10 do's and don'ts when you're writing a synopsis

Writer's Digest has a great list of tips. Here's the start:

1. Do keep in mind that this is a sales pitch. Make it a short, fast and exciting read.

2. Do establish a hook at the beginning of the synopsis. Introduce your lead character and set up a key conflict.

3. Do remember to always introduce your most important character first.

4. Do provide details about each of your central characters (age, gender, marital status, profession, etc.), but don’t do this for every character—only the primary ones.

5. Do include the characters’ motivations and emotions.

And the rest.

Struggling to do a synopsis?

Here's one way of doing the one-page synopsis of your story from the blog of Jennifer Hubbard, author of THE SECRET YEAR:

Once upon a time, I did some posts about synopses. I said there were three basic types I'd encountered: the one-line, the one-paragraph, and the one-page. I proceeded to blog about the first two, and even did a postscript, but then I shamelessly left you hanging on the third one.

As I may have confessed in those earlier posts, I'm not a big fan of the one-page (sometimes it's two-page) synopsis. I can see the value in a one-liner: writers get asked all the time, in casual conversation, "So what's your book about?" And the one-paragraph version is useful in a query. But when it comes to going longer than that, I would much rather write the book than write a long synopsis of the book.

Still, we sometimes need to write that kind of synopsis, perhaps for a grant application, or when selling a project that hasn't been written yet.

I've heard of people doing this in a chapter-by-chapter format; that's certainly one way to proceed. I haven't used that format myself, but in writing this post, I looked back at the first successful sample of a one-pager that I did use. It's the synopsis for a project that got me into the Rutgers One-on-One Plus conference a few years ago. Here's the approach I used, FWIW:

• 1st paragraph: General statement of what the book was (contemporary YA) and what it was about (essentially, the one-line synopsis). Included the "hook" and mentioned the main characters.
• 2nd paragraph: Described the setup, what the main character wanted, and the first plot complication.
• 3rd paragraph: Described next plot complication, and described main character's central dilemma.
• 4th paragraph: Described novel's climactic scene.
• 5th paragraph: Mentioned subplots and summarized how main character changed.

I also tried to write the synopsis in the same general tone as the manuscript. The synopsis was also accompanied by a three-page writing sample; I used the first three pages of the novel. (For writing samples, it's almost always recommended to use the opening pages.)

Here's more about her book.
Follow her on twitter: @JennRHubbard