One form of writing that becomes a requirement is a creative One form of writing that becomes a requirement is a creative synopsis. .

Writing the Dreaded Synopsis.
By Joe Vojt
One form of writing that becomes a requirement is a creative synopses. Everyone has their own technique and I would like to share the one method of writing an important synopses that has worked for me on five novels.
I quickly discovered, it took almost as long to write an One form of writing that becomes a requirement is a creative synopses. of my work, because that is the first time, you the author shows the skills of your art. You must show your ability for this presentation in order to be noticed in the slush piles of either a publisher, or agent. Remember that the person reading these can be less trained, but has the assignment to pick out certain keys of interest. So it must reach their minds almost from the start and keep them interested.
Here is my painful method of reducing full length novels down to a maximum of twenty pages, but less then that is preferred. I target my synopsis to sixteen pages even thought that becomes hard work, but at the same time challenging. You have to learn to cut down and maintain two factors in mind. Interest and keeping to your novel scope.
After completing a first draft, even before rewriting I read what was first in my thoughts that I placed into words. I go through each chapter and "copy and paste" the interesting facts that move the story forward to my synopsis work pages. Do not worry about the volume you get on the work page, you keep moving through your novel until you have completed it.
Now the fun starts, you have all the interesting facts to reduce, until you feel comfortable in your presentation. My guideline for reduction has been one page per written chapter. So if you have six to sixteen chapters, your synopsis’ target is six to sixteen pages give or take a little. Hints, you know the first time you use a character it must be in capitals, an example if you use JOE VOJT for the first time it has to stand out. One of the hardest facts for me was giving the ending in such a way that the reader knew, but you still don’t use the final scene as written in the novel.
In closing, if you write your synopsis in such a way that it covers your novel overview in a broad, appealing manner you never have to change it again. Now you can rewrite your novel until it meets with your satisfaction, because the fine details are never required in the synopsis. Hope this will help those that find it difficult or feel that it is impossible to write a sound synopsis. Good Luck. Feel free to e-mail if you have any questions? joe.vojt.snet.net
Note: This was article published in The Authority December, 2002 Connecticut Authors & Publishers Association