts make him want to be everything she’s ever wished for. He doesn’t understand why he’s so attracted to a person he knows nothing about, but he can’t deny the need to touch her and be near her.

Later at a dinner for the HIGHER HIGHNESS OF SERENITY, Donté has a mental break that leaves his mental state so fractured; Phia is forced to contact Dr. Lobush for help. When Dr. Lobush examines Donté, she knows the impossible has taken place. Despite the inhibitor she installed, somehow he has regained memories of his past. In hopes of buffering the mayhem the return of Donté’s memories will cause, Dr. Lobush is left with no alternative but to tell the couple the truth of Donté’s origination. She informs them that Donté is a full human with all of his faculties intact, and that he was created for the expressed purpose of being a companion to a member of the elite ruling class. She also reveals that, although she was unaware of this at the time she gave him to Phia, Donté was specially ordered by the Higher Highness of Serenity, who will likely come to collect him in the immediate future.

This news infuriates Donté. Everything he was taught to believe, everything he was promised—a utopian society filled with ravishing goddesses, streets layered in gold, and a life of luxury—was a lie. He’s been a prisoner since birth, waiting on a proverbial assembly line to be chosen as someone’s pet. This makes him bitter and vengeful. He wants to tear the fabric of their society apart. Knowing he’ll be returned to his prison should he fail, Donté devises a plan to not only gain his freedom, but also the freedom of his friends still living the lie.

Heartbroken and bewildered by Dr. Lobush’s revelation, Phia is shocked when Donté rejects her the following day, and demands she take him back to Dr. Lobush. She becomes resentful of Donté and second guesses her longing for a society where real men walk the streets freely. She tries to make herself believe Donté would be better off anywhere else, but with her.

At Dr. Lobush’s office, Phia discovers Donté’s desire to not only be free but to free his friends from their prisons. Though she’s unwilling to forgive him for the manner in which he treated her, she feels obligated to help. If only to prove to him that all woman aren’t as sadistic as he believes them to be. During this same exchange, she learns that men who reach the age of 35 without finding favor with an elite member of society undergo castration and are turned into machines. Disgusted that Dr. Lobush has allowed this to go on for so long, Phia lashes out and pulls rank to force the doctor into helping Donté. What Phia and Donté don’t know is that Dr. Lobush has been secretly working to bring down the elite ruling class for years.

While Phia, Donté, and Dr. Lobush finalize their plans to invade the Male Farm Donté originated from, GLORIA GALE, the Higher Highness of Serenity, discovers the companion she received is an imposter. It is a previously used and abused model she returned to Dr. Lobush, crafted to look like Donté. Incensed by this treachery, she activates the Retrievers (used to capture rouge companions) with orders to capture Donté and everyone in his immediate company.

During the first leg of their mission, Dr. Lobush confronts Phia about her treatment of Donté. She accuses her of wanting nothing more than a pet. This forces Phia to concede that she is just as selfish, if not more so, than the women who stole Donté’s freedom. If she wants a real chance at the life she dreamed of, Phia has to make things right between them. After their apologies, they share a night of sensual love making, during which, Phia proclaims her desire for Donté to stay with her once their mission is over. Donté is unable to promise such a thing without knowing when the Higher Highness will come for him or whether he’ll survive the invasion of the Male Farm. He does, however, make Phia promise that regardless of what happens to him, she will do everything she can to bring an end to the lies. Phia agrees, and in doing so, makes a conscious decision to turn her back on her society and everything she was taught to believe.

The next morning, Dr. Lobush discovers that the Higher Highness has set-up mandatory companion checks-points with the expressed purpose of locating them. She relays this information to Donté and Phia, but adds that if they’re caught, Donté’s will be converted, and she and Phia will be killed. Dr. Lobush also warns them the Higher Highness is rumored to torture her captives, though it’s never been proven.

To elude capture they disembark at the next stop with arrangements made for DARIUS, Dr. Lobush’s human companion, to pick them up and transport them to a safe house. The moment he arrives, the Higher Highness springs her trap by way of the Retrievers. Donté is caught off guard and shot with a fast acting tranquilizer. He pushes Phia into Darius’s arms just before he slips into unconsciousness, which allows them to escape capture.

Dr. Lobush and Darius come up with a plan to get Donté back, but Phia is so distraught she can’t see how it will work. Phia leaves them to their own endeavors and prays for the best. Her promise to Donté becomes her priority. So she calls in two favors: one from her best-friend, for access to a pin-top video camera, and the other to her mother, requesting that she arrange a face to face meeting with the Higher Highness of Serenity for her. Phia’s intention for the meeting with the Higher Highness is to hold her accountable for the lies and premeditated murder of tens of thousands of men. Instead, she ends up waking from a drug-induced sleep, naked with a whacked-out version of the Higher Highness staring down at her, threatening to cut her eyelids off.

Once the tranquilizer wears off, Donté overpowers his guards just as Darius kicks in the door to his temporary cell. They escape to the roof where Dr. Lobush is waiting with a heli-jet to carry him to the Higher Highness’ compound where Phia is supposed to be. On the ride over, Donté views the exchange between the Higher Highness and Phia. In witnessing Phia’s vehemence for his plight and her refusal to accept the drivel being spewed back at her, Donté sees her for the first time, not as the woman who bought him. He sees in Phia the utopian society he was promised. He proclaims that if it takes a million lifetimes, he would never be able to repay her for the gift she’s given him. But promises he will spend every moment of the rest of his life making sure she knows he loves and appreciates her. When video transmission of the telecast is lost, he knows Phia is in trouble. He, Dr. Lobush, and Darius, race to the Higher Highness’ compound.

Donté and Darius tear through the compound, weapons loaded and at the ready, waiting for any sign of trouble. Instead of being greeted by a hoard of Retrievers intent on ripping them to shreds, they are greeted by a group of women. Darius holds the women at bay while Donté gains entry to the basement level. By acting the part of the newly converted companion the Higher Highness is expecting, he gains further access into the room where she’s holding Phia. The moment he crosses the threshold, the stench of blood and the sight of Phia’s limp naked body sends him over the edge. He attacks the Higher Highness .....


Ending has been removed. Can't have everyone knowing how it ends, now can I?
The End
 
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Atarrin

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I wanted to thank everyone for posting in this thread. It has been quite informative.

Also, I thought a bump would not hurt anyone.
 

Mary K. Norris

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This has been a really helpful thread. I'd love to read more synopsis' as they are so hard for me to write.
 

JustJas

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I love reading other people's synopses too as they are just so painful to write and it really helps to see how others have done it.

Here's mine for my book Pleasure Island which is due out on April 1st (Siren-Bookstrand Mainstream Contemporary)

When Allie Read auditions to be on the reality television show Pleasure Island it is only for a laugh. No one is more surprised than Allie when she scores the part to live on a deserted island with an unnamed celebrity. As an environmental activist and documentary filmmaker she looks down her nose at reality television but the possibility of five million dollars in prize money proves too tempting to resist.

Movie star Jackson Moore has a reputation as a drunken, womanizing jerk. After getting kicked off his latest film for destroying the set he desperately needs to salvage his career. Pleasure Island is his last chance. The only problem is that drinking and smoking are banned on the island. A stretch in rehab has done nothing to tame his addictions but Jack is a man in serious denial. He is convinced that he will easily outlast his opponent and take home the prize money.

He wasn’t counting on Allie Read.

The sparks fly from the moment this mismatched pair cross paths. Jack gets drunk on the plane and confirms his reputation as an arrogant jerk. His first meeting with Allie ends in disaster when he insults her and she storms off. Things don’t improve on the boat to the island when Allie has an unfortunate accident and Jack pulls a prank on her that misfires badly.

Once on the island they must be together for fourteen hours each day with remotely operated cameras recording their every move 24/7. Apart from tending to household chores they are left completely to their own devices. The person who cracks first and asks to go home will lose and the other will take home the prize money. The first chapters deal with their attempts to co-exist despite their mutual loathing.

Things get off to a very bad start when Jack goes for a stroll on the beach on their first night and is unable to find his way back to their tree house which has been designed to cleverly blend in with the environment. He is convinced Allie can hear him calling out to her but chooses to ignore him, forcing him to spend the night outside. To extact his revenge Jack decides to give Allie the silent treatment, but he finds that he is completely unprepared for island life. Realizing he will have to rely on Allie if he is going to survive on the island for more than a few days Jack has to swallow his pride.

Their antagonism is compounded by the fact that Jack is suffering from withdrawal symptoms from alcohol and cigarettes and Allie has nothing but contempt for what he is going through. He cannot bear the humiliation of losing to such a self-righteous woman and this is the only thing that compels him to stay when things get tough.

As the days stretch into weeks and Jack’s withdrawal symptoms subside he and Allie reach a truce. To their great surprise they find themselves becoming attracted to each other. Jack has already been through one sex tape scandal which did wonders for his career and he sees nothing wrong with a little hanky panky in front of the cameras. He holds out no hope that uptight Allie will agree with him until the day she kisses him at the lagoon and Jack begins to wonder if maybe there is a chance of some action between the sheets after all.

But at the same time as Jack’s hopes for some action are raised, Allie’s phobia about being filmed in their most private moments ironically begins to take hold of him. When she points out that the footage from the show could haunt them forever Jack becomes too self-conscious to relieve his growing sexual tension in his room at night. Watching Allie prance around in a bikini all day does not help things at all and as he frustration mounts he begins to wonder if he will be brought undone by his greatest weakness. In desperation he agrees to meditate on the beach to distract himself and has a spiritual experience that affects him profoundly.

While Jack battles with his demons and finds enlightenment, Allie struggles to deal with the boredom of island life. She is a classic type A personality, and without a project to work on or something to organize, she is lost. It becomes her mission to save Jack from himself by implementing a rigorous health and fitness regime that might just kill him. Despite her growing physical attraction to him Allie still despises the man, until his spiritual awakening on the beach makes him much harder to resist.

As their feelings deepen Allie and Jack have to find other ways to channel their energies and they reach a level of intimacy that goes far beyond the physical. Just as they start to feel like they will be on the island forever a tropical storm blows away the idyllic life they have grown to love. Evacuated to a remote cabin Jack and Allie finally have the privacy they crave and make love for the first time, but when they return to their beach house they discover their time in paradise is over.

They are whisked back to LA where the producers of Pleasure Island deliberately tempt Jack with alcohol and women, and then set Allie up to find him in a compromising position. Heartbroken she walks off the show and forfeits the prize money, leaving strict instructions that Jack is not to contact her under any circumstances. Devastated by what he has done Jack counts down the days till they meet again at the reunion special scheduled for six weeks later.

On the reunion show Allie learns that Jack did not betray her with the other women, and that his feelings for her are genuine. Instead of being overjoyed by this news she cannot allow herself to trust he has really changed and she pushes him away. Jack refuses to give up so easily and after leaving her alone as she asks, he bursts back into her life by recreating a scene from one of Allie’s favorite romantic movies. Things don’t go quite as planned but Jack and Allie eventually get their ‘happy beginning’ and disappear into the sunset together.
 

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Here's the short synopsis to a 35k novella, SFR(release date is in April).

In content edits I added 2 scenes to the very end, but the rest of the book follows this synopsis closely.

Synopsis: Rufugees On Urloon

Melisse Aires

At the end of the Confederation Civil war, the Confederation unleashes their new weapon the Pulse on the Asha Armada. Captain Liam Ringel mans the helm of a training vessel of students. But the battle moves toward them, and the Pulse backlash tosses them through a jumpstream anomaly and dumps the ship in deep space.

In the normal course of events, Captain Ringel and Svana, the non-military support staff in charge of the supply room and maintenance, would never meet or work together. But because of her background working in medical facilities in refugee camps. Captain Liam Ringel puts Svana in charge of triage of the many wounded students, while he takes care of the ship’s damages. A friendship develops between the only two older adults on the ship full of students. Life is grim since they cannot get an answer to their distress signal. Death is a month away, when the ship’s fuel runs out.

Their distress signal is answered by the planet Urloon, and exotic waterworld who’s Terran descendents have adapted to underwater cities in the lush oceans. The Confederation will not be sending a rescue ship. King Rankree of Urloon offers them citizenship, including a water adaption procedure so they can live underwater in the dome, or a landside option.

Svana chooses the land option and Liam chooses to adapt. But both have had thoughts that their friendship could be more, but with all the changes looming they continue on as friends.

King Rankree and his wife, a Terran native named Elaine, invite the refugees to the Moonfest, an annual fertility festival involving the conjunction of Urloon’s two moons, the celebration of spring and the mating dance of the Chandolay. The chandolay are enormous water creatures with six paddle legs, long trunks and an abundance of crystal white hair. They emit pheromones that affect humans. As the night progresses with the double moon, northern lights and chandolay dance, Svana and Liam decide to make a memory. Life has been grim for so long, they both want this night of beautiful lush passion.

Near morning there is a roar as a space ship breaks through, firing weapons. There is nowhere to go, the people are vulnerable in an open meadow. Suddenly the chandolay on the beach stop their dance and gather their tubular snouts together, pointed at the ship. They emit a strange blue energy beam that hits the ship and causes it to spin. The chandolay pass the ship from group to group across the sea. Starfighters and the Urloon Strike force finally report the ship crashed in the far mountains.

Liam immediately begins the process of adaption. Svana knows there time together was no guarantee of a future and continues with her plans to be a farmer with the generous help of the Urloon. A month passes and she realizes she is pregnant. Liam suggests she visit the Guest Dome to see if she could consider life within the domes. She does so and finds the underwater city beautiful and prosperous. She is assured that the adaption procedure works well with a fetus. Svana wants the child to know his father, and Liam is pleased though stunned with the knowledge of his fatherhood. She decides to adapt.

The adaptation goes very well, Svana was an excellent candidate. One dark note, she and Liam have not come to a decision to live as man and wife though they make passionate love underwater, and Svana knows that is what she desires. At a royal dinner, Liam tells her they need to talk about their situation after the meal, so Svana is in an excellent mood. Then there is a crash and crystal from the dome and water rush down, the dome has been breached. Svana hides under a table to avoid being cut by the crystal. Eventually two large hands grasp her. She is drugged.

Svana and Liam wake on a hut on a beach. They appear to have been taken by radical Wilders, who believe the Urloon need to live in the open sea. This group of Wilders has an additional adaption procedure that leaves the patient much stronger, but also dramatically shortens lifespan. And babies and pregnancies don’t make it.

Svana and Liam try to make a plan of escape. A young woman seems their best chance. They are taken to see the leader Jakkon, who is clearly insane. Svana is returned to the hut alone, they intend to start the new adaption on Liam.
Svana is frantic and upset. She manages to get to the young woman again, but fears the woman will do nothing, that she believes Jakkon’s myth. But her husband Andrale is to be adapted also.

In the morning she watches the Wilders from her hut. They eat from a communal pit of porridge—and they slump over unconscious. The girl gets her out of the hut.

Both men have been sedated. The women get them to a float and then Liset stops a sea corral to let out the pod of delphs, dolphin -like creatures she trains and uses for work. They head to Andrale’s friend’s Wilder homestead.
Suddenly a small flyer breaks through the sky and fires on their float. They ride the delphs for a long time to standing stones near the shore, where they can hide from the flyer.

Liam recognizes it is Asha tech. Asha rebels must have a hidden base on Urloon because the flier cannot fly really long distances. They travel to the Wilder homestead.

A pod of delphs and riders arrive, and once again the flyer appears. The Wilder men have some type of harpoon. The harpoons drag a net around the small ship and brings it down. The flyer is a mech, an Asha cyborg soldier.

Liam is thankful they can get back to safety and root the rebels out. But he realizes he has been waiting for the perfect time to speak with Svana about their future. Instead of waiting her tells her what is on his heart—he loves her and wants to live together as man and wife. Svana loves him also and looks forward to their life together.

Some time in the future, Svana, pregnant again, collects her small son from a play park. They are going to the Urloon spaceport to meet her grown daughter. Svana and Liam have everything they could hope for.
 

Personal Prose

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Thank You

I must admit I have been a lurker for years now but want to thank all the authors for posting their work on this thread.

I have finally finished my first 80,000 word romance novel and am currently writing the synopsis. Your examples are invaluable. Thank you.
 

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I'll share the synopsis from the novel I just signed the contract on last Thursday:

SYNOPSIS: DUST BOWL DREAMS

My 90,000 word novel begins in June 1933 when HENRY MINK visit his wheat field in western Oklahoma. Since there’s a drought ongoing, his crop is dried and dead in the field. While he’s waiting for his girl, school teacher MAMIE LOGAN to show up, Henry reflects on his dire situation. Since the farm provides the sole support for Henry, his widowed mother and four younger siblings, it’s vital he finds a way to provide for the family. Besides, the local banker is calling the farm mortgage due and so being homeless looms ahead. He has an idea and decides it offers the only option – he will join the growing numbers of outlaws and rob a bank.

Mamie doesn’t like the idea but Henry is determined. He shares the idea with his kid brother EDDIE MINK, age 15 but tells everyone else including his mother he’s off to find work. Henry heads out to Ponca City, Oklahoma, a city which boomed in the oil rich 1920’s and still has a little money. He scouts out the place and robs one of the biggest banks in town.

He takes the loot and heads south to find work in the oil patch. If he goes home now, no one will believe he earned the cash so Henry spends a long, hard few weeks working on an oil drilling rig. When he figures he’s been away long enough, he heads home to the family farm near Alva, Oklahoma ready to pay off the bank.

Henry arrives to find trouble – Eddie’s in the hospital suffering from a serious head injury and he spends the next few days at his brother’s bed side. After Eddie rallies, Henry pays off the banker and satisfies the curiosity of the police chief who just happens to be sweet on his mother. Mamie is at Henry’s side through the difficult days and when he leaves the hospital to rest, he and Mamie make sweet love for the first time.

He pays his brother’s hospital bill and buys Mamie a lovely engagement ring. Although he hopes to make the money last by late fall, he’s almost broke again. The county taxes will be due soon, Christmas is coming, and so Henry realizes he needs to go back out to make one more bank heist. Mamie is against the idea and so is Eddie. Despite a sense of foreboding and a near fatal encounter between a rattlesnake and Henry’s smallest sister, he heads out again, destination St. Joseph, Missouri.

En route he meets Charley Floyd, another Oklahoma boy most folks know as Pretty Boy. Charley offers up some advice and Henry motors onto into St. Joseph. After a few weeks, he robs the First National Bank and heads for home across Kansas. Along the way he has some car trouble with his beat up old Model T and when he stops for lunch in the small town of Pratt, Henry gets greedy. He decides to pop the small bank but gets into trouble when the tellers resist and the barber next door starts shooting.

Henry leaves town without any additional money and a bullet wound in his right shoulder. He makes it to Alva, finds his brother who tracks down Mamie. They take Henry home to nurse him but an infection develops and his life hangs in the balance. With a little help from a former Army nurse, now the town’s closest thing to a prostitute, Henry heals and retires from robbing banks.

He and Mamie wed in a small but sweet ceremony and their love sets the stage for a happily ever after for them both. In a short final chapter, twenty years later, old secrets are stirred but not revealed and Henry reflects Mamie is and will always be the woman who takes his breath away.
 

Paula

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I've found these to be excellent examples! Thank you so much! Strangely enough, whenever I searched for sample synopsis on Google, it only showed me erotic novels synopsis! I couldn't for the life of me find a regular one! Thank you for your examples.

A question, though: I see some of you start with the title and your name. Do you guys add your contact information in the end? It comes with the query, I wonder if we have to include it in the synopsis as well. Also, do you add page numbers and your name/title on every page as a header?

Thanks!
 

Beachgirl

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I just wrote my first synopsis and, well...it sucks. I can't wait until I can post it in SYW so everyone can tear it apart! These examples really help!
 

Cathy C

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A question, though: I see some of you start with the title and your name. Do you guys add your contact information in the end? It comes with the query, I wonder if we have to include it in the synopsis as well. Also, do you add page numbers and your name/title on every page as a header?

Thanks!

It's generally a good idea to put your contact info either at the beginning or end of a synopsis. The location is up to you. :) And yes, you should put the page number on each page. I generally set up a header to appear in the upper left, as: CLAMP/MYBESTNOVEL/2

Does that help?