When Do You Write Your Synopsis?

Writers talk a lot about the synopsis and how to write it. Most recently we at Chiseled in Rock published The Dreaded Synopsis by Terry Wright and Synopsis: A Perfect Fit by Janet Lane.

I have written seven novels. One was published only in audio. Two were published in hardcover, mass market paperback, and e-book. One manuscript needs a major rewrite and is probably destined to sit on a shelf forever. The other three are in various stages of writing, submission, and/or revision.

I'm a pantser, a binge writer, and I do not edit or revise as I go. Not necessarily desirable, but I've learned to deal with it. It took awhile, but over the years, I developed a synopsis-writing process that works for me. Here 'tis:

Before I begin the real writing of a novel, I use my basic idea to churn out a narrative outline. It's not a chapter outline or even a chapter-by-chapter plan, but I end up with a vague idea of my story line and characters.

Over the next few days (or in one case, years) I write and write and write until I finally have 65,000 to 70,000 words with somewhere between 15,000 and 25,000 words to go.

I stop writing and read through the novel from page one, writing a chapter-by-chapter summary as I go.

At that point, I plan the remaining chapters of my novel and include them in the summary. This is where I also jot down notes regarding needed revisions.

Then I write, write, write until I've finished the first draft of the novel.

When I move into the revision stage, I change the chapter summary as I change the novel.

When I finish the book, I also have a completed long, detailed synopsis. Agents and editors don't have a uniform standard for the synopses they request with queries or initial submissions, so it's wise to go ahead and prepare a couple of shorter versions, including a one-page, single-spaced summary. They typically require a lot of rewriting as I pare the story down to its bare bones. I don't want to be caught churning out a variation at the last minute.

So when do I write my synopsis? I begin when I'm about 80% of the way through my novel's first draft and I continue revising it as I revise the manuscript. The shorter versions are crafted from the completed long synopsis.

Now it's your turn. When do you write your synopsis?

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By Patricia Stoltey, who is currently in the process of creating that first draft synopsis from a first draft manuscript that is about 80% complete.

Critique Conspiracies: The Sacred Parchment

Lo, the high priest lit the candles, hung them over the cracked and yellow paper, and read from the laws, “Thou shall set the scene…”

Shame on me for comparing critique groups (CGs) to arcane gothic orders, but heaven help me, it’s just too much fun. I can justify the introduction to my posting though, because it’s also an old teacher’s trick of piquing curiosity and activating schema. And I’m supposed to hook my reader, silly.

Anyway, take any organization and they will more than likely have some revered document. This written record is what makes them organized. In the 2nd installment of this series, I mentioned that a CG whose members don’t typically cite some kind of book on the art of writing is one of which to steer clear. The good news is: I’ve never sat in on a CG that didn’t have at least one or two members that were well versed in some of the common publications on the craft. So in this posting, I’m going to play nice and point out how most feedback forums are doing the right thing and conspire to help you by using good how-to titles.

Previous books on writing mentioned were The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler and Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain. Here are a couple of more: Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card (bet you’ve heard of him!), Stein on Writing by Sol Stein (Even though he keeps saying ‘show don’t tell’ when it actually should be ‘show when you can, tell when you have to’), and Writing the Fiction Synopsis by Pam McCutcheon. The last listing is outstanding because it also sneakily shows you how to outline a novel. Oh, and believe me, if you’re kind of new at attacking novel writing, you’ll definitely need a course in drafting a synopsis.

Whereas there is no singular ‘parchment’ that a writer’s organization hails as the quintessential learning resource, when your CG gives you pointers, they need to sound like something you’ve read in a respected book that teaches writing. Here are some common techniques: an author should show the reader where the story is taking place within the first few paragraphs. Varying degrees of tension should persist throughout the pages. Dialogue between characters will be at least slightly opposable if not outright defiant.

The newcomer to writing must gobble up many books on the craft, apply what he’s learned in his current project, and take it to the CG to compare notes with his colleagues—a test per se to see if he’s getting the hang of all those. Good critiquers will acknowledge specific progress.

If, God forbid, you crash into some dark, dank chamber full of bloated writers who seem to be making their feedback up as they go along, run. Run for your life.

The ever opinionated E.C. Stacy