Expanding the Synopsis

So, now that we've gone back to basics to find CLARITY and UNDERSTANDING in our story, we now must expand that synopsis a bit more so that it fits roughly into a page.

So here's the short form:

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.

Taking the short synopsis, I simply began plugging in a few more details to round out the story. Note that I've stayed away from what the characters are thinking and feeling as much as possible. FOCUS ON THE ACTIONS!

GOBLIN CAKES
By: Mia Paluzzi
Genre: Children’s Fantasy
Rating: All Ages
Pages: 75

SYNOPSIS


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. Unable to fight him on her own, Emma

spends her days fetching water from the Forest Well for his royal baths

and writing down cupcake recipes in her journal to pass the time.


Then, one day in the woods, she finds a bedraggled looking human

passed out near the well. Though frightened, as all goblin children are

told scary stories of humans, Emma finds pity for the man and offers

him water. Instantly rejuvenated, the man thanks Emma and introduces

himself as Jacob. Jacob, as Emma soon discovers is a powerful wizard from

the next town over, who has been wandering the world in despair ever since

the death of his Mom. As he continues his tale of lament, Jacob reveals that

his Mom was a famous cupcake baker and she was killed by none other than

the Evil King of Trolls because he despised her cupcakes. He came to

GoblinTown to avenge his mother, but sadly could not get into the well-

guarded castle.


Emma, being a clever sort of girl, promises that she will help him get into

the castle if he’ll help her defeat the Evil King of Trolls. Jacob agrees and

Emma sneaks him into the castle through a servant entrance. The pair

corner the Evil King of Trolls just as he is about to take a bath. Angry that

Emma is late with his bath water, the Evil King of Trolls threatens to eat

her for dinner when Jacob springs from his hiding place and turns the

King of Trolls into a statue, thus freeing all the goblins and ending their

strife. GoblinTown becomes a free republic and the citizens place the

statue of the Evil King of Trolls (still in his bath towel and shower cap)

in the center of the town to remind them to be good to one another.

Emma, now free, can finally try out her recipes and bakes cupcakes all

day long for her friend, Jacob, who is happy now that he has avenged

his mother.



As a WORD document, this synopsis is exactly a page and a paragraph. If your expanded synopsis is bleeding into a 3rd page, then you're adding too much detail and you need to cut back. Remember, just like writing a panel description, you need to tell us just enough of what's going on that we can understand it clearly, but not so much that you're writing out a short story. The longer your story is, the more you need to synopsize.