Writing resources #5

Today, I'll talk a little about The One Page Synopsis.

One page synopsis

When I started writing, this was such dreaded prospect after finishing a novel. I worked on and tried to add every piece of information that I thought was relevant or cool. Often times, I could trim it down to about 3 to 5 pages but never one or two.

Then, I found this article. It changed the way I write. I still create the magic system, characters, and world first. But now, I actually sit down after writing the opening scene and write the synopsis. I tweak it; then I come up with a small chapter outline (basically name each chapter which tells me what the major event in the chapter will be) and follow that by revising the characters, world, and magic system. When all is said and done, I move on to finish the first chapter to see how much I like the direction the novel is headed in and finally rework the synopsis one more time.

As someone who started as a pure discovery writer, this has become an amazing tool. I still discovery write for the most part, but overall, this gives me an actual direction I can move in. It feels like a quick set of discovery written scenes to write the synopsis, as well.

Why did this article change the way I write and remove the dread I feel whenever I have to write a synopsis?

That's simple.

Despite the countless 'how to write a synopsis' articles out there, this one really broke it down in an easy to understand way and used examples from a very famous story, Star Wars. That made each point of the synopsis stand out in my mind, and I was able to think back to my stories to those points.

It makes writing so much easier. I hope you give it a shot the next time you have to put your writing through a meat grinder and produce a synopsis.


Thanks for reading,
Travis

Next: Sanderson's 3 laws of magic