How to…write a self-writing synopsis
By David Bridger
The thought of condensing a mega-thousand-word story into one or two pages can be pretty daunting, especially if it's been left until the 'submission package' part of the process. So I write mine along the way, in three stages, almost as a by-product.
Here's how I put my synopsis together while writing The Weaverfields Heir.
In Stage A, I sketch a skeleton outline before writing, normally a sentence or two per scene. Here's my outline for Chapter One:
1. Driving over Dartmoor on her way home from work, Kate falls ill and experiences visions that open up a new world for her
2. She spends the weekend recovering, while trying to hide the effects of these visions from her parents. On Monday a solicitor phones to say Kate and her mother are beneficiaries in a will.
3. Next day Kate and her parents drive up to Shropshire and meet the solicitor, who informs them the deceased was Kate's maternal grandfather. He then escorts them to Weaverfields.
In Stage B, I return to my outline to add details after I've written the chapter:
1. Driving over Dartmoor on her way home from work at the end of her penultimate day as a teacher, Kate experiences the symptoms of a heart attack and loses consciousness. When she comes to, her world looks very different. She has gained the ability to see the system of relationships between cells. It looks like a web of gossamer threads connecting everything.
2. She spends the weekend recovering, while trying to hide the existence of these visions and their effects from her parents, Janet and Kevin. On Monday, a solicitor phones to say Kate and Janet are beneficiaries in an unknown relative's will. He invites them to spend the week at the Weaverfields estate outside a small Shropshire town, in order to attend the funeral on Thursday and the will reading on Friday.
3. On Tuesday morning, Kate and her parents drive up to Shropshire and meet the solicitor. He informs them the deceased was Janet's father, Peter Weaver, a reclusive man who was estranged from his family. Having been unaware of her father's identity until now, Janet struggles to accept this new situation. Kate and Kevin try to help her come to terms with it over lunch in a pub. The solicitor then escorts them to Weaverfields.
In Stage C, when the story is finished, each chapter's notes are blended with elements of the story arc, as well as themes and structural points, to form that section of the synopsis:
Disillusioned art teacher Kate Richards is twenty-five years old when she inherits the English country estate Weaverfields from reclusive Peter Weaver, a grandfather she never knew.
She also inherits from him a supernatural talent to see the net, which is the system of relationships between cells and the building material of the universe. It looks like a web of gossamer threads connecting everything, but very few people are gifted with the ability to see it and even fewer can manipulate it to bring about change.
People who use the net leave their memories on it. When Kate arrives at Weaverfields, her mind is invaded by these confusing visions and sensations from the past. Thinking she is seeing ghosts, she fears for her sanity, but through sheer will power she starts to put the memories in order and, through them, takes her first steps towards learning how to manipulate the net.
Writing synopses doesn't have to be painful. 
David Bridger settled with his family and their two monstrous hounds in England's West Country after twenty years of ocean-based fun, during which he worked at various times as a lifeguard, a sailor, an intelligence gatherer and an investigator. He writes paranormal and urban fantasy. Find out more .
