How to Write a Synopsis of your Self-published Book – and Why Indie Authors Need Synopses Too

 How to Write a Synopsis of your Self-published Book – and Why Indie Authors Need a Synopsis Too

By Richard Bradburn on February 21, 2018 in Writing A Book

Do you write a synopsis of yur book? I admit I don’t know. When I was submitting to agents and editors I did, but as a self-published author I don’t. It’s one of those horrible steps I eliminated. However, I found this article so I’m reconsidering and thought I’d share the article with you. It covers some good points if you haven’t written one for awhile

A synopsis is an outline of your entire novel, from beginning to end, summarizing the narrative arc of the book and one or two of the major characters in it. It does include the end (any twists or climactic revelations) but doesn’t include details of every sub-plot and minor character – it doesn’t need to be comprehensive.

Writing a synopsis is a great exercise to undertake after you’ve finished the first draft of your book. It encourages you to look more analytically at your book’s structure, it can suggest to you at an early stage of the rewriting process that there are perhaps flaws in your plot or character arcs that otherwise might remain until a developmental editor pointed them out.

It can be used as a great tool, therefore, for kicking off a round of self-editing.

It’s a good idea to start with a strong paragraph that outlines the entire story in essence. For plot-driven books, that’s a thumbnail of the whole plot. For character driven novels, it should be a summary of the main character arc.

Don’t forget what you’re trying achieve. There are four key elements. You’re trying to demonstrate:

-       an original and entertaining premise
-       a compelling main character
-     interesting and perhaps topical subject matter
-     a good plot that doesn’t rely on insane coincidence or acts of god for its    resolution (and he woke up and it was all a dream!)
You need to include the main character(s), what their opening situation/problem is, what inciting incident happens to start the ball rolling, what they need to achieve as a result of this event, what the forces or characters opposing their aims and ambitions are, how the crisis is resolved and how the characters have changed by the end of the book.

To read the whole article go to

https://selfpublishingadvice.org/writing-how-to-write-a-synopsis-of-your-self-published-book-and-why-indie-authors-need-synposes-too/