#writetip The dreaded synopsis surprised me. We all know how hard it is to write but . . .
I discovered a hole in my plot during the process of writing the synopsis. I was having a difficult time getting the story described in under two pages of double spaced text.
Then I realized the novel wasn’t coming full circle and I couldn’t relate the ending to the beginning. Why? I didn’t close off one of the story lines. I don’t think I would have discovered this if I hadn’t written the synopsis.
My point? Maybe the synopsis is not just for your agent or publisher. Maybe it’s good for you too.
Thoughts?
Creative Story Editors 
I like the clarity that a story synopsis brings to the project, but, like you, I have a hard time writing them. Not that I’m anywhere close to writing one for an agent or anything! Not yet!
But I am encountering similar breakthroughs as I follow the conflict arcs for my plot and each of my subplots. A minor character went from despising someone to dating him (he changes for the better in the course of the story) but I in what I have written I have no connection between these events. Writing out plot points at this macro level is not my favorite thing to do, but something that is very useful in keeping my story on course. (To tie this into a sailing motif. 😉 )
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Lisa Gardner has an interesting article on her website about
plotpoints and writng a synopsis. I am on my kindle so I can’t look up
the site but I think it is lisagardner.com.
You might find it interesting. She uses her published novels as examples.
It does feel good when you get your story on course. By the time you
get an agent you will be ready.
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Which spreadsheet has the empty cell? 🙂
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Funny you say that, but I used my spreadsheet to write the synopsis and there were a few too many empty cells for one of the character POVs.
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Good for you! That is especially hard to find when you are the one doing the writing and are so close to it all.
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As you would know, since you wrote the first pass of the blurb for The Final Gate. I can’t thank you enough!
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