![]() Once you have your list, go over it to ensure that they are indeed plot points, and not asides, devices for character development, or back-story.īe certain that you’ve identified conflicts – conflicts are major plot points. This will help you keep the events in order. Follow the protagonist’s journey, his emotional arc. Now that you have an idea about the beginning, middle, and end of your story, it is helpful to make a list of all the major plot-points in your story, in the order that they occur. At the end of the story, Charlie becomes Wonka’s heir. They face obstacles of some sort that only Charlie overcomes. He and four awful children (antagonists) have won something – a tour of the chocolate factory. However, you get the gist of the story mechanics: Charlie Bucket is the protagonist. The twenty-five word summary is quite sparse, as you can see. Charlie alone overcomes obstacles, becoming Wonka’s heir. Here is an example 25 word plot summary for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory:įour obnoxious children and winsome Charlie Bucket win a Golden Ticket tour of mysterious Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. This summary should answer the basic questions: Beginning the SynopsisĪ good way to begin is to see if you can write a brief 25-50 word plot summary. This is an important difference between a logline and a synopsis. You get a sense of conflict from the word choices – “obnoxious children” compared to “winsome Charlie Bucket” but you don’t know what will happen because of the conflict. You don’t know what happens in the middle of the story. Notice that the logline is merely a hook. Here is an example of a logline for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory:įour obnoxious children and winsome Charlie Bucket win a tour of mysterious Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. It is usually not more than one to three pages in length. It is not a means to introduce every character in the novel. It is not a short story, nor does it contain extraneous dialog or full character descriptions. It is not a logline, for example, which is a very brief hook for your story. What a Plot Synopsis Isn’tĪ plot synopsis is not intended to be a teaser. It contains the major story conflicts, the important characters, such as the main character and the antagonist. What a Plot Synopsis IsĪ (one-page) plot synopsis follows your story arc, and contains all the major plot-points in your novel, from beginning to middle to end. ![]() An editor reads a synopsis when he or she is deciding whether or not to request your complete manuscript. A (one-page) plot synopsis of a novel manuscript is often enclosed as part of the query process. ![]()
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