How to Write A Short Synopsis for Your Women's Fiction Novel

A synopsis is a brief explanation of what your story is about and what happens in it. Sounds simple enough but for many writers, new and seasoned, the synopsis can strike fear in their hearts. Agents and editors can vary on the style of synopsis which can lead to more confusion. Some want only a two-page synopsis and others will go for a longer five to 10 pages. Either way, narrowing a 300- to 400-page manuscript down to mere pages can be difficult. Read on to learn how to write a short synopsis for your women's fiction novel.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Break it Down

1. Some writers leave the synopsis for after they have typed The End to their story and others will write it before starting Chapter 1 and will then revise it as things change. Either way is fine. It's what works for you but there are a few points that should always be included in your synopsis.

2. Before getting into a formal format of what your synopsis will look like, take a few moments to either type or write on paper what you would tell a friend about your manuscript, just like you would after reading a book you loved. What would you include and what would you leave out so as to not bore them?

3. Take a look at what you have written--two things will have happened, you'll either been too vague or you went on and on and forgot you were suppose to be communicating with someone--at least pretending to.

4. Hopefully you've hit the highlights in you manuscript. For women's fiction, there are several points that are pivotal to making the story move including your main characters troubles and her plan to fix them;
   obstacles internal and external that keep her from fixing them; a dark moment where she has her biggest doubts or has lost everything; and her rebound moment if she has one towards the end (not every women's fiction story has a happy ending). Be sure to tell how she changes from the beginning of the book.

5. Having all the information you feel is needed to make your synopsis work, let's format your pages. These documents are single spaced with one space in between paragraphs and are right-aligned with no indents and 1-inch margins. At the top of your page write Synopsis and under that include your title and after that include your name and space down two times to begin. Be sure to number your pages, top right corner or bottom center is fine.

6. Now that all the bones are there, and you've set up your page, you are wondering how to get this well over two- or 20-page piece of work narrowed down. Do the following: Remove repeated characters names. The synopsis does not need to have every character in your manuscript listed so if you are focusing on the top two or even four characters, and your paragraphs tell what is happening, you shouldn't have to repeat full names over and over. Pull back on description. You want action and emotions in these two pages, no one cares what the room looked like--of unless of course it is a haunted room. You're telling whoever reads this synopsis what the story is about, so no dialogue should be included.

Tips & Warnings

• Once you have the highlights of your book, organize them into short paragraphs in sequential order so that it flows as your manuscript does.
• Some writers do give a run down of their characters by paragraph which is great but they also make it flow as the book does. Sort of an "as they enter the story" run down. This method is good too, but you still need to be selective when keeping it to two pages.
• While you would never tell a friend how the book ended, in a synopsis always tell how it ends. This is not a document to hook the agent or editor, it is a document to inform them that you know how to make the story move.