How do i write the full synopsis?

Check out this thread from last week:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13649

Oh, and congrats!

For the full synopsis I tell about the book (present tense) in the same voice that I'd use to tell a buddy about a great movie I'd seen the night before.

Synopsis

Jonny Ryan Mac said:

Well, i finished. I wrote 500 pgs, 160k wrds, and finished my first edit. It took a while but im proud to say that this phase has come to a close. Still a line edit and a few rewrites coming down from the editor, but that wont take long.

So...with that said. Any one have any tips on the synopsis? Ive written and polished the book sleeve type one, but i havent tackled a full on three to five pg full one yet. Does it need to flow as well as my shorter 'hook' version? Any one have a sample somewhere?

Thanks for the help.

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I use the same basic technique you find on the jack copy of a published novel, with the exception that I do reveal the ending. I've had two editors tell me that's how they prefer a synopsis be written, so that's how I started writing them.

Sure, I can give you a sample, but it'll be very unlike what you see elsewhere. I'd never read "the rules" about synopses before I wrote one, but the editor liked it, so who am I to b*tch? Hahaha.

The book is scheduled for release in March of next year, so I'll cut it off right before the end so you don't find out the surprise ending! My editor would get a bit growly...

************

TOUCH OF EVIL​

​

Setting:

This first in a series, full length (100,000+) paranormal adventure is set in the city of Denver, CO. It’s told in first person, from the heroine’s POV. It is late summer in the present time, in an alternate reality.

Characters:

Mary Kathleen ("Kate") Reilly: The female heroine is approximately 28. She is a former professional beach volleyball player, who retired after severe shoulder injuries. She is presently self-employed as a bonded air courier. She’s 6'1", with green eyes and red-gold hair that she often wears in a braid. She continues to keep fit by running and working out in a home gym. She is a devout Irish Catholic, and owns a converted warehouse in lower downtown ("LoDo") in Denver. In addition to her own apartment, she has four other rentals in the building. Kate has a great abundance of psychic talent, which was discovered by the Thrall, a self-aware parasitic society which preys on humans. Kate has been attacked in order to make her the Thrall queen. But to become the queen would mean that she would lose her own consciousness, and is the equivalent of being dead to her. She is considered, "Not Prey" by the queen collective, because she killed the previous Thrall queen of Denver, but has a penchant for wearing biker leathers due to her paranoia of future vampire attacks.


Tom Bishop: Tom Bishop is approximately 30 years old. He is an extremely handsome firefighter in Denver, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He is a known lycanthrope. Tom is the ultimate search and rescue dog during fires and disasters. He retains his mental capability, which is unusual for a wolf in this reality. Tom is one of the tenants in Kate’s building. He and Kate have flirted for over a year, and he’s very interested in her, but he has not been allowed to do so by his pack leader. In this reality, the wolf pack is a matriarchal society, but the females are sterile, and they must have a human surrogate to increase the pack size. The female leader, or "Acca", will not allow Tom to date until the surrogate has chosen a mate from among the single males.


Dylan Shea: Formerly Kate’s fiance, he cheated on her with Kate’s best friend Amanda Quinn, and left Kate when he chose to become part of the Thrall herd – a blood donor to the queen. He is approximately 29, with wavy black hair and sapphire blue eyes. He’s regretted leaving Kate for Amanda, but knows he’s hurt her too much to go back to her. Or has he?


Storyline:

The book opens with Kate returning home from a delivery of gemstones to Tel Aviv. At the airport, she discovers she is being followed by a Thrall Host. Her psychic connection to the Thrall collective acts as an "early radar" for nearby humans which have been absorbed by one of the parasites. She is able to escape the Host, but in her trip home from the airport (miles outside the city), another Host runs her off the road. While she is not injured, the police insist she be checked at a hospital. Kate has two brothers, Bryan and Joe. Bryan is a mental invalid who is cared for at the local church. Joe is a doctor at a particular hospital, so that’s where she goes. She’s attacked there by the Thrall queen, Monica, who uses one of the nurses under mind control to attempt to inject Kate with a drug to make her woozy so that Monica can implant queen eggs in an arm vein. Monica hates Kate with an almost psychotic passion. When Kate killed the former queen, all of the Hosts and Herd which were attached to the former queen also died, leaving Monica alone, and driving her nearly insane. Making Kate the next queen is the perfect revenge.

Once home, Kate receives a message from her former fiance, Dylan Shea, asking to meet with her the next day. He doesn’t give a reason. Considering the difficult way they broke off their engagement, and the fact that they haven’t seen each other since, Kate is more than a little nervous, but also curious. The following day, she runs into Tom Bishop in the lobby. He invites himself to her apartment for breakfast. Kate is surprised, but pleased at the turn of events, since he hasn’t ever shown much interest in her other than as his landlord and running partner. He seems to struggle within himself, but eventually kisses her. An erotic scene ensues which is interrupted before consummation by the arrival of Joe, ready to accompany Kate to meet with Dylan. This is not what Tom wanted to hear, and he leaves in a huff.


Feeling angry, nervous and afraid, Kate travels to a local pool hall to meet Dylan. She is pleased at her lack of emotion at seeing him again. She’s introduced to Dylan’s brother-in-law, Matt Quinn. This is quite a shock to Kate, who hadn’t realized that Dylan married the woman he left Kate for. However, it makes her life easier, knowing there’s no future with him. Dylan convinces her to help he and Matt find his young niece, Dusty Quinn. Kate realizes through a mental impression from Dylan that somehow the Thrall hive is involved with Dusty’s disappearance, but she doesn’t know in what way, because Dylan is suddenly paralyzed by Monica, making further questioning impossible. Eventually, Kate realizes that Monica is at the end of her life. In case she cannot capture Kate, she has arranged another possible queen candidate, Dusty.


Kate soon learns that Dusty is being protected by the local werewolf pack after agreeing to become their human surrogate. Kate uses all of her sources in Denver to find try to find Dusty, and it sets her at odds with Tom, who is protecting the girl. Kate doesn’t know that Tom has been forbidden from pursuing her by his pack leader, the Acca. But he’s afraid that the situation will prevent him from ever getting a shot at Kate, and gives in to his feelings for her, in an intense lovemaking scene. But he doesn’t know how his pack leader will react.


Dylan is intent on keeping Dusty safe. But as part of Monica’s herd, he fight her mental commands to deliver either Kate or Dusty. He does the only thing he can think of – he contracts with another Queen and becomes a Host, severing him from Monica’s influence, but guaranteeing his death. When Dylan meets Kate in a clothing store to give her information to help her find Dusty, they end up kissing passionately. Neither of them realized that his transformation makes him able to feel things for Kate that he’s never comprehended, and her attraction to him in return unnerves her because of her disgust for any Thrall and the fact that he’s married.


Kate finally arranges with Tom to meet with the Acca of the werewolves to prove to herself that Dusty is safe and unable to be turned by Monica. The meeting doesn’t start as planned, because one of Monica’s Hosts has kidnaped Kate’s brother Bryan and Kate must rescue him. Fortunately, manages to get him back before the Host delivers him to Monica. When she finally reaches the werewolf meeting, she learns that the Acca is not pleased with her or Tom for becoming involved. She warns Kate that despite their feelings for each other, Tom is not yet available and any further interference by Kate will have dire results. Kate doesn’t know how to respond to this ultimatum, but does ensure that Dusty is safe with the wolves.


Kate spots a glint of light in a nearby window and recognizes it as a rifle scope. She yells a warning just as a shot rings out. Dusty is only shot in the shoulder due to the Acca’s quick action, and the wolves change in a flash and attack the gunman. The police arrive because of the gun shot, and Kate is taken to a room to await interrogation. She spends the time trying to sort out her feelings for both Tom and Dylan. She is fortunate that the detective who arrives to question her is another Not Prey who recognizes her. They agree to assist each other in removing Monica from Denver, however they must. Monica arrives at the scene just as they are leaving. She has captured Tom and has brought dozens of Hosts with a final threat: agree to be queen or she’ll order the Hosts to slaughter Tom, the police, the other wolves, and every human in sight. Monica has nothing left to lose, and Kate knows she will carry out the threat. She agrees to allow Monica to lay eggs in her vein, with a number of stipulations. Only the wolves, the detective and Father Mike are allowed to help. But Monica didn’t plan on Dylan’s free will as part of another hive. He manages to free Tom, who gets into the church via the belfry and attacks the vampire who is keeping the others from helping Kate...
*********
Have to stop it there so you don't find out the end. But the end is stated, just so you know.

This is exactly two pages. Notice that certain things are missing, such as the subplots, even though they're mentioned. The editor doesn't need to know how you resolve the subplots so long as the main plot is completely resolved.

Does that help any?

Jonny Ryan Mac said:

Well, i finished. I wrote 500 pgs, 160k wrds, and finished my first edit.

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How did you fit 160k words into 500 pages? Are you not using the standard format?

Start with writing a paragraph or two about each chapter: what is it about? What conflicts? Who? What? When...

Once you have that, you can start trimming and cutting. Obviously, the shorter the synopsis, the more you have to cut. If you're writing a one-page synopsis, you pretty much have no room for subplots and minor characters.

There are some good advice on the board about writing synopsis. My rules of thumb are:

1. use strong verbs and nouns
2. minimize adjectives. Cut all adverbs if you can.
3. active voice only.
4. present tense.
5. be concise, specific, but cut out the unnecessary details and clutters
6. keep the timeline straight (no flashback, jump ahead, etc.)
7. use simple, straightforward language. This is not the time to show off your prose style.

Julie Worth said:

How did you fit 160k words into 500 pages? Are you not using the standard format?

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hehe. Good catch, Julie. Yeah, Jonny, you should format your manuscript so you get about 250 words per page, meaning a 500 page manuscript would be about 125K. If you need info, check here.

Jonny Ryan Mac said:

after the format it should be about 670 pages or so. (tnr 10 double spaced) My current editor hates double spacing, i know its strange, but thats how she is.

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So the 160k words must be a computer count. If so, and if you were to use standard format (eg, Courier New 12pt, double spaced), your MS would run to a thousand pages or so. No wonder your editor prefers it single-spaced!

Heh, I hate double spacing too. Waste of paper. Out of curiousity, what is your book about?

And good luck with the ms.

Jonny Ryan Mac said:

LOL. Its big, and it will be cut down some.

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Way too big for beta readers, unless they're weight lifters. Get it printed at lulu. It'll make a 700-page paperback in a readable 12pt.

i wish i could say more, but the editor has informed me not to talk about it to anyone but her and my wife until its copyrighted

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Just FYI, Jonny -- it was copyrighted the moment you set the words down on paper. The 1996 revisions to the U.S. Copyright Act changed the requirement that it be fully registered in order to have full copyright protection. The following is pasted directly from the Copyright office webpage:

When is my work protected?
Your work is under copyright protection the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible form that it is perceptible either directly or with the aid of a machine or device.

Do I have to register with your office to be protected?
No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Copyright Registration.”

You can read the whole thing at: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#mywork

Of course, that doesn't mean that you have to talk about your book. But it means you CAN.

Copyright

Jonny Ryan Mac said:

I like to write a lot. The more I write, the more I revise, cut and rewrite. I finished the first edit and now im cutting scenes and unimportant detials. Ill have to stay true to the story, thats all I have, you know. I didnt know just how lucky i was to personally know an Editor until I started writing seriously. Shes great, but let me tell you that theres no pats on the back, she's straight up and hard core.

As to supafly's Q, its a Historical Fantasy, i wish i could say more, but the editor has informed me not to talk about it to anyone but her and my wife until its copyrighted. (i.e. Agents and publishers are the only ones in the loop outside of us.) I dont know why she's like this, but thats her style, and I respect that.

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That's one odd editor who doesn't know your work is copyrighted the moment you write it. You can't go copyright your work. It's already as copyrighted as it's ever going to be.

If she means registering the work, pro writers don't register their work, and there's no reason for you to, either, unless you intend to self-publish. The publisher will do this for you.

May one be so bold as to ask the name of the publisher?