Writing a Synopsis

This blog is continuing with information on writing a synopsis.

If you’re writing a one-page synopsis, write one paragraph on each of the characteristics listed in the previous blog post. If it’s one-paragraph summary, briefly incorporate all of them in a few sentences.

Stay focused on the main problem and don’t deal with sub-plots and minor characters. After you’ve written the main points, revise to add voice and tone that matches the story. Consider the necessity of each word and cut out those that don’t expand the meaning or add voice.

Here’s a synopsis of my children's novel, AMAZING GRACE, I wrote for a query letter that garnered a contract:

Eleven-year-old Grace Ann Brewer’s comfortable life is torn apart when her father joins the Army in 1944 during WWII. Her family moves from Hazard to Ashland, Kentucky, to live with her grandmother. Grace enrolls in a new school and is immediately forced to deal with a bully, but the greatest challenge is to keep a positive outlook as she fears that her father has been injured—or worse—when his letters stop arriving in the mail. Gumption, that’s what Grace’s grandmother tells her she must have, but gumption isn’t easy to grasp when she listens to the wireless, a radio, that keeps the home front updated with the frightening events of the war. Grace finds solace in writing letters to her father and even more comfort in talking with her dog, Spot. With amazing strength Grace fights her own battles on the home front.

Next week, I’ll look at another way to write a synopsis.

Call for Submissions for Adult Writers:

Blue Mountain Arts Announces Its Twenty-sixth Biannual Poetry Card Contest
1st prize: $300 * 2nd prize: $150 * 3rd prize: $50

In addition, the winning poems will be displayed on our website sps.com.
Please read the following, then scroll down to submit your poem. 

Poetry Contest Guidelines:

1. Poems can be rhyming or non-rhyming, although we find that non-rhyming poetry reads better.
2. We suggest that you write about real emotions and feelings and that you have some special person or occasion in mind as you write.
3. Poems are judged on the basis of originality and uniqueness.
4. English-language entries only, please.
5. Enter as often as you like!

Deadline: June 30, 2015
Submission guidelines at http://www.sps.com/poetry/index.html