Synopsizes Suck!

I know, I know it’s something we all moan about, but we all have to do them if we want to be traditionally published. I haven’t had to write one for a while because it’s been all book writing for the last several months, but this past week I had to put one together for a book that’s going out on submission.


Now this is a book I’ve already completed. I already know the story inside and out. There is no figuring out what should happen next. There is simply telling the story of the book you already wrote. Simple right?

Nope. I still struggled. What elements to tell, what can be left out. How to show case the relationship within a few lines so the person reading the synopsis will get a sense of what the book is about without going into too much detail.

And the thing about the synopsis – there seems to be a lot of gray area around it. Everyone knows what a pitch is – 2 to 3 sentences that showcase your story. Something High Concept! Everyone knows what a query is – one page. A couple of paragraphs dedicated to the story and a paragraph detailing the author’s writing credentials.

But for the synopsis I’ve heard editors say 5 pages. 10 pages. Even as high as 20 pages. Let me tell you the difference between telling your story in 5 pages and 20 pages is a BIG difference.

Me – I’m a ten page max kind of person. My thinking is if you wanted to read 20 pages of something then you might as well just read the book.

So fortunately that’s done and I can say something I never thought I would say. I can go back to doing the easy thing of just writing the book.