bhanu

Ok so I read all this and now I am bloody confused.According to comic book publishers a synopsis of a mini-series should be about 1-2 pages.But my question of how make a synopsis dynamic as well as short seems to be lost in the debate of the meaning of the synopsis.So can anyone give me some more pointers on how to make it dynamic.
Thank you.

mammamaia

making it 'dynamic' is up to you and your writing talent/skills... there are no specific 'pointers' i can think of, for you to follow... just make it interesting, compelling, and not boring, is the best i can offer...

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cbrmale

Writing with bevity is an art and takes a lot of practice. My professional job includes writing manuals and procedures, and I have done ISO manuals, which cover complex procedures but are never more than three to five pages long. It took several attempts to write these manuals, now it is second nature.

Similarly with a synopsis. A good start is the back dust jacket of novels, this is the style they are after. And then write and re-write and re-write until you get the first one right. From then on, it will be easier.

Walkio

I'm from the UK, and from all the research I've done (emails to agents/publishers; internet research; 'How to get published' by Carole Blake), a synopsis should be a detailed plot outline that tells it (as opposed to a blurb, which sells it). Carole Blake of Blake and Friedman says that a 5-10 page synospsis is suitable for them.

Bhanu, I highly recommend you simply email a target agent and ask them if they have a guideline for their synopsis length. That's what I've always done, and you always get exactly what you ask for.

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Mike C

Most agents expect a synopsis to cover 1 or 2 pages. You're summarising, not giving a chapter by chapter/character by character breakdown. They want to know what it's about, and what happens, that's all. Don't worry about 'giving the plot away' - they don't want suprises, just what happens.

What might help - although it's slightly unrelated - is this: a big agent once told me that if ever I was to pitch a novel to an agent face to face at a conference or whatever, I should be able to tell him what the book was about in one sentence. He said - quite rightly - that the book hadn't yet been written that couldn't be boiled down to one sentence.

After that, boiling it down to 2 pages should be easy!

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bhanu

Now it all seems clear .I read all the posts twice and I think I am better prepared to go ahead with it.My first ones were disasters but i will keep working on it thanks to you guys.Thank you all very much.

Mike C

Marlys Pearson has 2 published novels. She's posted her synopses on her website:

http://marlyspearson.com/synopses.htm

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Kimba

Once again, the synposis I was referring were for scripts. There are obviously different guidelines for both scripts and novels/books.

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Mike C

Either way, being able to describe your piece in a single sentence is a useful skill.

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bhanu

Thanks a lot for the link to the synopsis Mike .yeah describing a story in a couple of lines is a great skill to have.