Plan Your Novel: Draft A Quick Story Synopsis
by Beth Barany
Welcome to an 8-post series on preparing or planning your novel for Nanowrimo (or anytime.)
This series is part of our PLAN YOUR NOVEL: 30-Day home study course and annual October workshop. (And forthcoming book, Plan Your Novel Like A Pro.)
Today is the second in an 8-post series on preparing your novel for Nanowrimo. In today’s post, we focus on writing your story synopsis for your novel preparation.
If you missed it, the first step in your novel preparation was your elevator pitch.
A synopsis is a short summary of your book.
In the planning stages, a synopsis can help you think through the beginning, middle, and end of your story.
Also, you can draft your story synopsis as a way to think about the inner and outer changes for your two main characters.
Tip: If you do plan to pitch your story to a literary agent, you’ll need a synopsis. Once your novel is polished, you can come back to your draft synopsis to edit or use for inspiration.
I have a cool tool to share with you, called a Plot Spinner, designed by the award-winning romance author, Patricia Simpson. She built this tool, based on an exercise by writing teacher, Alicia Rasley.
Keep in mind: Take note of your genre. This will give you a general ideal of your story ending.
Time to budget: I recommend you take 30–60 minutes to do this exercise.
You can also use this outline and do the Plot Spinner by hand.
Here’s the structure and an example by Patricia Simpson:
1. One sentence summary paragraph (like a movie listing on TV).
2. What issue you are exploring. Hers was: trust.
3. Premise. The idea you want to prove or disprove by the end of the story.
Examples:
“You can never go home again.”
“There IS a such a thing as love at first sight.”
“To find a sense of home, sometimes you have to leave it.”
4. Simplify your basic story (from Alicia Rasley’s class) by writing ONE sentence for each of these (keeping your issue in mind):
Heroine’s external struggle because of issue:
a. At the beginning. (Divorce, caused by lack of intimacy, has caused loss of house.)
b. In the middle (Tatiana is kidnapped when she trusts villain.)
c. At the end (Tatiana must trust Ren to find treasure to get house back.)
Heroine’s internal struggle with issue:
d. At the beginning (Tatiana doesn’t trust men.)
e. In the middle (Tatiana finds out Ren is using her to break spell.)
f. At the end (Tatiana learns she has to trust herself FIRST before she can trust men.)
Hero’s external struggle with issue:
g. At the beginning. (Ren has to woo a woman to break the spell.)
h. In the middle (Ren realizes he will probably die before he seduces Tatiana.)
i. At the end (Ren chooses death to help Tatiana save her home.)
Hero’s internal struggle:
j. At the beginning (Women are to be revered or bedded, not befriended.)
k. In the middle (Ren is confused about his growing admiration & lust for Tatiana.)
l. At the end (Ren gets to know and trust a woman for the first time in his life)
H&H interaction:
m. At the beginning (Against his better judgment, Ren offers his services to Tatiana.)
n. In the middle (Just when she is softening toward him, she finds out why he is wooing her.)
o. At the end (Tatiana must trust Ren implicitly to save the house.)
5. Now take the above sentences and arrange them like this: a, d, g, j, m b, e, h, k, n, c, f, I, l, o
PRESTO! CHANGO! You should have the basic path of your story in 15 sentences.
String them together with modifying phrases to make sense. But until you
have your sentences in 4, don’t write the synopsis!
*Typed up by Author (and Programmer), Patricia Simpson, adapted from a workshop by Author and Teacher, Alicia Rasley
Patricia Simpson is described by reviewers as “a premier writer of supernatural romance.” Author of numerous paranormal novels, she is inspired by science, paranormal phenomena, and archeological discoveries, and consistently garners superior ratings and awards for unusual heroes and unpredictable plots. Simpson has been called “a master at keeping suspense going on a multitude of levels,” and a “masterful storyteller.”
YOUR TURN:
Draft your synopsis. Share in the comments below.
You can also post it on my Facebook page to enter into fun weekly giveaways.
Plan Your Novel 30-Day Writing Challenge, starts October 1st
If you’d like hands-on support to plan your novel for Nanowrimo with your peers and with experienced instructors — Beth and Ezra Barany, then join us for our next course starting October 1st: 30-Day Writing Challenge to Plan Your Novel.
All the details for the course here.
Originally published at writersfunzone.com on September 10, 2014. Updated August 15, 2018.
