Wattys 2021 Bootcamp

Workshop 3 -- Tips on Summaries

A summary, sometimes called a synopsis, is a snapshot of the book that essentially tells  your story from beginning to end, including spoilers. While the blurb is written to entice the reader, the summary is written to entice an agent or publisher. Together with the query letter, it's  the most important part of the traditional query process. So we thought it  would be a good exercise to make this part of our Wattys Bootcamp  submission package.

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What should be included in your summary?

The synopsis must convey a book's entire narrative arc. It shows what happens and who changes, and it has to reveal the ending. For the Bootcamp submission package, it should not exceed 500 words, which is the same length that will be expected of you for the Wattys.

Generally, you'll write  the synopsis with  your protagonist as the focus, and show what's at  stake for him/her/them.  Motivation is fairly critical here—we need to  understand what drives  this character to act.

Second, we need a clear  idea of the core conflict for the protagonist, what's driving that  conflict, and how the protagonist succeeds or fails in dealing with that  conflict.

Finally, we need to  understand how that conflict is resolved and how the protagonist's  situation, both internally and externally, has changed.

What are the steps to writing a good summary?

There is no single "right" way to write a summary. But, for our purposes, you can follow these six steps:

1) Skim through the manuscript, noting the important events of each chapter.

Try to boil every  chapter down to just one or two sentences. What is  the point of this  chapter? What is the most important thing that  happens?

However, there will be  chapters that end up being significantly longer than a sentence or two,   particularly the opening chapters (as they tend to introduce a lot of   information about the world and the main characters) and the climax   (which could revolve around lots of complicated reveals and twists).

And don't forget the ending!  From who wins the final battle to  whether or not the protagonist hooks  up with the love interest in the  end. One of the main purposes of a  summary is to show the full arcs of  your plot and subplots, so don't  leave out those all-important  resolutions.

2) Lay a foundation of the beginning.

Just because you can't  use pages and pages to set up the world and  protagonist's character in  the synopsis doesn't mean you shouldn't give  the reader a little bit of  foundation to stand on. The first paragraph  of the synopsis should  give the same basic information you convey  through the book's first  chapter: where and when does this story take  place, who is the  protagonist, and what problem are they facing right  off the bat?

3) Format the short chapter summaries together so they read like a story.

Just like a blurb,  summaries should be written like a story. They should be told in third person, present tense, even if your  novel is written in first person or past tense.

4) Read through, with a focus on plot.

Distilling each chapter  down into just a sentence or two can lead to  lots of apparent plot  holes and lost information. Read through what  you've written and check  that every event in the story naturally leads  into the next. Insert  further explanation or character motivations as  necessary.

5) Read through, with a focus on character arc.

Now that the plot makes  sense from beginning to end, check that  you're adequately showing how  your protagonist evolves as a result of  the events in the story. Do  readers get a sense of who they are at the  beginning and how they've  changed by the end? Look for those Big Moments  in the story that change  your protagonist's attitudes and goals.  Indicate how those moments  effect the protagonist emotionally, and show  how their goals and  motivations change as a result.

6) Trim and edit.

Now that you have all  the necessary information, read through a few  more times and trim it up  as much as you can. Remove excess words and phrases that don't help  tell the story. Every word should carry its weight.

Oof, that sounds hard. Do I really need to do this?

Summaries are just as  useful to you as they are to the folks you submit them to (even if you  have your doubts at the moment). They can flush out unrealistic actions  by characters or unconvincing motivations. A summary can also reveal big  problems in your story, like "it was just a dream" endings, ridiculous  acts of god, a romance ending in divorce. It can reveal plot flaws,  serious gaps in character motivation, or a lack of structure. And if  there's nothing surprising or the plot is conventional and stereotypical, your manuscript may  not get read.

So now that we know  why we need a summary and how to write one, you can take a stab at it. The workshop on summaries will start on April 5th, where you can post  your summaries (or parts thereof) on Discord for feedback and to ask  questions.

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Happy synopsizing, everyone. We are here for any clarification or help :)