How NOT to Write a Synopsis

So, if you’ve been following the blog, you know I have my next novel out querying all around. Now, the plan is/was to choose however many top agents I like, query only them, then self pub if there’s no interest. I know the thriller market is tough, and I don’t mind self-pubbing. I digress. That list of agents didn’t include any who required a synopsis in the query package. Part of that was luck, part was.... well, I have never been good at a synopsis. So naively I figured, well, it’s not on their list, maybe I’ll just skip it. Here’s the thing, it might not be on their initial list, but they might ask for it!

One agent that I had written off finally replies over 100 days post query—to ask for a full! Yay! And (problem #1) a synopsis. Shit. So, I obviously want to reply asap, which my book is still on their mind. After several lists and pages of how to write a synopsis that doesn’t suck (they say I can do it in a morning!) I get to it, problem #2—I haven’t read my book since I started querying, back in September, and I’ve been busy on multiple other projects. What the heck is my book about!?

Turns out, here is the silver lining. It’s WAY easier to condense your book down to 700-ish words when you only remember the major points! So I did whip that synopsis out in a morning after all and got it sent out along with my manuscript just after lunch. Now it’s back to a waiting game. Who knows, maybe it’ll wow them, or maybe they will hate it (the initial query was only a couple pages and didn’t include what I think is the ‘hard sell’ part of the book). I am just happy they want to read it, and hopeful that even if it’s a no, it will come with some feedback. But, moral of the story, or maybe insane advice—you decide. You definitely need a synopsis if you are querying ANYONE, but if you wait long enough and get far enough from your manuscript, it just may be easier to write.