How to Write a Synopsis for Your Tween Book

The synopsis is an important part of a book proposal, and will convey the theme of your book. Agents and editors want to know if the book is right for them. They want to know if they can sell it, which means they want to know how they would market it, which means they want to know where in a bookstore it would be placed. For fiction, the synopsis portrays the high points of story line and plot, succinctly and dramatically.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• All of your normal writing tools.

1. Start by writing one paragraph that describes your book. This should be the story’s central theme. Imagine that you are writing the cover blurb for your book.
2. Describe the main characters and what is the central conflict that propels your novel from start to finish. Discuss how your main character will be taken out of his or her comfortable world and placed in jeopardy, and what obstacles will he or she need to overcome in order to achieve the ultimate goal. And finally, who is primarily going to try to keep our characters from achieving that goal.
3. Write an outline of the key events of the book in story form. This is most often told in the present tense and in an active voice so that it involves your reader, agent or editor, in the story.

Tips & Warnings

• Don’t throw in the kitchen sink. Remember that you don’t have to tell the agent or editor everything. You only have to get them interested enough to ask to read your manuscript.