I’m not an outliner.
And I’ve been fortunate that I haven’t had to write a synopsis for a couple of years.
But suddenly I’ve been requested to write a full synopsis and 3 chapters for a possible new series.
A synopsis…of material I haven’t actually written? Sounds very like an outline to me….only it won’t lay out the story chapter by chapter.
Seems like a good time to learn to write from an outline. :) In publishing it pays to adapt.
I’m thinking they’ll be looking for about three, double-spaced, single-sided pages. Since the book would be sold on the synopsis, before it’s written, though, they might want to see more. After I write the three pages, I’ll elaborate for a longer, more detailed synopsis, in case they want it.
Here’s my plan:
I’ll brainstorm my story the way I always do…with my first victim, then the suspects. I’ve already gotten my sleuth nailed down, so I think I’m good there. When I’ve gotten a handle on my victims and suspects, I think I’ll be ready to start writing the synopsis.
I’m going to take key points of the story as I brainstorm, and jot them down, working out the plot with my usual what-iffing. I’ll pretend I’m giving someone a long summary of the book instead of the usual elevator pitch I give folks who ask about it.
I have a feeling that as I’m dreaming the plot up, I’ll be getting subplot ideas and probably secondary character ideas. I’m going to put those in a Word file and not in my synopsis unless the subplots or minor characters tie into the main plot in a major way at the end (mine sometimes do.)
Minor character tie-ins aside, I’ll include only main characters. I’ll probably briefly describe the character– something along the lines of “Ann asks JIM why he was near the crime scene. Jim, the victim’s emotionally-dependent only child, responded that…”
I’ll be dealing with suspects, so I’ll be explaining how they react during the investigation—if they’re evasive, misleading, etc. That’ll show, not tell what they’re like. When I name a main character for the first time in the synopsis, I’ll put it in all caps. Most minor characters will just be tagged in my synopsis– the neighbor, friend, police officer, etc.
I don’t usually decide who did it until close to the end of the book. Clearly, I won’t be doing that this time. Instead, I’ll still have all my suspects have equal motive, means, and opportunity. I can decide at the end of the synopsis who did it, but when writing the story from the synopsis/outline, obviously I’ll write it knowing who the killer is from page one.
As always, synopses are 3rd person, present tense. It’ll tell the story in a conversational style, including the key plot points from the beginning of the book to the ending—and, yes, the ending will name whodunit and why-dunit.
With the genre I’m writing (cozy mystery), the setting is important, but not overblown descriptions of the setting. Instead, I’ll be giving a town name and a pithy description of the area. So, something like: “The story takes place in Bradley, North Carolina, a tiny town where neighbors keep a close eye on each other.”
I love dialogue.
There will be no dialogue in the synopsis.
I’ve got some ideas that I think will work. I’m going to just hunker down this week and work through them and figure out my plan for the book. This process is definitely a little different from my norm, but I like trying new things.
Have you ever crossed over and written via an outline when you haven’t before? Or vice-versa? How did it work out?
Good luck, Elizabeth. I’m experimenting with doing a little more pre-writing than I usually do with my latest idea. It’s hopefully going to be a three book series and I feel the need to lay things out a little more.
As a teenager I just wrote – and I never finished writing anything. Now I plan, but then don’t follow the plan.
Thanks for sharing your process with us though and wishing you luck with your synopsis.
Sounds like a good plan. When I was doing script coverage, I had to synopsize some very messy stories (some much messier than what’s in my head before I write).
I found that what really helped was to think of it in terms of five sections or paragraphs:
1. Setup.
2. First major turning point.
3. Second major turning point.
4. Third major turning point and crisis.
5. Wrap up and solution.
The major turning points will usually be the main plot but if you have a really major subplot (like a love story) one of the turning points may revolve around that or how it intersects with the main plot.
All the best, Elizabeth. That sounds like a sound plan.
I have your problem too – I love dialogue, and a synopsis has no dialogue :-(
Good luck! I’m petrified of writing my synopsis, and your little pointers in here have actually helped me in figuring out how to structure it.
I’m aslo happy to see that I am not the only one who doesn’t normally fully know the ending of a story before we write it.
I struggle without an outline. I’m impressed that you can write mysteries without one!
I don’t always stick to it, I’ve been known to come up with a better villain right at the end :-)
Synopsis is a whole other deal, and I’m still learning how to do one. Good luck with it.
Sounds like you’ve got a good plan in place. Best of luck with it.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
Sounds like you’ve got it all under control. You’ll do great! Good luck!
Elizabeth – I’m so excited that you’re considering another series – although how you have time for it, I have no idea.
The funny thing is, synopses themselves aren’t my big problem, because that’s what you do when you write abstracts in academic writing. My problem is making a synopsis really “crackle with life” so that it’s not just a summary of the book or series, but really “grabs” the reader. Thanks for your ideas about how to do that.
Still haven’t done the outline thing. I’m working on a new book, and still following my old “master plot” — hero and heroine meet. Bad stuff happens. They prevail. HEA.
I unearthed my story boards finally, but I’m trying to find a place to set them up amidst the moving chaos. I’d use the walls, but they’re textured and the sticky notes don’t do well.
Nope, never crossed over from no outline to outline. I’ve also learned never to say never. Good luck, Elizabeth.
Karen
It sounds as if you’ve another exciting possibility ahead of you – wow. I’m sure you’ve got things well under control. Although I consider myself an outliner, I certainly don’t write down every little thing. I know the main path (as in who dies and why and who did the deed), and the main characters. I know the setting. That seems to be enough.
Seams like a lot of work. Good luck >:)
Cold As Heaven
Best of luck with your synopsis. I really hate writing them, but you have a good plan of attack.
And of course writing all of thise without adverbs and adjectives.
Guess that’s where my need for an outline every time would help me.
I’m not a fan of writing synopsis but I write a blog with my son about a TV show and for every episode, I write a synopsis: third person, present. I find it’s really helpful.
CD
Hi, Elizabeth,
I like outlining. Often though my story outline takes a different turn than I had intended, but I guess that’s necessary sometimes.
That’s exciting – a whole new series!
I wish you all the best of luck with your project. I’m struggling with synopsis writing myself and I couldn’t even imagine writing one before writing the novel itself. But some people swear by outlining/pre-writing, so it’s definitely doable, and probably a great skill to lear. Happy writing!
I can write an outline with no dialogue very easily. I can look at something from a birds eye view and see the end from the beginning. I can go back and add dialogue later. And a synopsis shouldn’t have dialogue. Just the facts, ma’am. Marvin Wilson helped me with mine.
Stephen Tremp
I NEED to do this. This would be a great task for someone to give me. Will someone please assign me a synopsis? :)
Michele
Southern City Mysteries
Yours sounds like a great game plan, and you’ve hit all the main points of doing a great synopsis. Thanks for putting that down in such a straight-forward manner. Good luck!
I’ve tried various methods of planning, and what ultimately works best for me is a complications worksheet I developed which hits the major turning points in the novel and helps me make sure I’ve achieved the critical questions up to that point. It’s been fantastic for me, and I posted it on our blog a while back in case anyone is interested in trying it.
Complications Worksheet
mments:
Rayna–It’s not easy, is it? I’ll just squash that urge by writing the dialogue I want to write…on a separate Word document. :)
Paul–I can definitely understand the need to outline in that situation. Will the plots connect then? In my series, I might have a running subplot, but each book stands alone for the most part.
Cassandra–I probably wouldn’t follow my plan either, but I have to this time. So I want to make sure the plan is REALLY the way I want it before I turn it in…because I’m kind of married to the plot I propose.
The Daring Novelist– Ohh…very nice! My cozies do usually have an ebb and flow like that…especially with 2 dead bodies that are spaced out, usually a moment of danger for the sleuth, etc. Fits in nicely with your sections.
I usually don’t have much love interest going on, although I’m thinking about having a minor one in this new book. Maybe a very slow-moving one that can stretch over several books.
Tundiel–Oh good! Glad it helped. As far as the ending goes…I think it just shows that the ending could have *several* different outcomes and we’re choosing one. I think that keeps things exciting for our readers, too!
Charmaine–I get great ideas, too! I usually just put them in a Word file for the next book.
Mason–It’s a plan! :) I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Alan–Thanks! I hope so.
Cold As Heaven–Thanks!
Margot–My plan is that this series, if I get it, will be spaced nicely with my Memphis series. That’s the *plan*, anyway. :)
Terry–Windows? The windows might work to stick your Post-Its on. Of course, then the neighbors would wonder about you. :)
Diane–That’s right…just letting the excitement of the scene bubble through via the scene’s action. I don’t usually do that either. :)
Clarissa–That would be *excellent* practice. And you’re writing it in an appealing way because you know the people reading your blog are interested in the show and want the episode *presented* in an appealing way. I read a “Lost” blog…right now, “Lost” is my only TV show. Don’t know what I’ll do at the end of the season!
Alex–I think I go through stages. At first I worry. Then I get excited. The worry stage was short this time, thank goodness.
Lisa–I’m really, really curious about going off an outline. I’ve never been curious enough to *do* it, but since I *need* to do it, it’ll be interesting to see how it goes (and if I ever do it again!)
Stephen–So far, so good!
Karen–I think I *may* have said “never” to outlining. :) Clearly, I’m eating those words now…
Adventures in Children’s Publishing–Thanks! I’m heading over there now to take a look.
You’re already doing two series and now a third! WOW – way to go! I haven’t tried outlining yet, but I’m not ruling it out in the future.
Sounds daunting! I almost think it would be easier to write the MORE detailed synopsis and then shorten it–though that might be stylistic. I also think you don’t HAVE to decide your killer completely –I think you can elliminate a few suspects along the way, and say, “in the end it might have been X, for this reason, or Y for this reason”–
Good luck with it, though!
Good luck with the synopsis. Like you, I love dialogue and have a heck of a time writing a synopsis without it. What I have done is gone ahead and written the dialogue as it comes during the writing of the synopsis. Then I save that off in my notes file and change the synopsis appropriately.
Elizabeth, are you, like Beth Groundwater, going to be writing two (or three) series at the same time? When do you plan to eat and sleep?
Sounds like you have a lot of thinking ahead of you. I’m amazed that you are trying to take on another series! You always amaze and inspire me. :)
Elspeth–It sure sounds like enough to me! This will be really different, outlining the story to this degree.
Jane–Thanks! Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Hart–I think I’m going to give them a solution–but, as usual, there are at least 4 other people who could just as easily have been the murderer. If they REALLY like another character as the killer, I never mind changing. :)
Carol–I hate them too. Seems to suck the lifeblood out of a book, to me…But I’m trying to change my mind. :)
Teresa–You seem very organized to me, and I’d think you’d be a natural at outlining. :)
Sounds like a challenge. I don’t outline either. I tend to only have 2 scenes in my head when I start – the first and the last. Then I go. I worry that outlining would take some of the fun out of the process for me. I love having the story just flow.
Congrats on the requested new series and good luck with the synopsis!
Michele–I will! And I know just the one for you to write… :)
Like you, I never used to write pre-draft synopses for outsiders to see until one of my commissions demanded it. Although I chafed at first, I found it very useful. Most of all, because I couldn’t leave anything to be fixed later!
Now I use a detailed synopsis to map out the structure of a novel and it allows me to be much more daring.
I’ve not done this before, but I know writers who have. From what I’ve heard, even though you sell the book/series on the synopsis and sample chapters, you’re not glued to it. Things often change in the process of writing.
Good luck! And have fun.
Helen
Straight From Hel
Dirty White Candy– That’s an interesting thought…that it gives you some additional complexity and a chance to be daring.
Maryann–I think that’s *exactly* what I’m going to do!
Helen–Sounds good to me!
Patricia–Lately I’ve been kind of doing the multitasking eating. :) Eat while doing xyz.
Janel–Thanks! I’m excited about the possibility.
Jemi–So far it’s still been fun…but different. Sort of an odd day! But it wasn’t bad.
No. But, the notecard thing worked well to get my plot and scene sequences in order. Good luck. You are so wonderful. It is very exciting to follow your writing career through your blog!
I like the idea of index cards. :)
Grr. Outlines. I said I wasn’t going to do one for my first novel, but I’m finding I need to after all. And I’d turned up my nose at character sheets before I started this novel, then discovered I needed more information on the characters than I could put into the story. Huh. This whole first novel thing is hard work, man. *sigh*
Good thing I’m committed. :)
I love that, you’re a fly by the seat of your pants kind of gal! I used to be until I went to a writer’s retreat and had to write a synopsis. Once I did I saw all the holes and issues in my manuscript. Now I force myself to write one before starting a new book. It has made a huge difference! Good luck. I hope it’s quick and painless for you!