Overcomplicating the Matter

While I haven't been able to read through all the synopsis sent to me this weekend, there's one big point of trouble everyone is sharing right now:

Overcomplication.

It seems like the majority of people have jumped right into the long form synopsis without first hashing out a simplified one. I know, I know...some of you have told me you're tired of going back to basics, you're a big kid now and you don't need to be babied. Without the basics however, your story has nothing to stand on.

I don't care how stupid or inane you think it sounds, you need to be able to say what your story is in a single sentance. Every story in existence can be broken down into one sentance...I guarantee yours is no different. If you can't do this effectively, then you need to clarify first with yourself what sort of story you're telling. To do this, you may have to break things down EVEN FURTHER! (Gasp!)

For example:

Start with the words: My story is about_______. KEEP THIS SIMPLE!

---My story is about a girl named, Emma.

There we now know our story is about a girl named Emma. But, now we must ask who is Emma?

---Emma is a goblin.

Now, we have begun to reach another level of understanding. The story is about a girl, named Emma, who is a goblin. Of course, now that we know our WHO, we must ask: What happens to Emma that makes us care to read about her?

---Emma defeats the evil king of Trolls who has enslaved her people.

Well, that's interesting. We now have a WHO (Emma, the goblin) and a WHAT HAPPENS (she defeats an evil king). That sounds suspiciously like THE ENDING of Emma's story to me. So of course, knowing the ending, I now want to know HOW Emma defeats the king...

---Emma convinces a powerful human wizard from the next town over to help after discovering his mother was killed by the evil King back in the day.

Oh wowie! So, we've got Emma the Goblin who defeats the evil King of Trolls who enslaved her people, by joining forces with a powerful human wizard who already had a grudge against the guy. That's pretty good. Now I wonder WHY is Emma doing this?

---Emma is tired of being a slave and wants to be free to bake cupcakes.

...so, Emma the Goblin, who is tired of being a slave and wants to be free to bake cupcakes, defeats the evil King of Trolls who enslaved her people, by joining forces with a powerful human wizard who already had a grudge against the guy. Not too bad...not too bad...all that seems to be missing is the WHERE and WHEN.

---GoblinTown, U.S.A, 1957

(Deep breath now...) So! In 1957 in GoblinTown, U.S.A, Emma the Goblin, who is tired of being a slave and wants to be free to bake cupcakes, defeats the evil King of Trolls who enslaved her people, by joining forces with a powerful human wizard who already had a grudge against the guy.

Here, we've covered everything a person (or an author) needs to know about the story. We have our WHO, WHAT, HOW, WHY, WHERE and WHEN. It's a rather ugly synopsis however. Let's clean it up.

In the quaint 1957 setting of GoblinTown U.S.A, Emma the Goblin tires of being a slave and dreams of being free to bake cupcakes all day long. Unfortunately for Emma, The Evil King of Trolls has enslaved her goblin-people and he hates cupcakes. Emma despairs she will never live her dream life, when one day in the woods, she meets a powerful human wizard who is upset that his mum was killed by the Evil King of Trolls. After a chat, the two join forces and defeat the Evil King of Trolls and Emma, now free, bakes cupcakes all day long for the wizard, who is happy now that he has avenged his mother.

As a quick, short synopsis, this isn't bad. It gives the reader a VERY CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE BASIC PLOT. We immediately can pick out the BEGINNING, MIDDLE and END.

This VERY CLEAR UNDERSTANDING is what is lacking from most of the synopsis in the classes. Remember, when it doubt, err on the side of CLARITY. If what you are writing cannot be immediately understood, you will not be there with the editor to explain it!