Back to the two sentence pitch line.  By creating this pitch line, the author identifies the broad scope of the story, focuses the specific essence of drama that make the story stand out.  If an author can accomplish this, then the author knows what their novel is truly about.  Once the pitch is defined and understood, it becomes the task of the author to then expand the pitch into a paragraph, then a page, remembering to define the above necessary items.  And above all, make it interesting, story-like and dramatic.

     The idea of capturing actual timelines and sequential milestones of the story not necessarily needed.  A rendering of A, then B, followed by C, and eventually D may work, and may be dramatic.  But do not be shackled to the structure of your story when writing the synopsis.  A paragraph or two completely defining a major character and their subplot can work to create drama and convey vital information.  Keep in mind that the synopsis is a fifty-thousand foot view of your story.  Narrative compression is critical, and discretion when identifying key information is a dynamic process.

     When your novel is complete and it is time for you to begin the query process to agents, be ready with several versions of your synopsis.  Before sending a query to an agent, be very clear as to the agent's submission requirements.  All query letters should contain your two sentence pitch somewhere in the body of the text, and depending on the specific requirements, a one, two, four, or eight page synopsis is usually requested.  It is appropriate for a synopsis of two pages or less to be single-spaced, but anything larger must be double-spaced.  The two paged, single-spaced synopsis can easily be converted into four pages by formatting to double-spaced lines.

     The last recommendation I can offer is to have as many critical readers read your synopsis.  It's a good idea that some of these readers know nothing of your novel, then you will get independent feedback about the story content, character motivations, and climax without the prejudiced input of someone who's read your story beforehand.

     Several hyperlinks to synopsis examples are included at the end of this article.  So get some coffee, a comfortable chair, and turn on that creative light to illuminate the shadows and chase away the synopsis ghost.

     And good luck.

Books with synopsis examples:

The Insider's Guide to Getting an Agent, by Lori Perkins

Writing the Blockbuster Novel, by Al Zuckermann

Synopsis examples:

For Rank of Master, by Hollie Snider

The Geppetto Solution, by Christopher H. Boswell