Story Sensei Synopsis Worksheet: Story Sensei, #1

By Camy Tang

Has your fiction manuscript been rejected by literary agents or traditional publishing houses, and you're not sure why? Do you feel something's "off" with your novel, but you don't know what?

Sometimes the problem isn't the writing—it's the characterization or the overall story structure.

If you think this might be a problem with your manuscript, you don't want to pay for a freelance editor when you could fix those story elements yourself.

The Story Sensei's Synopsis worksheet was designed as a way for fiction writers to not only write a synopsis, but also doctor their own manuscript by utilizing a large-scale, bird's eye view of their stories. This different way of looking at your novel can often point out flaws in character arcs, major plot points, and overall story structure.

The exercises in this worksheet will ensure that your story structure has all the vital elements, including:

- character external goal

- internal/spiritual arc

- obstacles

- conflict

- climax

- resolution

This worksheet will guide you through writing your synopsis. Don't have a completed manuscript? No problem—as long as you're familiar with the main points of your story, you can still write a synopsis using this worksheet. It may even help you craft your story and fill in missing pieces as you write the synopsis.

Camy uses examples from proposals for her own novels, which garnered her contracts with Christian publishers Zondervan (HarperCollins) and Love Inspired Suspense (Harlequin). There is also a special section on spiritual/internal arcs, since Christian novels tend to have strong spiritual threads in the stories.

Even if your story is not inspirational, the internal arc section will help you outline a strong internal arc for your character or troubleshoot if the internal arc has some weaknesses.

This version of the Synopsis worksheet includes:

- Extra examples

- Tips on trimming synopses

- Exercises on chapter-by-chapter and character synopses

Also in this version is an appendix of extra articles including:

- The 50-word elevator pitch

- Story blurbs, including the ones used in Camy's original proposal for her Inspirational chick-lit Sushi series, which she submitted to Zondervan

- The basic structure of a proposal

- The example of Camy's original proposal for her Inspirational romantic suspense Protection for Hire series, which she submitted to Zondervan

• Language: English
• Publisher: Camy Tang
• Release date: Nov 10, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502249197

Camy Tang

Camy Tang writes romance with a kick of wasabi. She used to be a biologist, but now she is a staff worker for her church youth group and leads a worship team for Sunday service. On her blog, she ponders frivolous things like knitting, dumb dogs (namely, hers), coffee-geek husbands, the writing journey, Asiana, and anything else that comes to mind. And on her Facebook page, the silliness is unleashed. Join her online!

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Story Sensei Synopsis worksheet

by

Camy Tang

INTRODUCTION

THANKS FOR BUYING my Story Sensei Synopsis worksheet!

This worksheet was created with a dual purpose.

First of all, it’s designed to walk you through the process of writing a synopsis—whether one page, two pages, or more.

Why do you need a synopsis? Because it’s a key element that will encourage an editor to ask for your full manuscript. After you start selling on proposal, your synopsis is what an editor will use to determine if they contract you or not. They will also use your synopsis if they submit your proposal to an internal Publishing Board or Editorial Board (called Pub Board or Ed Board) for consideration for a contract.

Secondly, this worksheet will help you step away from the details of your story to take a bird’s-eye view of the plot and characters, distilling them into their simplest vital elements. Often by taking this different view of your novel, you can more readily see flaws in the story structure, main plot points, or character internal arcs and motivation.

It makes it a much simpler process to revise a novel once you see the large-scale elements that need to be tweaked or rearranged. That bird’s eye view can also help you gauge your story pacing and determine if it lags in certain parts.

You do not need to have a completed manuscript in order to use this worksheet to write your synopsis. However, you should have:

(a) an idea of who the main characters are, what they want, how they change

(b) how the story starts

(c) how the story ends

That’s it!

(For those of you who bought an earlier version of my synopsis worksheet, this includes all the information in that version plus some updates.)

Okay, let’s get to it!

LESSON ONE: THE ONE-SENTENCE HOOK

THE FIRST EXERCISE is to create a one-sentence hook for your story. An agent might use this one-sentence hook when she presents your story to an editor, or you can use this hook in your proposal, and an editor might use it when she presents it to the Pub Board. Actually, I would strongly suggest you have a one-sentence hook in your proposal, because even if your editor doesn’t use it in Pub Board, you may be asked to submit a one-sentence hook later, after the book is contracted, to give to the Marketing and Sales team.

This hook will also help you step back from your story and adopt a more high-level view of the manuscript. It can be hard to wrench yourself out of the nitty-gritty of the story and take this bird’s-eye view, so you may need to make an effort.

Be a little impassive about your story—don’t be too tied to it. That’ll help you to step back and look at the overall picture.

Here’s the actual one sentence hook I used when I was pitching my first romantic suspense novel, Deadly Intent:

A massage therapist must prove her innocence when her client dies in her family’s elite Sonoma spa. (17 words)

(1) Aim to make your one-sentence hook only 15-20 words long. No longer. I’m serious! The shorter, the better. Do not try to sneak in a 100-word one-sentence hook! :)

(2) Don’t use proper names, because names mean nothing to an editor/agent. Instead, use a general term for the character’s identity. Don’t use Jane Smith. Instead use a legal secretary or a volleyball player or an adventurer or an ex-cop.

(3) Tie together the big picture and the personal picture. Which character has the most to lose in this story? Now tell me what he or she wants to win. Introduce the story problem—what keeps her from getting her goal.

(4) Make the sentence in present tense.

(5) Try to make the main character(s) the subject of your sentence. That way you can show the character(s) in action in the story conflict. For example:

A massage therapist must prove her innocence when her client dies in her family’s elite Sonoma spa.

A massage therapist is the subject, prove her innocence is the character in action and shows the story conflict.

This might take a while, so don’t be discouraged if you can’t shoot this one out in a few minutes.

When doing this exercise and any of the ones following, be very specific and deliberate in your word choices.

Massage therapist—her profession, which is unique for the line I was targeting at the time, Love Inspired Suspense. It was what caused the editor to ask for my full manuscript.

Prove her innocence—the character’s story goal, also shows her being proactive as a character

Client dies—crime/suspense story conflict

Family—suggests her family plays a part as secondary characters

Elite spa—indicates the type of setting, dealing with the wealthy and pampered, which can also be a hook

Sonoma—place, which is also unique for the Love Inspired Suspense line

Here’s another example from my romantic suspense, Protection for Hire:

An ex-yakuza assassin and a distrustful Louisiana lawyer must protect an heiress from a Chinese Triad gang. (18 words)

Ex-yakuza—unique and also hints at the danger to my character. After all, it’s one thing to be Japanese mafia, quite another to be ex-Japanese mafia.

Assassin—unusual since the character is a woman, and also makes her intriguing because she can take care of herself

Distrustful—hints at interpersonal and romantic conflict between the hero and heroine

Louisiana lawyer—sets up more interpersonal conflict because of the dramatic contrast between the two characters’ backgrounds and careers

Heiress—hints at more external conflict because there’s money involved

Chinese Triad gang—strong villains