Home » Writing & Publishing » Plotting and Editing » 5. Getting a plot together - Part 3: Writing a short synopsis/ou

5. Getting a plot together - Part 3: Writing a short synopsis/ou

© Sherry-Anne Jacobs

PLOTTING/OUTLINING

My previous two articles on getting a plot together focused on knowing your genre and its expectations, and developing your central characters. This article is the last of the trio on this topic, and is designed to follow on from them, so if you haven't read the others, you might like to start with them - or if you read them a while back, you might like to start by refreshing your memory and re-reading them.

One way to put a plot together is to write a summary of it first. This is variously called an 'outline' or a 'synopsis'. However, I can't offer you a definition of these two terms which differentiates clearly between them, because opinions vary. I can only offer a few general thoughts on them.

And of course, some people never learn to plot in advance, but always 'discover' what is happening alongside their characters as they write. That's fine, if it works ie produces good stories. This approach seems to be more common with writers in the early stages of learning their craft, but some best-selling authors use it, too. However, plotting as you go makes it a bit difficult to sell novels from proposal, which is what many editors presently prefer.

These are my approximate definitions:

OUTLINE: an outline is a chapter by chapter breakdown of what happens in the story, and they are mainly produced in advance as a guide to writing a piece. I've never been able to work that way. I can write an overall summary, but not break it down into chapters.

SYNOPSIS: this is generally considered to be a selling tool, and is usually written after the novel is completed for submitting to a publisher's editor. It's shorter than an outline, say 1-3 pages, and it doesn't break the story summary into chapters. It's written in vivid language which will 'sell' the idea, detailing main characters, main conflicts/problems and steps towards a resolution, but not giving every detail. It's most often written in the present tense, because that helps lend a sense of immediacy and excitement.

I will hereby confess that what I produce (and call a synopsis) is half-way between the two of them. Mine are usually about five double-spaced pages long, and are written in advance as I'm thinking out my overall plot. I learned to do this for the books I produce under my main writing name (Anna Jacobs, historical sagas) because that was what the editor wanted - and I wanted sales in advance.