By Dawn Whitmire

Introduction

You've just finished your manuscript or maybe you have the finish line in sight. Are you wondering what next? In between editing your book and preparing the query letter to your targeted agent or editor, there’s a step you must take....writing the synopsis.

If you’re like I was a few years back, your face is wrinkling right now and the dread is settling in. What if I were to tell you it didn’t have to be that way? What if I could show you a quick, precise way to write your synopsis and make it as enjoyable as writing the manuscript? What if I could make you look forward to your book’s ending just so you could get to the synopsis? Or maybe even help you to write the synopsis as you wrote the book.

Impossible, you say? Did you think it was impossible for you to write a novel? Did you think it was impossible to actually finish the novel? As writers, we live in the land of impossibility and imagination. Nothing is impossible as long as we have imagination. That’s what writing a synopsis is all about. Yes, there’s a suggested outline to follow. Yes, there are certain rules, so to speak, but that doesn’t mean writing a synopsis has to be boring or a fearsome task.

I’ll show you how to push past the barriers and unlock your excitement. After all, your book is finished and you’ve come a long way. The rest is a piece of cake.

Still not sure if you’re interested? Take a look at the mini-lesson below and see what’s in store for you.

Lesson 3, Section I (an excerpt)

A Getting to Know Your Feelings Quiz

This isn’t a test. You won’t be graded on it. What it will do is start you thinking about how you really view a synopsis and its purpose.

1. If you knew your synopsis was the only marketing strategy you possessed, would you feel differently about writing it?
2. If you knew readers would first read your synopsis before they decided to buy your book, would that make you feel differently about writing it?
3. Do you spend as much time on writing your synopsis as you do writing your novel?
4. Do you edit your synopsis over and over and still send it out without being happy about the final result?
5. Have you reached the point where writing a synopsis is as exciting as paying your credit card bills?
6. Finally, would your views change if you knew your book would be accepted or rejected for publication based on the synopsis alone?

This is just a short sample of one of the lessons I’ve got prepared for you. Once you start thinking about the synopsis differently, the apprehension will dissipate and the excitement you felt when you first started your novel will carry over into describing your masterpiece to an editor. I can’t guarantee all of your feelings will change, but maybe, just maybe, you’ll look at this synopsis in a new light, the light that shines most favorably on your manuscript.

Lessons

Click here to see course syllabus