I’ll admit it. I hate writing my synopsis. Hate. HATE. HATE.
That said, the synopsis is vital. It tells the editor or agent about your storyline including:
- Who is your main character.
- What does she want? What happens in the story?
- What or who stands in her way?
- What will happen if she fails or why in the heck does it all matter?
When you write the synopsis for a children’s or young adult book, you should be able to keep it to a page. That said, my first draft is often two pages or more. The problem is that, if the details of the story are too fresh in my mind, I try to include everything. That doesn’t tend to work and the synopsis rambles around.
One way to avoid this is to write the synopsis without flipping through the manuscript. This isn’t a chapter by chapter summary. Instead give us the main character and the story problem in paragraph 1. Attempt #1 goes in paragraph 2. Attempt #2 goes in paragraph 3. Attempt #3 goes in . . . can you guess? . . . paragraph 4. Then you have your climax in paragraph 5. You can give information about word count and the like in paragraph 6.
Six paragraphs, 1 single spaced page. It really is worth your while and some people argue that you should write it before you draft your full manuscript. Read my post today at the Muffin to find out why.
–SueBE
One Writer's Journey 