The Word Cloud

Hi :)

I'm trying to write my synopsis at the moment but I'm struggling. Can anyone help me out with a few points?

1. How long should it really be? I'm hearing half a page, one page, two pages, up to ten pages!!! I'm currently on 1400 words, not sure how many pages that is but I can't imagine getting it down to one page!

2. Do I include back story? It's a fantasy so there is a lot of back story and it's needed to understand why certain characters are important and why certain things happen.

3. Do I include information about my main character? Who she is, her personality, etc?

4. Layout. I'm assuming I double space it? Do I title it synopsis? And do I need a header?

That's a lot of questions! Sorry! But I know it's important to get it right. Really appreciate any help.

Thank you! :)

I can't offer advice I'm afraid snowflake. I am in the same position as you knowledge wise, but will keep an eye on the response you get. Good luck wit your project.

Hi Snowflake

Thank you, Spangles! :)

And thanks for the good luck, fraserpat. Good luck to you, as well!

See, I don't like that synopsis at all... It does not reel me in... I am so confused!

Islander - remember, a synopsis is meant to be dry - it's (as far as I have been led to believe, anyway!) not so much an exciting 'this is how great my book is!' as a literally account of the main events to let an agent know the main bones of your story. I don't think it's meant to'reel you in' as a prospective reader, but more let an agent know the 'facts' about your story.

Snowflake - I also write fantasy, and I am confused over the whole 'backstory' thing, too. That and my novel is one of an intended trilogy - sure, I've given my novel as much of a rounded ending as I can so it stands on its own, but there are ongoing, unanswered questions that get resolved in the later novels. Do I just write a synopsis literally for this novel, or do I explain the later stuff, too, so an agent can see where it leads?

I agree with Ely about the purpose of a synopsis. It's to tell the agent/publisher what the book contains - just as reading a list of ingredients on the side of a muesli packet tells you what the muesli is made from but doesn't tell you how it tastes or what its texture is like. The sample chapters/entire book will reveal what the writing is like and whether it's what the agent/publisher is looking for.

On the subject of a trilogy, although a little off topic.

Do you have to know every detail of the next two books when you send off book one? I know you don't put that in the synopsis, but would an agent need to know all that? Once they were interested in book one, of course.

I'm half way through book two and I know pretty much how the story goes and I know the ending, but not every single detail.

No, you don't have to know 'every detail', as you put it, of the next two books when you send off book one. Of course, you need to have mapped out the basic storyline through books two and three, so you know that you can sustain the story developments for a further two books (as opposed to running out of ideas and tying up all the loose ends midway through book two, and then going into a giant panic and wishing you hadn't put so much plot into book one) and the agent can see how you'll be doing this. The agent will want to check that book three is as strong as book one, and that the overall plot justifies being extended to a trilogy. What they don't want is a trilogy that's really only an extended (and therefore very thin) version of a single good book.

This might help with synopses:

http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2011/06/relax-its-only-a-synopsis.html

The most important thing, if it's a trilogy, is to convey that the first one stands on its own as a complete and satisfying read - as Spangles says, if it doesn't, or if the agents/editors even suspect that it mightn't, you're unlikely to get to the point of explaining Books Two and Three.

Agents are very used to seeing the "first book of a trilogy" which is actually the first third of one monstrous story, hacked off and sent out alone because the writer has been told you can't sell novels of 360,000 words, and hasn't considered that a) the first third of a story is unlikely to be satisfying on its own, or b) that the reason the novel's so ridiculously enormous is in it is told at three times the length it should be.

So although of course there is a market for trilogies in sf/f (less so, though not inconceivably, in other genres), their experience tells them that either of these things may well be true, so your novel's starting off on the back foot. You need to convince them very firmly that it's not true of YOUR novel...

Thank you both :)

This may seem obvious to the both of you, but can I ask your opinion on a little dilemma I've been having with regards to querying the first of a trilogy as a first novel?

Obviously, I am aware of the pitfalls. I am aware that if the first book is a flop, the whole trilogy falls down. I am also aware (even though SFF is more open to them) - and understand - why agents would be wary of taking on a first novel that promises it is 'the first of a trilogy'. So - is it worth holding that novel back and querying a true standalone novel as your first book?

I ask because although I love working on my current, first part of a trilogy novel (and am not quite ready to trunk it yet, even if it is only for a little while!), I do have at least 2 other stories that are truly stand alone. Both are planned; one has 4 chapters (in desperate need of changing, but hey, they are there!). In your infinite wisdom, would it be worth me setting my current project aside due to it's trilogy nature and working on these two concepts instead? I'm in it for the long game, so I will be querying my current novel at some time... but I am wondering if, for a first time novelist, having one that requires nothing more is the more sensible way to go. No point in being precious, after all!

For the record, I do love my current novel and do believe in it... but I want to be practical, too.

xx