Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Synopsis Help

I recently came across this website with a helpful article on how to write synopses. My favorite part is that it takes you from writing a one sentence synopsis to writing a paragraph synopsis to writing longer synopses. It focuses on questions to ask yourself as you write, as well, so when I finally quit fiddling with my sentence and paragraph pitches, I'm off to attempt a page long one! It's got neat little workshoppy-like activities, too, and the advice seems pretty spot-on.
One good layout is a first paragraph that ties everything together for the beginning, progress through the characters, and then a last paragraph that ties it all together again for the end. For a single character, make sure not to let subplots get involved, since it might feel that you have room.
...Now I've got to tell myself to quit messing with synopses and pitches and finish my revising, first. *sigh* It's soooo much more fun to write than to revise!

3 comments:

Sheri Perl-Oshins said...

Cool! I will definitely check it out. Maybe there's one there for me on outlining too. ;)

Unknown said...

Good luck! PJ had a post not too long ago about the Hero's Journey outline...that's been the best thing I've used so far.

Sheri Perl-Oshins said...

Yeah, I remember that one. I think that was one of the first postings of hers I read and I remember it was very insightful and it was at that point that I thought, "That PJ! Isn't she smart!" ;0