The Dreaded Synopsis

When I think of the word, "synopsis" the theme song from Jaws starts playing in my mind, my heart pounds, and my hands get a bit clammy.

It's the ultimate catch 22. Some suggest writing the synopsis before you begin to write because it can serve as a road map -- an illustration of where the story should go. Fine, I usually know where I’m going though. A map, however, can’t point out those unexpected detours, now can it? After all, those are the things that make a story interesting, affect the outcome, and need to be included in the synopsis. Sometimes the plot twists and turns in the middle of the book and the writer needs to adjust the plot for the sake of the story. So when an agent or editor asks the author to submit his or her idea for a story, can the author really do it without writing the story first?

I draw out several “road maps” before I start to write, I chart my plot, write bios and background stories for each important character, etc., still the story changes continuously as the novel evolves. I’ve lived with my Harper character and his friends for three years; now, they tend to ignore me. In fact, they’ve taken on a life of their own--one of them wants his own blog for crying out loud. I said, "no." Sometimes they do and say the most interesting things though and turn my detailed plan into a has been.

A while back, I was working through my edits on book two, when out of the blues, the detectives decided to arrest one of the criminals in chapter 16 instead of 17. Why? I think it had something to do with the story's upcoming Thanksgiving break and the detectives' desires to get the darn thing out of the way. I didn’t quite catch the reason. Anyway, the change turned out to be a great idea, but that one little switch affected the information in four subsequent chapters. The body that was originally found in chapter 16, won't show up until chapter 19 so Harper can’t exactly discuss the evidence with forensics in chapter 17. See what I mean?

So, in the end, I'm still faced with the task of writing the dreaded synopsis; a few well written – no, they have to be “perfect” lines of a 1,000 words or less. I’ve developed a whole new cast of characters, an interesting, complicated plot, a surprise ending, and wrote just over 63,000 words in 86 days. So why do I dread writing the synopsis? Hmm, maybe it's the idea that the whole darn thing, the success and publishing future of my manuscript, is riding on those “perfect” 1,000 words.