When you've completed your masterpiece and are thinking about submitting it for publication, you'll have to tackle the part of writing most authors hate the most: the synopsis. Some find writing a good 2-page synopsis more difficult than writing the 100,000-word novel.
In short, a synopsis is just the general ideas of your story, leaving out all the dialogue, description, and details. In essence, you leave out everything that makes your novel sing--which is torture for novelists! One editor described it as "the worst writing you'll ever do, but the most necessary."
Condensing all the twists and surprises of a four-hundred page novel into two pages that is supposed to convince an editor to buy your book is not easy and definitely no fun. But once you've gotten the hang of it, the next one isn't so bad. Add it's great practice for your next tasks, which are writing cover copy, an elevator pitch, and and a one-sheet. But we'll get to those another day.
Nathan Bransford, agent with Curtis Brown, Ltd., has a good blog post which goes into further detail. Hop over there and then get to condensing! Nathan Bransford
The best instruction I've ever seen for writing synopses is Pam McCutcheon's Book "Writing the Fiction Synopsis: A Step by Step Approach." It can be bought at the publisher's website, Gryphon Books for Writers. Great topic!
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