Tuesday, June 22, 2010

What My Synopsis Taught Me

Confession: I am a pantser.

Outlines? Not for me.

So when it was time to crank out that dreaded synopsis for my WIP, I figured hell was coming to town. It did, but not the way I expected.

You see, I followed a game plan:
1) Write about major characters.
2) Write major plot points.
3) Write ending.
4) Add "voice".

Steps 1 and 2 went well. But as I got closer to the end, my synopsis showed me something I hadn't seen before.

My ending sucked.

By describing what happens in my story, I learned it was pretty flawed. Characterization was okay, but plotting downright sucked toward the final pages. So how did I fix it? I took out the epilogue, which contained a cliffhanger scene. I plan on using this scene in the sequel (if there's ever one...). I went back and rewrote other scenes in order to create a little doubt regarding the twist reveal, but not in a way that leaves the story ending in a WTF moment.

Now my synopsis looks like it's about one book, not one and a half. It does suggest a sequel, but it also shows that this story can work on its own.

There you have it, fellow pantsers: synopses can change lives.

I mean, stories...

What has your synopsis taught you?

7 comments:

  1. My synopsis reminds me - repeatedly - how much I dislike doing them!

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  2. I havent done a synopsis yet..... and I'm dreading writing one with my entire being!!!

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  3. My book will hopefully score a sequel one day too, but it's to an author's advantage if that first book can stand alone.

    A month or so ago I finally buckled down and wrote a synopsis (which really was not as supremely difficult as I thought it would be!), and it taught me that my book is set up strangely, almost like a TV series. All I can say is that I hope it works because it seems fine to me. Denial? Maybe.

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  4. Good for you, Amparo! Endings always need tweaking, in my experience. Mine probably still does. Maybe I should write another synopsis and use your brilliant method.

    lol @Dawn! That's what synopses teach me, too. I just got a query rejection from an agent who requires them and can't blame her. My synopsis really sucked...just told the plot with hardly any voice. But I kinda think it's unfair to make novelists write picture books, don't you? That's essentially what this is, right?

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  5. Well done you with your synopsis and glad it helped out with your narrative!! yay!!!

    good luck with it! And a chance of a sequel is always brilliant!!

    Synopsis writing for me is pretty hard. It's taken me all these years to even get one that I'm happy with - years!!! Grrrr! :-) Then again I'm a very slow learner! LOL!

    Take care
    x

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  6. Great to hear that you tackled your synopsis and made your book stronger as a stand-alone.

    As for me, I've tried writing a synopsis before and have come up empty handed by just running onto my next novel.

    I'm definitely thinking about running through the synopsis again this summer and hopefully I will come up with a nice piece of writing instead of disregarding it, like last time.

    Write on, Amparo!

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  7. All the best and don't give up you're on the right track :)

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