Writability: synopsis

Showing posts with label synopsis. Show all posts

Vlog: Writing a Synopsis Before First Drafting??

What is a synopsis, why do so many writers hate it, and why in the world would I write one *before* the first draft? Today I'm sharing the plotting tool I never expected to like.

RELATED VLOG:

How I Plot

Have you ever tried writing a synopsis before the first draft?

Twitter-sized bite:

Writing a synopsis before the first draft is a thing? @Ava_Jae vlogs about the plotting tool they never expected to like. (Click to tweet)

How to Write a Synopsis

Photo credit: Rsms on Flickr

So this blog is turning six years old this year, and I've realized all this time I've managed to avoid writing a post on how to write a synopsis. Sure, I wrote a joke post about writing a synopsis, which was really more like agonizing over writing a synopsis, and I wrote about a new thing I've been doing that's saved me a lot of pain, namely, writing the synopsis before writing the first draft, but there are still times when you and I will have to write synopses for manuscripts we've already written, and, well. It's not easy.

I'd be remiss if I talked about synopsis writing without pointing you to Susan Dennard's excellent post on writing a one-page synopsis, which I reference when writing my own post-manuscript synopses. I'm not going to reiterate everything she says, and there are a lot of important points in there, so take the time to look it over.

But let's say you know the basics about putting down the main plot points and making sure you cover all the important events from beginning to end (yes, that means giving away the end) and you're still struggling. Because condensing your book into a synopsis? Is really hard.

The way I usually go about it when I have to write a synopsis after writing the full manuscript, is to not worry about the length at first. I go through and explain the major plot points, trying to keep each point no more than a sentence or two. If you're a plotter like I am, it helps to have your outline out next to you while you do this—both because chances are likely you already condensed the main plot points into a sentence or two for your outline, and because it's easier to decide what's vital to mention and what isn't when you have the whole outline in front of you.

Then I write. I cover the main conflict and plot, the important plot twists, briefly mention any romantic entanglements when relevant (although, if it's not a huge part of the plot, then I gloss over that), and make sure the core of the story is explained.

When I reach the end of this initial synopsis, it's usually way too long—like, eight to fifteen pages when it should really be no more than three or so. But that's okay; for me, at least, it's much easier to cut than it is to add, which brings me to my next step: condensing.

This is also a good time to make sure you've formatted your synopsis correctly. A synopsis should be single-spaced, Times New Roman point 12, regular margins, etc. I mention this now because in the past I've accidentally had the wrong font, done a bunch of work condensing, thought I was done—then realized the font was wrong and when I changed it still had half a page left to cut. So to save you that agony, make sure you've formatted correctly from the beginning.

Back to condensing! So this is where you need to ask yourself what is vital to cover and what isn't. Oftentimes, when you think about it, you'll find you've mentioned scenes you could breeze over with half a sentence or cut altogether, so that's the first area you'll want to cut. Once you've gone through and made sure every scene you mention is absolutely vital to understanding the plot, you'll then want to take a look at your word choice.

Ask yourself if that scene you described in three sentences could be described in one, or if you could mash those two scenes together into the same sentence. Then when you're done with that, it'll be time to condense your language. For a list of words and phrases to look out for, check out my two line editing posts, How to Condense Without Losing Anything Useful and How to Make Cuts Without Losing Anything Useful.

In the end, how long should your synopsis be? I aim for one to three pages, generally, but guidelines vary situation to situation and agent to agent. If you're querying, it's a good idea to have a one page synopsis and a two-or-three page synopsis ready, because a lot of it comes down to preference. There are situations where longer synopses are okay, too (especially if your manuscript is super long), but in general, shorter is better.

With all those steps in mind, the synopsis is yours to master. Here's hoping you won't have to do another one for a while. ;)

How do you tackle writing a synopsis?

Twitter-sized bite:

Struggling to condense your manuscript into a synopsis? @Ava_Jae shares some tips for this dreaded step. (Click to tweet)

On Combining Two Ways to Plot

Photo credit: erstwhile ungulate on Flickr

Over the weekend, I finished first drafting my fourteenth manuscript. It was short—like, under 50,000 words short—and I'm legitimately not sure I'll ever take it out of the drawer ever (right now I have a 50% trunk-without-editing rate), but it accomplished what I most needed: a distraction and reminder that yes, I'm still capable of first drafting something totally new thank you very much.

I'm not going to lie, though—plotting this WIP was really hard. So hard that I actually took a break halfway through and put it away for several months before I opened it up and looked at it again.

The thing is, as completely necessary as pre-plotting is for me before I write even a single word of the WIP, it's not exactly the easiest of processes. With this most recent WIP I sort of forgot about one of the two plotting processes I've played around with that maybe would've made the experience a little easier, but for my next project I think I'm going to combine my two methods.

The methods I'm talking about are:

Scrivener cork board. So I've described this method before in my On How I Plot a WIP and How to Use Scrivener's Cork Board posts, so I won't go into super detail here, but it basically involves writing brief summaries of every scene in your planned book, each on a separate flashcard that gets "pinned" to the cork board. Some scenes are more fleshed out than others, but I write just enough for me to understand the gist of what has to happen in each scene. This is the only method I did for the last WIP I plotted, and yes, it worked, as it has worked in the past, but I found it more difficult than the previous two projects I'd plotted, which involved a combination of this method and...

Pre-draft synopsis. So I know on paper this sounds like voluntary torture, but I have been pleasantly surprised to find that writing the synopsis before I've written the book is a million times easier and more enjoyable than writing it after. Go figure. (I've written about this discovery in this post.) But basically this is exactly what it sounds like—opening up a document and writing however many pages you need to go step by step through what will happen in your book.

In the past, when I've combined the two it usually involved having both Scrivener and Word open at the same time. (I don't know why my brain insists on writing a synopsis in Word when Scrivener is perfectly capable of handling both the outline and synopsis, but whatever, brains are weird.) I'd write the synopsis part first, expanding more and more as I go along, and gradually transfer over what I had to the flashcards, which I would later need for first drafting. Both times I did this I managed to finish fully plotting the projects in a week or less.

Would have been nice if I'd remembered that while plotting the last project, but I digress...

Sometimes playing around with new strategies or combining ones you have can be extra effective, which is why I'm sharing it with you guys. After all, you never know what methods will work best for you if you don't try new strategies here and there.

Have you tried either of these methods for plotting?

Twitter-sized bite:

Looking for a new way to plot? @Ava_Jae shares a combination method you might want to try. (Click to tweet)

How to Write a Synopsis (Sorta)

Photo credit: jazbeck on Flickr

Realize you can no longer put off writing your synopsis.
Open up a Word doc.
Write “[INSERT TITLE] Synopsis” at the top.
Center it.
Change the formatting of the post to Times New Roman, point 12 font.
Tap your fingers on your desk.
Compose a tweet about how much you hate synopsis writing.

"I love synopsis-writing!" -said no writer ever.
— Ava Jae (@Ava_Jae) July 20, 2015
Feel validated by the groanings of fellow writers agreeing with you.
Go back to your synopsis.
Copy and paste the first two paragraphs of your back cover copy summary—just for inspiration!
Rewrite a single sentence.
Open up the book document and scroll through the scenes to jog your memory.
Go back to your synopsis.
Write a few sentences.
Delete a few sentences.
Compose an e-mail to your agent or CPs, debating whether or not a synopsis is really necessary.
Delete the e-mail.
Grovel at your desk.
Go get a snack. You’ve worked hard. It’s lunch time.
Back to the synopsis.
Write a blog post about how to sorta write a synopsis.
Pound it out, one sentence at a time, until you finally—finally!—get into the zone.
Eventually get to the end.
Cry tears of joy.
Then weep tears of despair—because your synopsis is three pages too long.
Agonize over condensing your synopsis until it fits on two to three pages.
Agonize more over creating a one page version.
Send it to critique partners who have read the book and pray they don’t suggest changes.
They suggest changes.
Make said changes, declare it COMPLETE and vow never to write another synopsis again. You know. Until the next book.

And for some real advice, check out this ridiculously amazing synopsis post from Susan Dennard that I basically go to every time I need to write a synopsis.

What tips do you have for synopsis writing?

Twitter-sized bite:

Writer @Ava_Jae shares how to write a synopsis in thirty steps. Kind of. (Click to tweet)

On Writing a Synopsis Before the First Draft

Photo credit: gautamnguitar on Flickr

Like most writers, I despise synopsis-writing. It’s easily my least favorite part of the writing process, and one I tend to put off until I absolutely have to. Because trying to condense 60-100,000 words into a page? It’s tough. It’s ridiculously tough.

But I’ve been trying this new thing lately.

I’ve often heard writers talk about writing the synopsis before they write a single word of the manuscript. While this is something that never sounded particularly appealing to me (after all, synopsis writing = the tenth circle of hell Dante forgot to mention), I figured I’d try it out for a potential future WIP.

While I’m not currently done with this brainstorming/synopsis experiment, and it is absolutely more than a page (which I think is fine, considering this is the time to expand on ideas to turn into a book, not condense them), I’ve noticed a couple interesting things along the way.

Firstly, it’s been working surprisingly well as far as idea-generation goes. I’m a very linear writer—I tend to build up scenes and come up with ideas by working off of what I already know has happened—so writing a condensed, summary version of what I think will happen chronologically has definitely helped me come up with how to get from point A to point B, which is something I tend to struggle with while plotting.

Secondly, it is way easier to notice potential plot problems or places where I could tweak and expand when working on this summarized version. It’s actually kind of exciting, because I can look at the synopsis I have going and add a couple sentences a few pages back and voila! NEW PLOT THREAD. This synopsis brainstorming thing makes it so much easier to see macro issues and weave new plot threads in before I start writing, which will hopefully make revising easier in the future. I think.

All in all, the pre-draft synopsis has been a really fun experiment, and one that I’ll probably continue and do again in the future. And maybe, just maybe, having this early synopsis will make future synopsis writing a teensie bit less painful. Hey, I can dream, right?

Have you ever tried writing the synopsis before the first draft?

Twitter-sized bites:

Writer @Ava_Jae blogs about the pre-draft synopsis and how it can help with plotting. #writingtip (Click to tweet)

Have you ever written a synopsis before the first draft? Here's why you may want to consider it. (Click to tweet)