How to Write a Novel Synopsis

You have finished a novel that took extensive time wrangling that imagination with your skill and now must get ready to sell it to a literary agent or book publisher with a short (one paragraph in a letter) synopsis. Good God, it's too hard to summarize a book, isn't it? No, and yes. You've written and revised and are so familiar with the process, so much less with the product. But a finished book is what you have, friend. And that is the product you pitch.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• A pad of paper
• A writing utensil
• Verbs
• Investigative Mind

1. Remember that a main character, also known as the protagonist, changes over the course of a novel because something happens. This is known as conflict. What is the main conflict of your novel? Write this down. Remember active verbs.
2. Who is your character before the conflict? Write down a description of the person we meet in the first few pages, as in age, attitude, occupation, place of residence, stress levels, and the like.
3. Who is your character after the conflict? Write down how the protagonist changes. This is considered resolution. All conflict in a novel leads to resolution for the protagonist. Alas, not necessarily so for a person in real life.
4. What is the main theme of your novel? What ideas are you writing about? Write these down.
5. Things should be coming together in your notes. Read back over them. It is important to avoid plot points, per se, and focus on depicting the story. No need to mention all the characters, either. The most important are the protagonist and antagonist.
6. Write a paragraph that will be part of a one-page letter to an editor or agent that will also include an opening intro paragraph and a concluding bio paragraph. In whichever order works for you, summarize the story of your novel using the answers to the basic questions of character, conflict, resolution and theme.

Tips & Warnings

• A synopsis is a summary of the novel story, not an observation of how well you wrote it. If you use the back of a published novel from your bookselves to note how stories are summarized, pluck out the praise. That will be someone else's job in reviewing your book.