A summary, sometimes called a synopsis, is a snapshot of the book that essentially tells your story from beginning to end, including spoilers. While the blurb is written to entice the reader, the summary is written to entice an agent or publisher. Together with the query letter, it's the most important part of the traditional query process. So we thought it would be a good exercise to make this part of our Wattys Bootcamp submission package.
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What should be included in your summary?
The synopsis must convey a book's entire narrative arc. It shows what happens and who changes, and it has to reveal the ending. For the Bootcamp submission package, it should not exceed 500 words, which is the same length that will be expected of you for the Wattys.
Generally, you'll write the synopsis with your protagonist as the focus, and show what's at stake for him/her/them. Motivation is fairly critical here—we need to understand what drives this character to act.
Second, we need a clear idea of the core conflict for the protagonist, what's driving that conflict, and how the protagonist succeeds or fails in dealing with that conflict.
Finally, we need to understand how that conflict is resolved and how the protagonist's situation, both internally and externally, has changed.
What are the steps to writing a good summary?
There is no single "right" way to write a summary. But, for our purposes, you can follow these six steps:
1) Skim through the manuscript, noting the important events of each chapter.
Try to boil every chapter down to just one or two sentences. What is the point of this chapter? What is the most important thing that happens?
However, there will be chapters that end up being significantly longer than a sentence or two, particularly the opening chapters (as they tend to introduce a lot of information about the world and the main characters) and the climax (which could revolve around lots of complicated reveals and twists).
And don't forget the ending! From who wins the final battle to whether or not the protagonist hooks up with the love interest in the end. One of the main purposes of a summary is to show the full arcs of your plot and subplots, so don't leave out those all-important resolutions.
2) Lay a foundation of the beginning.
Just because you can't use pages and pages to set up the world and protagonist's character in the synopsis doesn't mean you shouldn't give the reader a little bit of foundation to stand on. The first paragraph of the synopsis should give the same basic information you convey through the book's first chapter: where and when does this story take place, who is the protagonist, and what problem are they facing right off the bat?
3) Format the short chapter summaries together so they read like a story.
Just like a blurb, summaries should be written like a story. They should be told in third person, present tense, even if your novel is written in first person or past tense.
4) Read through, with a focus on plot.
Distilling each chapter down into just a sentence or two can lead to lots of apparent plot holes and lost information. Read through what you've written and check that every event in the story naturally leads into the next. Insert further explanation or character motivations as necessary.
5) Read through, with a focus on character arc.
Now that the plot makes sense from beginning to end, check that you're adequately showing how your protagonist evolves as a result of the events in the story. Do readers get a sense of who they are at the beginning and how they've changed by the end? Look for those Big Moments in the story that change your protagonist's attitudes and goals. Indicate how those moments effect the protagonist emotionally, and show how their goals and motivations change as a result.
6) Trim and edit.
Now that you have all the necessary information, read through a few more times and trim it up as much as you can. Remove excess words and phrases that don't help tell the story. Every word should carry its weight.
Oof, that sounds hard. Do I really need to do this?
Summaries are just as useful to you as they are to the folks you submit them to (even if you have your doubts at the moment). They can flush out unrealistic actions by characters or unconvincing motivations. A summary can also reveal big problems in your story, like "it was just a dream" endings, ridiculous acts of god, a romance ending in divorce. It can reveal plot flaws, serious gaps in character motivation, or a lack of structure. And if there's nothing surprising or the plot is conventional and stereotypical, your manuscript may not get read.
So now that we know why we need a summary and how to write one, you can take a stab at it. The workshop on summaries will start on April 5th, where you can post your summaries (or parts thereof) on Discord for feedback and to ask questions.
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Happy synopsizing, everyone. We are here for any clarification or help :)
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