The Steps of Writing a Synopsis – 8 Easy Tips to Write Synopsis Like a Pro

Have you ever heard something by the name of the synopsis? Or do you have any idea about what synopsis is? I know that most of you have heard this name for the first time so that’s why first we have to get familiar with this vocabulary.

What is a synopsis?

According to some resources, a synopsis is the summary of a story, book, or a novel that describes that content in a short and concise manner. As in a summary of a story, we give a general review, similarly, we give a general review of written content in detail including its beginning and the end.

Generally, synopses are submitted to the publishers after you have done the work. But remember that submitting the synopsis that you have written to the publisher, doesn’t mean that you don’t have to edit it yourself. In fact, you have to edit it carefully then you can give it to the publisher for further editing.
We have answers to your all questions. Read this article till the end so that you should be able to write a clear, perfect, and concise synopsis by following the tips that I have recommended.

The Steps of Writing a Synopsis

1. Make the List of Your Characters

Your characters must vary and all of them must play unique and different roles in your story. Your characters must have interesting roles. It can include villains, heroes, and heroines. So you have to choose your characters carefully because they make the most important part of your writing. The characters should put a good impact on the audience or they must convey a good message about the story you have chosen.

2. Write in a Unique Way

Publishers receive hundreds and thousands of synopses in a week. To grab their attention towards your writing and make them highlight yours among all of the thousand others, you have to find out something different and should write in a unique style so that yours should be highlighted easily. Use this trick in order to make your synopsis different and interesting for them to notice and pay attention to it. Most people use twists in their writing so that the reader or the viewer should become compelling to find answers to the unknown questions. But it really depends on the writer how they handle this situation.

3. Try to Search for the Length of the Synopsis

Every publishing house or film productions have different requirements for the synopsis length and word limit. Before writing your synopsis, try to look for the requirements of some production houses so that you should get an idea of how lengthy your synopsis should be, then start writing according to their requirements and then submit your written synopsis to the same production company. Novel synopses are usually between two- twelve pages long.

4. Use the Third Person in Your Writing

If the story and novels are written in the first person, then always try to write the synopsis in the third person. Use “she, he, it, and they” as pronouns. And remember that you have to check out what the production house demands and what are the requirements for writing the names of the characters. Most of the production houses ask you to capitalize on the characters’ names everywhere, but some don’t have such requirements for writing the name of the characters.

5. Avoid Unnecessary Information

A good synopsis is the one that describes what the characters do, feel, and face, but it should not include any unnecessary information or you should avoid explaining each event in detail. Most of the time, people include some irrelevant information about the story in their writing, so be careful with it because they can destroy the image of your writing too. Don’t add each and every dialogue the character says, instead write down what is really important to be said. In this way, you can beautify your writing too.

6. Add a Twist

Although it is one of the oldest tricks that were used in the books to grab the attention of the millions of the readers. But again it is considered to be very effective in writing. If the novel or story that you are going to summarize has two or more twists, then try to make it one because most of the times several twists can make your writing way more boring. The twist is the hook of your story so try to keep it simple and put a hint for that in your story too so that they should not get tired of finding the answers.

7. Format Your Synopsis According to the Publisher’s Guidelines

We all know that every publisher have their own style and demands, therefore you will need to research and gather accurate information about different production companies and the style they demand. For instance, some of the publishers may ask you to use 18-point font and bold for your synopsis, but some might have some other requirements. And remember that you have to use one-inch margins when submitting your work for publication.

8. Review the Synopsis

We all know that proofreading our work before submitting is very important and as well as very helpful too because by reviewing our work we can find out our mistakes. Carefully read through your work to rectify your mistakes including spelling errors, grammatical mistakes, and typos. Eliminate unnecessary words and repetitive words because they reduce the beauty of your writing. You can ask for help from your friends or even you can hire an editor for it.

Recommended to read:

• 8 Best Online Proofreading Tools for Improving Writing Skills
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