Introduction
In thirty years as a professional editor for various New York publishing houses, I must have endured hundreds of synopses from all kinds of writers. The bad ones went on for pages, detailing every movement the characters made up to and including their bathroom breaks. The better ones surprised me, kindled my interest, and sometimes made me laugh—always a good thing during a long afternoon at the office!
But the best ones were those that opened a window on the writer’s mind. Most manuscript submissions come from strangers. We may know their agent and trust that person not to send us a potential space case, but the writers behind the submissions are unknown quantities. A well-crafted synopsis can introduce a new friend. What experiences do they bring to their writing? What personality quirks show through? What values will they stand up for in the story?
Most editors I know read the author’s writing sample before turning to the synopsis. If the writing isn’t strong enough, the synopsis may never get read at all. But if the sample pages are good, the editor will turn to the synopsis next—and you mustn’t waste a word.
The synopsis should not be a recitation of the events in your story. Even the most exciting action scene makes for tedious reading without the buildup of tension that occurs on the actual page. Complex relationships between characters can lose all nuance when reduced to straight description.
A synopsis can (and should be) a mini-sample of your ability to tell a story. The Synopsis Treasury is, as its title promises, a treasure-trove of how-tos.
Check out the wonderful grabber with which Orson Scott Card began an early outline of Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus: “It’s 1492, and Christopher Columbus discovers America right on schedule—but waiting for him on the shores of Cuba are three Chinese.” I defy any reader not to go on.
Follow up with just a paragraph or so of straight plot description—yes, it can be done!—then move to deeper issues. As Joe Haldeman says in his synopsis of Old Twentieth, “Of course a novel is more than a plot line.” He went on to describe the subtext he planned to develop in the novel (in that particular case, the nature of self-awareness).
Or imitate the way Frank Herbert posed a major concept: “We can make a stab at understanding extreme unconsciousness and may even equate it with death, but we grasp extreme consciousness much more dimly. What we usually do is fall back on mysticism.” His synopsis went on to explain how he would explore that idea in the course of the story.
And you can never go wrong by providing some description of the potential audience. These days, acquiring editors must run a gauntlet of probing questions before getting approval to buy a manuscript. “Who’s the audience?” is always a biggie. “High-tech science fiction fans with an interest in the future of democracy” is the type of response an editor needs to be able to give. If you can make an editor’s job easier by spelling that out in your synopsis, it’s a stroke in your favor. Ben Bova does it beautifully in the outline of his novel Mars.
All these suggestions and many more fill the pages of The Synopsis Treasury. C. S. Haviland has provided not only many ways to present your story at its best, but done the field a service by including a number of exchanges between major editors and writers. You will find this a work of great usefulness, but you will also admire the dialogue of intelligent minds. Enjoy!
—Betsy Mitchell
Betsy Mitchell has been a New York science fiction/fantasy editor for more than 30 years, holding senior positions at Baen, Bantam Spectra, Warner Books, and the Random House Publishing Group, where she spent ten years as Vice President/Editor-in-Chief of Del Rey. She currently divides her time between acquiring classic backlist in digital form for e-book publisher Open Road Media and editing for private clients.
She has edited more than 150 titles, including such works as Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon, Bearers of the Black Staff by Terry Brooks, Virtual Light by William Gibson, and Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik (all New York Times best sellers); the Hugo Award-winner Hyperion by Dan Simmons, and the Nebula Award-winner Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler. She received a World Fantasy Award for co-editing the anthology Full Spectrum 4.
In May 2004 she oversaw the launch of Del Rey Manga and went on to edit a number of graphic novels, including the #1 New York Times best sellers The Exile by Diana Gabaldon, Odd is on Our Side by Dean Koontz and Fred van Lente, and Blood Work by Kim Harrison.
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