Defeating the Sinister Synopsis by Jami Gray

Let’s welcome back monthly columnist Jami Gray as she helps you write a synopsis in this article that many literary agents request “Defeating the Sinister Synopsis.” Enjoy!

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You managed to find your way through the battlefield of plot, claw your way free of character motivation, and rejoiced as you conquered the unsurmountable ending of happiness. Behold the miracle, you have emerged triumphant with a COMPLETE BOOK.

Now what?

Oh my valiant word warriors, I don’t want to dowse your inner fire, but your trials and tribulations are just beginning. The next step in your Author Journey is the fearsome Sinister Synopsis. Shudder not, dear friend, the end is not nigh as there may be a way to cow this evil being.

Alas, the credit for these weapons can not be laid at my feet. Oh no, that honor goes to Lady Susan Dennard  who managed to take a topic that tormented me for endless days and illuminated my nightmare with her words of wisdom and the liberal use of the legendary movie, STAR WARS, to sink her lessons deep.

As I wish to spare you the same soul-sucking torment, I share with you lessons learned to defeat the dreaded beast.

First, three rules you must always remember when facing down the fire-breathing project of taking the precious BOOK down to a miniscule 500-1500 words:

1. Keep your focus on your main hero/heroine, their love interest or side-kick (when love is not in your story) and your villainous anti-hero. Your secondary cast can remain nameless (see link above for how Han Solo and Chewbacca are reduced to “low-life pilot and the pilot’s hairy friend”).
2. Cover your main plot and don’t dash down the twisty vines of sub-plots. Those sub-plots are what draw our readers further into our story, so we want them to discover those on their own.
3. You must disclose your ending, this ensures the one perusing your masterpiece that you do indeed know how to tell a good story.

Armed with these three rules you are now prepared to take on the bigger task and answer Lady Susan’s following eleven questions on your BOOK. The trick, your answers must be one to three sentences in length. I advise on keeping these eleven pieces of enlightenment by in your treasure trove as they shall serve you well through each journey.

1. Opening Image: this shall be your stage where all that follows plays upon. Think of the deep voiced movie man who begins each speech with, “In a world ravaged by time, where civilization teeters on the brink of existence, a mad-man is made king while the fate of humanity rests in the hands of a pig-farmer.”
2. Intro Protagonist: Bring forth 1-2 descriptive words of your hero/heroine and share what their goal is. Note you may be able to use this description when crafting your one sentence tag of BOOK as well, think of them as—the gutsy grifter with quick hands or the loner cowboy tormented by ghosts of war.
3. Inciting Incident: this is an event/decision/change that kicks your H/h in the butt and propels them into action.
4. Plot Point 1: This shall be your H/h first turning point, or the action or decision that changes their life’s path. Once made, there is no going back.
5. Conflicts & Character Encounters: Warning, this may take more than 1-3 sentences to cover, but don’t exceed five sentence lengths. Now that your H/h have stared on a new path, who do they meet, what’s their new reality, and here is where your H/h has their initial encounter with the villain.
6. Midpoint: What occurs that has your H/h doing a complete 180 in direction/emotional perspective/change in any form? This shall be the second line crossed of which there is no return.
7. Winning seems Imminent, but…: While your H/h believe they shall emerge triumph, what occurs that knocks them down into the deep pit of despair as the villain gloats and grows in size? Which naturally leads to…
8. Black Moment: When all hope is lost, how does your H/h claw their way free from the depths of hell?
9. Climax: Beaten bloody, your H/h rises, confronts the villain and this is what happens!
10. Resolution: Does everyone get a happy ending? Yes? No? How are your loose ends tied?
11. Final Image: This is how you leave your readers: Has your H/h succumbed to their demons or have they risen above and created something new and beautiful?

Armed with these 11 questions and their accompanying answers, you put it all together to form the most magical one page synopsis ever seen. This shall ride beside your creative masterpiece and garner the ooohhhhs and aaawwws of amazement from editors and agents alike.

(bowing deeply) I bid thee fond adieu and wish you abundant luck and many requests as you and your COMPLETE BOOK as you take on the Author Journey!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jami Gray is the award winning, multi-published author of the Urban Fantasy series, The Kyn Kronicles, and the Paranormal Romantic Suspense series, PSY-IV Teams. Surrounded by Star Wars obsessed males and two female labs moonlighting as the Fur Minxes, she escapes by playing with the voices in her head.

If you want to hunt her down, she can be found lurking around the following cyber locations:

Website:     www.JamiGray.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/jamigray.author

Twitter:   https://twitter.com/JamiGrayAuthor

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/JamiGray

Google+:  https://google.com/+JamiGray

Amazon Author Page: http://amzn.com/e/B006HU3HJI