I spent the day revising the synopsis for the Ridge Runner. There was a rough draft rusting away on my PC, but it was time for a high gloss finish.

A synopsis demonstrates to an agent or an editor that there is a logical plot to the novel. Typically, they are 250-500 words in length. Since it’s difficult to reduce a year’s worth of work to a single page on demand, most editors advise having a pitch worthy synopsis before writing the novel. Great advice, but difficult to implement in practice.

So here’s what I learned today…
1) The query letter shows you can write
2) The synopsis shows you have a story
3) The chapters shows you can deliver the story

Note the order of the items. The query letter gets the agent’s attention. But before the agent dives into the chapters, they have a clear synopsis in hand. Why? Because anything else wastes their time. Reading 50 pages of double spaced 12 point Courier takes roughly 30 minutes. Even if the agent devotes 1 day to reading chapters, they could consider a maximum of 15-20 prospects a week. But with a synopsis, they can evaluate a project in under 2 minutes and then allocate time to read the chapters that pique their interest.