Common Synopsis Issues

When soliciting agents or publishers, the synopsis is one of your most important tools. It’s a direct reflection of you, your writing skills, and therefore, your manuscript. Yes, synopses are not easy to write – “if I could have written it in one page, I wouldn’t have written 300...” Just the same, if someone doesn’t want to read 300 – you have but one page in which to inspire them. Sure, I understand, but think of your synopsis as your book’s resume. If the resume stinks, your book won’t get the job.

Here are some of the most common Dos and Don’ts I’ve noticed when it comes to synopses, not in any particular order:

#1 – Being mysterious or cryptic does not draw in the reader, it makes them work harder to try and figure out what’s going on. Never make extra work for an agent or publisher!

#2 – Just because it’s a synopsis doesn’t mean the rules of formatting go out the window. If it’s a paragraph, indent.

#3 – Agents and publishers and readers want to know “who, what, when, where and why.” If your synopsis doesn’t get that across, you have a problem, especially if you’re taking readers to another planet, dimension, or era.

#4 – If it doesn’t impact the story, leave it out. Don’t be wordy and don’t clutter the synopsis with unnecessary details.

#5 – Don’t confuse the reader. I’ve noticed many synopses go in circles, completely disorganized and constantly introducing new characters and details that should have been used to lay things out earlier. See #4.

#6 – Sometimes there’s not enough information. “Joey is under a heinous curse.” Really? What makes it heinous? What is it? Who did it to Joey...and why? Here’s another – “this comic suspense novel” – yet nowhere in the synopsis does it sound remotely humorous. What makes it funny?

#7 – Important characters should be introduced early on. See #3 and #5.

#8 – The “Lost in Space” rule: if you’re writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Paranormal, and you make something up, let’s call it Pishkinata, and you constantly mention it in the synopsis – then explain what it is. It turns out that Pishkinata is a planet filled with cute fluffy white dogs and the main character lives there – well then, we want to know that.

#9 – Ask yourself – does your synopsis make someone want to read the book? Give the synopsis to someone who has NOT read the book and ask them to honestly tell you what the book is about and if they’d be interested in reading it after seeing the synopsis. If they say yes, then ask why. You might be surprised by the answer.

#10 – Ask yourself – does your synopsis accurately reflect your story? Give the synopsis to someone who has read the manuscript and ask them to honestly tell if they think it follows the storyline.

#11 – Tenses: I’ve noticed a lot of people tend to shift back and forth between past and present tense on their synopses. I understand it can be confusing, writing your manuscript in past tense and your synopsis in present tense – but you need to be consistent.

Remember, whoever is reading your synopsis wants to know who the main characters are, what their motivation is, and what the major points of conflict are. If you have an outline for your project, take the key, pivotal points and use those in your synopsis.

Many agents and publishers will have guidelines on their web sites detailing how they want the synopsis – how many pages, etc. Make sure you do as they ask. If you don’t, you’re basically illustrating that you can’t follow instructions and that you’re going to be difficult to deal with. See Item #1. And good luck!

Here Comes the Judge

I've been honored that an extremely reputable writers' association has invited me to be a top-level judge for their annual novel-writing contest numerous times now.  I recently received a follow-up email from them with a point I found to be most curious:

Issue:  A few writers complained vehemently about the critiques. Their feelings were hurt. They told me that they only wanted to know whether they won or lost. Next time, we could have the writer opt in if they want the judges’ written remarks. What do you think?

What I answered:  I will write my comments anyway because it helps me to score the manuscript. I would say NOT to tell the judges if the writer opts out because that could influence the judging in some way as it becomes obvious that they do not wish to become better writers by learning from others. I'd say whoever coordinates the information back to the writers should control if they see the critiques or not.


What I was really thinking:  Seriously?  Their feelings were hurt?  They're lucky to get judges who are conscientious enough to provide them with feedback.  Most agents and publishers won't do that, so how will they learn what their strengths and weaknesses are?  The idea of this is just completely absurd to me. 

If you have a tendency to use the same word three times in the same sentence, wouldn't you want to know?  If you don't know how to properly use punctuation, wouldn't you want to know?  If you're point is lost due to wordiness, wouldn't you want to know?  Perhaps a more important question is:  Why wouldN'T you want to know?

I always make an effort to note not only the bad parts of the manuscript but also the highlights, like a nice bit of imagery or a clever line of dialogue.  I try to follow "The One Minute Manager" style to keep things balanced even if the writing is so bad it's nearly unbearable to read.  There's no reason to tell someone that you'd rather slit your own wrists than read one more word of their pathetic attempt at a manuscript.

Once I traveled from Boston to New York City at the invitation of a literary agent.  I handed her my manuscript and was promised a detailed critique when she was done reading it.  Time passed, and I didn't hear anything so I dropped the agent a line. Her response was a curt rejection.  There was no critique.  There was no explanation.
 
Critiques are worth their weight in gold.

Speak My Language

Okay, so your manuscript takes place in Japan.  How many readers do you think will understand Japanese?  Even more importantly, how many of those readers do you think will have the patience to put up with a book written partially in another language?

Congratulations, you speak Japanese:  a difficult language.  Guess what?  Most of the rest of us don't understand it.  Oh, you knew that, so you put the translations in parentheses after each sentence?  Guess what?  Books don't use subtitles. 

A quick and easy way to alienate readers is to put dialogue in another language.  Okay, so let's say the story takes place in France.  You want the reader to know the main character can speak the language.  You can easily fix that by writing, "Your fly is unzipped," main character said flawlessly in French. The man replied in his native tongue, "Why are you looking at my crotch?"

Confusing the reader is a fatal mistake.  Alienating them by writing things they can't understand isn't much better.

Be Consistent

Another bad habit I've noticed recently, exhibited even by published authors, is word inconsinstency. 

My favorite was in a manuscript where the author actually made up an invention, and its corresponding abbreviation and/or nickname.  Example:  Saab Version I would abbreviate to SVI.  The nomenclature then appeared a number of different times after introduction as both SVI and SV I. 

When it's your own invention, how embarrassing is that?

Would you go out in public with one black and one white sock on?  Don't leave discoveries like these to your editor, or even worse - to an agent or publisher.