SHOULD CHARACTER OR PLOT POWER YOUR SYNOPSIS?
By Teri Brown
What is the difference between a character-based synopsis and a plot-based synopsis? That’s the question I asked myself early last spring, when opportunity came knocking unexpectedly on my door.
Six months prior, I’d landed a great contract with Balzer+Bray for a young adult series set in the twenties. I thought I was done pursuing new contracts for a while, but after watching, (and loving!), Downton Abbey, I mentioned in an email to my agent that we should pitch an Edwardian anthology. Two weeks later, I had an editor who didn’t want an anthology with different authors; she wanted a three book series and wanted me to write it.
Even though this is for a “new adult” series– which I had never written before– I told her I could do it. To make the series happen in the short time frame she wanted, she needed a synopsis and two chapters of the first book as soon as possible.
A BETTER WAY
I wondered how I could possibly write a synopsis for a book and characters that hadn’t even existed two weeks before. I usually write the synopsis after most of the book had been written. Like many authors, I dread the synopsis, and so I immediately went into research mode, because there HAD to be a better way than pulling my hair out and winging it like I usually did.
Turns out, there is, and unless instructed otherwise, this is how I’ll approach synopses from here on out.
As I discovered through the process, you have to have great characters no matter how good your concept is, so it makes perfect sense to start with the characters and not the concept/plot. For me, that is the fundamental difference between a plot-based synopsis and a character synopsis.
Instead of starting with a plot, I started out with characters, added in the events and social issues of the time period and hoped that somehow, miraculously, a book would emerge. To my surprise it did, and the experiment ended up in a very nice three book deal.
FOCUS ON CHARACTER
Here are some tips on how you can craft your own character synopsis:
— Who are your main characters? If you have three main characters, as I did, that is how many parts of the synopsis you will have. It’s all about telling the story from their point of view.
— Get to know them. I’m not talking about their favorite colors; I’m talking about the desires of their hearts. If he/she could have anything, what would it be? It’s important to know your characters because you (and the editor) need to know why they react to the plot the way they do.
— Pick a lead. Even though my book would have three main characters and three POV’s, one of the character’s journeys would be stressed more in this particular book. I began with her and told her story as simply as I could. Then I told the next character’s story and then the next. Their stories intersected, but each main event was told from differing points of view.
Each character reacts differently to the same event because they have different emotions, problems and issues. For instance, when an evil uncle forces Prudence into service, Prudence is devastated, Victoria is righteously angry, and Rowena feels guilty because she had made a bargain with their uncle to keep Prudence with them. One event, three different reactions followed by three different actions.
— Like a plot synopsis, make sure you have the main plot points, but stress how each character reacts.
For me, writing a character synopsis is simpler because I begin with people and write their story as opposed to starting with story and then creating characters–you’ll still end up with a novel outline, either way, but this way, the characters have breathed life into it.
About: Teri Brown is proud of her two children but coming in a close second is the fact that she parachuted out of a plane and beat the original Legend of Zelda video game. She is a word scribbler, head banger, math hater, book reader, rule breaker, food fixer, novel writer, kitty keeper, and city slicker. You can find her online at www.teribrownbooks.com.
The above is taken from the e-newsletter Bruce Hale’s THE INSIDE STORY, December 2012. To learn more about Bruce Hale or his newsletter, go to www.brucehalewritingtips.com/
Booker's Blog 