You need a synopsis to sell your book to agents and publishers. Writing it now can solve plot and structure problems, determine which characters belong, and create a map to finish your book.

for Creative Nonfiction, Nonfiction and Fiction

Writers often dread distilling their beautiful story into a dry synopsis—and they’re right! It’s not creative and fun. But the synopsis is not only a requirement for querying and publishing, it’s also a valuable tool to shape your story and get closer to “The End.” A good synopsis gives an overview of your whole book, in an easy-to-process form. By examining turning-point scenes, character objectives, and the underlying dramatic question that propels your book, you’ll know where you’re going and how to get there. 

You’ll be able to send a draft of your working synopsis in advance. Allison will use volunteer examples to show what makes a synopsis work (and what doesn’t!). Then she’ll live-edit participant synopses to show how to reverse-engineer your manuscript from your synopsis to create more tension, power, and literary might. (Please note, she won’t get to everyone: examples will be chosen to benefit the whole group!)

Suitable for writers with a manuscript in any stage from messy early draft to ready-to-query.

This is a TWO HOUR class, with 20 minutes of writing time in the middle.

• 40 minutes – Learn how to write a synopsis, using images, turning points, and character objectives. Allison will use submitted examples and synopses of already-published books to show what works and what doesn’t.
• 10 minutes – Q&A to fully understand and apply the information.
• 20 minutes – Revise your synopsis with new tools and knowledge. Allison will continue taking questions in the chat. OPTIONAL: volunteer for live-editing and upload your scene as a Word doc or docx.
• 40 minutes – Allison will live-edit some of the shared synopses, showing where the writer is succeeding, and what revisions she suggests. During live edits, she’ll call out specific techniques and tips for everyone to apply to their own work, right away. 
• 10 minutes – more Q&A and planning your writing from here.

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In this webinar, you will:

• UNDERSTAND why agents and publishers need a synopsis—and how they use it to assess your manuscript
• LEARN how opening and closing images anchor your synopsis and your book
• DISCOVER how “Chekhov’s Gun” makes your synopsis actually interesting!
• USE “but, because, therefore” to write a rough synopsis
• DEVELOP a working synopsis to guide your writing process
• REFINE your synopsis for querying your book

This workshop suits …

• Writers of fiction and nonfiction who intend to traditionally publish
• Novelists stuck in the “messy middle”
• Memoirists whose draft has “gotten away from them” and needs shape and focus
• Writers working on a second book… who’d like the process to move faster this time!
• Writers hearing feedback that their book lacks tension, needs a stronger hook, or the story is “hard to follow” or “didn’t grab the reader”
• Developmental editors who want to understand synopses and better communicate that knowledge to their author clients.

You’ll receive the slides and prompts to take this work into your manuscript

Closed captioning is available. ✔
All registrants receive the recording. ✔

ABOUT YOUR PRESENTER

Allison K Williams is the author of Seven Drafts: Self-Edit Like a Pro From Blank Page to Book. She’s helped writers sell to Big Five and literary publishers, hit the NYT Bestseller list, and sign multi-book deals. She’s guided essayists and humorists to publication in media including the New Yorker, Time, the Guardian, the New York Times, McSweeney’s, Refinery29, Hippocampus, the Belladonna and TED Talks. As Social Media Editor for Brevity, she inspires thousands of writers with weekly blogs on craft and the writing life.

Allison works with literary and commercial fiction and nonfiction, and is familiar with the conventions of most genres. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Western Michigan University and spent 20 years as a circus aerialist and acrobat before writing and editing full-time.

Questions? Please email Info@writingcraft.com

FULL REFUNDS ARE AVAILABLE before the replay is sent out. For a refund, EMAIL us at info@WritingCraft.com. Canceling your Zoom invite will not initiate this process.

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