How we form our stories

Premise, plot, synopsis – why not just write?

This has been on my mind a lot recently: I’ve been lecturing on writing fiction and on another module I teach at the University of Salford I’ve recently marked synopses of novels the students are working on. Naturally, in a twelve week module, when they’re studying two other modules as well, they’re probably not going to complete a whole novel. So writing a synopsis at this stage may seem a little false. In this submission, though, I’m looking for two things: evidence of a story that will work and a business-like, industry standard document that crystallizes that story neatly. Interestingly I ask for a 2500 word extract of the novel and the reworked synopsis in a subsequent assignment. This replicates what we might submit to publishers.   

The spirit of the synopsis

In my own practice I don’t write the synopsis until I’m ready to  submit but I’ve often got a bullet-pointed outline in my head. My eventual synopsis is a crystallization not just of a plot outline but of a whole process. Perhaps a default good synopsis will include:

A concrete premise (e.g. Jack stumbles across a pirate ship and manages to stop the pirates hurting his friends.)

Some character description

An outline of a story arc

A more abstract summary of the premise e.g. Jack finds his courage and saves his friends.

In order to have that in mind as I’ve write, I’ve come up with an initial idea, possibly putting it into words and taping them to the top of my computer screen to stop myself going off at a tangent. I’ve got to know my characters – so even if I haven’t answered a six-page questionnaire about them.  They have lived with me for a while and have come out rounded and believable, with a back-story and a future. In producing a text I’m using a balance of various writerly techniques using both art and craft.

Character or plot and is there a difference?  

Always story comes from a tension amongst the characters that people it and between them and their environment. But there are writers who claim to plot in detail, perhaps spreading story-boarding cards all over the floor and those who say they just put the characters together and step back and watch what happens. If these are actually two extremes I’d put myself almost exactly in the middle. I think, though, in fact we all understand the same about story. This is just a matter of different writers preferring different tools.    

I come back again, as I often do, to Stephen King who claims to write entirely from character yet produces stories with superbly crafted plots.                      

Writing Synopses

Not easy. It has to be professional, tell the entire story, show us the characters and if possible capture something of the atmosphere of the piece. Usually in about 500 words.
I’m currently dealing with this big time: I’m marking an assignment from my Writing Novels for Young People module – the students have to produce a 500 word synopsis of a novel they have not written yet – and I am judging the Bridge House debut novel competition. As far as the competition is concerned, like all good editors, if I like the writing I’ll look at the synopsis. Except not many of them are synopses – they read more like blurbs. There are too many “will s/he ever find out?” endings. This is really a blurb. A blurb is not much use to an editor who is trying to make a decision about whether or not to publish your book. They need to know that you have a plot that works. Some people, who ought to know better – published writers, university lectures and columnists for writing magazines - have provided us with blurbs.
On the whole, my students have done better. But then it has been practised with them over the last few weeks. “Ridiculous,” they say. “Getting the whole of a novel into 500 words. Especially when I haven’t written it yet.” But they do it anyway and every one I have so far seen has at least been a reasonable attempt.
Now, here’s some news. Firstly, on the whole, those who have not written their novel yet do better with their synopsis. It becomes a planning tool. Often the synopsis of a completed novel is difficult because in fact the novel itself is not quite right. Secondly, you can be asked for less. I recently had to send the first five pages of a novel and one page containing the synopsis and my bio to an agent. You just have to be prepared for anything.
I’ve been to so many workshops about synopses and many people say many different things. As an editor now I know what I need to see: the novel in miniature.
Here are some recommendations. Start with that two line description that answers the question “What is your novel about?” Flesh out the plot a la McKee: inciting incident, complexities, crisis, climax, reversal and resolution. Define it according to the three act structure or Freytag’s pyramid also if that is useful. Make sure you explain each key character fully as they are introduced and that you carefully define their motivations. You might also comment on the style in which it will be written and the narrative techniques you might use. It is also useful to keep a chapter by chapter summary as you write the novel. This can be condensed into your overview synopsis when you have completed your novel and all of its edits. Needless to say your chapter by chapter synopsis will need to be edited as you edit your novel.
The bottom line has to be that your synopsis must truly be representative of your novel whilst giving the reader all the information they need to know.

Aspects of writing-related working lives: attending a module board at the university where I teach (Salford)

It is a strange process. We sit around a large table and ponder the marks our students achieved. We concentrate mainly on the fails and the oddities, but then we discuss the overall outcome of the marks and what we are pleased about and what we are less pleased about and how we might effect change.
I was very pleased with my students. They attended well. They were either there or let me know why they weren’t. They were engaged. All of them worked hard and all of them learnt a lot. They all eventually came up with a plot that worked. Most of them managed to condense this into an industry standard synopsis. Most of them already wrote an extract form a novel which was almost publishable.
How can I not be pleased?