Some of the agents that I am considering writing to request different lengths for the synopsis. Some allow two pages of A4, others one page, whilst one agency wanted one paragraph!
I am tempted to tailor the synopsis to each agents requirements. Is this a waste of time? I suppose I should make it as tight as it can be, but I am tempted to use all of the available page space offered.
Also any shared experience of creating your synopsis, and how you managed to boil your story down would be really helpful.
Many thanks.
Every agent/publisher is going to want something different. The best thing I found was to write a few synopsis of varying length.
To start, do a chapter by chapter breakdown. Depending on how many chapters you have this will run anything from three - twenty (or more) pages. (And it's a great way of finding the most important plot points in each section of your book.)
Next, condense every chapter description to one or two paragraphs, then to one or two lines...
Once you've done all that you should be able to come up with a one line description of your book.
As Lily said above, fear is the biggest thing holding us back. Face the synopsis a little bit at a time and, hopefully, you'll tame the beast. LOL
Re-reading that, hate is a strong word. I would say I fear writing my synopsis. That is better :-)
I hate writing my synopsis! It scares me! I always worry that my synopsis is the thing holding me back when it comes to submissions . I've often heard advice saying "Give the agents what they want!" I read a lot of online synopsis for examples of what kind of events I should include.
I'd say if you are really struggling (like I do every time I have to re-write mine to fit agents criterea) it would be best to look at some examples that others have done about books you know.