The Dreaded Synopsis

Here's how naive I used to be. There was a time when I honestly believed that the sole purpose of the synopsis was to get an agent interested in your work, and that once you'd bagged an agent, that was it - - no more synopsis-writing ever again!

As I say, I was naive in those days. The truth is that you never stop writing the dreaded synopsis.

A couple of examples from my writing life:

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- When my agent placed my first book, The Deserter's Daughter, the publisher also wanted first dibs on my next book. That wasn't good enough for my agent and she said that I would produce a synopsis, and if they liked it, they could give me a contract for it up front. She then rang me up and said, "I need a synopsis from you in the next forty-eight hours." And that was what I had to produce... from scratch.

- My first books written as Maisie Thomas were those in The Railway Girls series. The way it worked was this. Penguin would ask me if I wanted to write another three and I'd say yes. So then they'd say, "Write a series proposal" - in other words, three synopses - and they'd decide if they liked what I'd come up with. (They always did.)

The point is that if you're an author who wants to work with a publisher, then the synopsis is a part of your professional life.

So, how about some tips for writing a synopsis:

- Title and genre at the top, please! Plus your strap-line.

- Use the present tense and express yourself clearly.

- You don't have to include every single thing in the synopsis. What you need is a broad outline of the main plot.

- Likewise, you don't have to include all the characters - but do introduce your main character early on. 

- Make the when and where clear.

- Don't be tempted to descibe a really important event in detail. It sounds strange, but the more detail you add to an event in a synopsis, the less important it feels. Don't fall into that trap.

- Read the instructions! If you're submitting to an agent or editor, read their guidelines, and then stick to them.

- It's a synopsis, not a blurb. Don't leave cliffhangers. The agent/editor wants to know if you can construct a plot effectively, and they won't know that if you keep back important plot points. Sprinkle those spoilers! They'll show how good you are at creating a compelling plot.

- Spaces on the page look good. This was one of the best pieces of advice I was ever given about writing a synopsis. Yes, I know that if you're told to fit the entire synopsis onto one side of A4, the temptation is to cram everything onto the page - but, honestly, an empty line in between paragraphs looks good. It makes you look professional, because it shows you have worked hard to nail your synopsis and you care about the presentation of your work.

- Don't try to cheat to way to a longer synopsis by using a smaller font or wider margins. All you'll do is make it more difficult to read. Also, you don't want to annoy the agent/editor.

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So there we have it - my tips for writing a synopsis. It's a tricky thing to write and I don't know anyone who enjoys producing them. But they do an important job and it's well worth putting in the effort. Good luck!

(If you have another tip to offer, drop it into the comments below. Thanks.)